When life gives you lemons, what do you do? You make Lemon Loaf!
Something I love about living in Louisiana is the amount of citrus trees that grow here! It isn’t uncommon to see a giant citrus tree blooming in a yard here, something I was just not used to growing up in Canada.
One thing that I absolutely love down in Louisiana is lemon trees!
When we first moved into our house we focused a lot on revamping the interior. A big task in itself. We didn’t worry about the exterior for a while except some low maintenance projects. However, throughout the summer, whenever I was in our kitchen, I would hear a thump or two throughout the day coming from the side of our house. Of course I thought it was just a small tree branch falling off, or maybe a Louisiana critter thumping around out there. Then one day Mia, our dog, went to go venture to the side of the house where we rarely go, and to my surprise there was about a dozen lemons laying on our grass! I looked up to see a fully blossomed lemon tree hanging over our fence. Full of bright juicy ripe lemons from our neighbour’s yard! Of course we received permission first from our neighbour before we picked the lemons on our side of the fence, but all of a sudden we had an abundance of lemons! Life really did give us lemons!
Which leads me to my Lemon Glazed Loaf. As you know I am a huge fan of loaf cakes and bread, check out my easy banana bread if you haven’t yet, it is absolutely delicious. I love a cake that you can whip up quick and use one big bowl to mix everything up! And now I had an abundance of lemons to use up, so why not make a loaf cake out of it?
Now this cake is dense, yet fluffy. Sweet, yet tangy. It is everything that you could want out of a lemon cake. The thing that really makes the lemon shine is the simple lemon glaze. Absolutely delicious! Now traditional Lemon Loaf is made with sour cream, but I didn’t have that in my house at the time. But you know what I always have? Plain Greek yogurt. And you know what? It turned out even better with it! Not to mention a healthier alternative.
Now there are a few tips to making this cake the most delicious it can be.
Tip One: Eggs and Greek yogurt must be at room temperature!
What I like to do is pull these things out first, then get the rest of my ingredients set up and ready. By the time I have everything ready they should be about room temperature. This really helps the batter rise more easily.
Tip Two: Pour the glaze over your cake when it is warm. Not hot, not cold, but warm. This will help the glaze coat your loaf nicely.
Tip Three: If you do not have a zester (although I highly recommend one) just use your thinnest setting on your cheese grater! But do not, I repeat do not skip the lemon zest! It really adds in the flavour, it is an absolute must!
So I hope next time when life hands you lemons, you make this lemon loaf!
Lemon Glazed Loaf
6
15 mins
45-50 mins
Print
Ingredients
- Lemon Loaf
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs room temperature
1 lemon (2 tbs lemon zest, 1 tbs lemon juice)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
1 1/2 cup flour
- Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2-3 tbs lemon juice
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9×5 inch loaf pan by greasing and adding parchment paper lining.
- Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Then beat in eggs to the mixture.
- Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla to the mixture. Mix until combined.
- Add in baking soda and baking powder. Mix until combined.
- Add in Greek yogurt. Mix until combined.
- Stir in your flour until just combined.
- Pour batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake in your preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Wait at least 10 minutes before removing loaf from pan.
- While loaf is baking, prepare your glaze. In a bowl, add your confectioners sugar. Slowly add your lemon juice tablespoon at a time and mix until you get a consistency of a glaze. The mixture should be able to drip off your spoon easily.
- After the loaf has cooled for about 15 minutes, pour your glaze on your cake. Wait another 10 minutes for the glaze to harden before cutting into the loaf. Enjoy!
