This lemon loaf cake is soft, velvety, super moist and is bursting with lemon flavour. Best part is, it’s super easy to make! A soft lemon loaf is coated with a lemon syrup and topped with a thick lemon glaze – YUM!
How to Make Lemon Loaf
This lemon loaf has three elements, which are all super easy to make (I promise!). You start off with your lemon loaf, then lemon syrup which you brush all over your lemon loaf once it’s done (don’t skip it – it really takes the loaf to the next level!). Finally, you finish off with a wonderful lemon glaze.
A lemon loaf is basically a cake in loaf form, but a little more sturdy. For a wonderful soft layer cake, check out my soft lemon cake and lemon cupcakes.
Lemon Loaf
For the lemon loaf, you want to start off by preheating your oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 1 on recipe card at the end of the blog post if you don’t have a fan function) and line an 8.5×4.5inch loaf tin (I like to lightly grease the tin before lining it so that the baking paper sticks better).
If your loaf tin is slightly smaller than mine, then you may have a little too much batter. If you do, then you can use any left over batter to make some muffins 🙂
Next in a bowl sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside for now.
Next, in a small bowl combine warm milk and lemon juice. Mix until well combined and then set aside for now. It will start to curdle, which is normal.
In a large bowl cream together the butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest for 2 minutes until it’s light and fluffy.
Next add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between each addition.
Next add in half of the milk/lemon juice mixture from earlier and mix until well combined. Once combined, take any remaining batter off of your mixer attachment/s and set aside as the rest of the mixing will be done by hand.
Next add in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining milk/lemon juice mixture, and fold that in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 2).
Pour the batter into the loaf tin, evenly spread it out and then bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer or butter knife comes out clean.
Once baked, allow it to cool for 15 minutes in the loaf tin, and in the meantime prepare the lemon syrup.
Lemon Syrup
In a small saucepan combine sugar and lemon juice. Heat over a medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once done take it off the heat.
After 15 minutes, take the lemon loaf out of the loaf tin and place it on a tray. Cover the entire cake in the lemon syrup, including the bottom. Be gentle when moving the lemon loaf as it will still be warm at this stage and you don’t want it to break. See video demonstration below for how I cover my loaf in the syrup to prevent it from breaking.
Once coated in the syrup, let the lemon loaf completely cool. Once cooled make the lemon glaze.
Lemon Glaze
In a small bowl combine the icing sugar and lemon juice. Mix until well combined and you have a thick glaze consistency (see note 3 on recipe card below for different consistencies).
Once the lemon loaf has cooled, spread the lemon glaze over the top and top with more lemon zest (optional – the lemon zest is for decoration purposes).
And that is it! Enjoy 🙂
Easy Moist Lemon Loaf
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Lemon Loaf
- 1¾ cups (210 g) all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp (14 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour in some countries
- 1½ tsps baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- ½ cup (120 g) warm milk - full fat milk
- 3 tbsp (42 g) lemon juice - freshly squeezed
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 2 tbsp (26 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar
- 1½ tbsp lemon zest - about the zest of 1 and 1/2 medium sized lemons
- 3 large eggs - room temperature, size 7
Lemon Syrup
- ¼ cup (50 g) white granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) lemon juice - freshly squeezed
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup (125 g) icing sugar - also known as powdered or confectioners sugar
- 1½ tbsp (21 g) lemon juice - freshly squeezed
- 1 tbsp lemon zest for decorating the top - OPTIONAL
Instructions
Lemon Loaf
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 1 if you don't have a fan function) and line an 8.5x4.5inch loaf tin (I like to lightly grease the tin before lining it so that the baking paper sticks better).
- In a bowl sift together your flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside for now.
- In a small bowl combine the warm milk and lemon juice. Mix until well combined and then set aside for now. It will start to curdle, which is normal.
- In a large bowl cream together the butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest for 2 minutes until it's light and fluffy.
- Next add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between each addition.
- Next add in half of the milk/lemon juice mixture from earlier and mix until well combined. Once combined, take any remaining batter off of your mixer attachment/s and set aside as the rest of the mixing will be done by hand.
- Next add in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining milk/lemon juice mixture, and fold that in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 2).
- Pour the batter into the loaf tin, evenly spread it out and then bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer or butter knife comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow it to cool for 15 minutes in the loaf tin, and in the meantime prepare the lemon syrup.
Lemon Syrup
- In a small saucepan combine the sugar and lemon juice. Heat over a medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once done take it off the heat.
- After 15 minutes, take the lemon loaf out of the loaf tin and place it on a tray. Cover the entire cake in the lemon syrup, including the bottom. Be gentle when moving the lemon loaf as it will still be warm at this stage and you don't want it to break. See video demonstration for how I cover my loaf in the syrup to prevent it from breaking. It may seem like a lot of syrup but be sure to use it all up!
- Once coated in the syrup, let the lemon loaf completely cool. Once cooled make the lemon glaze.
Lemon Glaze
- In a small bowl combine the icing sugar and lemon juice. Mix until well combined and you have a thick glaze consistency (see note 3 for different consistencies).
- Once the lemon loaf has cooled, spread the lemon glaze over the top and top with more lemon zest (optional - the lemon zest is for decoration purposes).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
172 Comments
Loved it. Turned out amazing. So moist and fluffy and lemony. I ran out of lemons so I used some limes as well.
I also make your brownies a lot and everyone says they’re the best brownies ever.
Thank you so much.
Aww yay! So so happy you loved the lemon loaf Noha and that everyone is loving the brownies too 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
Made this cake and it turned out absolutely lovely! The cake was the perfect mix of sweet and tangy and oh so moist <3
Aww yay! So glad you loved the lemon loaf Ayuni 😀
Hello Maryam! I’m Francesca from Canada and I absolutely love this recipe!!! Moist, delicious and bursting with flavour. Thank you so much!! Looking forward to trying your other recipes!!
Hi Francesca! So so happy to hear you’re loving the recipes 😀
You’re so welcome – thank you for taking out the time to let me know, it is truly appreciated!
Much love from NZ to Canada 🙂
Hey I tried your recipe. But the cake turned out a little jelly like with a weird consistency. I think it was the corn flour. Also it was too sour even though I used 3 tbs lemon juice as mentioned. Do you know what might have gone wrong?
Hi Aswathi! 🙂 Sorry to hear the lemon loaf didn’t quite turn out how you’d hoped. By jelly like, do you mean it was dense/maybe undercooked? I don’t believe it would have been the cornflour (which is also called cornstarch in some countries – it’s the white powder not the yellow just incase you perhaps used the wrong one), but I think it may be more to do with too much liquid/fat in the batter, or due to overmixing. It could also be due to too much batter in one tin (if you used a smaller loaf tin than mine). In terms of the sourness, the ratio of sugar to lemon shouldn’t result in a sour loaf. Perhaps there was not enough sugar used? I would recommend using the gram measurements provided for best results 🙂
For more tips, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRy1KuFMdOo
Hope that helps for next time Aswathi 🙂
Thanks MK for your tutorials, you are a super good tutor, my lemon loaf came out beautifully, I combined lemons with oranges..
You’re so welcome Nikita! 😀 So glad to hear you loved the lemon loaf and the combination of oranges and lemons sounds so good! 😀
I was randomly craving lemon loaves and I saw this recipe. One of the best lemon loaves ever!!
Awesome! So glad you loved the lemon loaf 😀
Hey Maryam, surprise another comment for today!
(Yes it’s me, Steffi hahaha.)
So I’ve adapted your recipe and made an orange loaf cake. Other than the lemon+milk which I kept the same for the buttermilk effect, I used Sunkist oranges for the zest, the juice for the orange syrup. It was so fragrant! People enjoyed it and they were wondering how was the cake so moist?!
Although I have to thank the local grocer near my house too. He said the Sunkist oranges he was selling were premium sweet ones from the US (well the price was equally premium LOL. 6 big oranges for $10 Singapore Dollars). True enough, they were sweet and the zest was a vibrant orange. So beautiful.
As always, thanks Maryam!
Haha always lovely to hear from you Steffi! 😀
Ooohh using oranges for this recipe sounds so good! I’ve been thinking of making an orange loaf similar to this one, so great to hear that substituting the lemon for orange works well. Wow 6 oranges for that price is hefty! I’ll have to try these Sunkist oranges sometime haha!
Thanks again for the wonderful feedback Steffi 🙂
I love this cake so much
Thanks so much Ubaydah! So glad you’re enjoying the lemon loaf 😀
Loved this recipe, the syrup makes it.
Still moist even after a few days.
Very yummy
Awesome! So happy you enjoyed the recipe Judi 🙂
Excellent demonstration and thanks for teaching me how to make it. I can’t wait to make it next time and share the result with you.
You’re so welcome Hadia! 😀 Hope you enjoy the recipe and can’t wait to hear how it goes 🙂