Jin's Favorite Lemon Loaf

One of my favorite things to bake is a made-from-scratch lemon loaf. It all started when one of my kids discovered the iced lemon pound cake at Starbucks. She loved it so much she'd ask for it every time we are in the coffee shop. Personally I thought it was way too sweet and so I went looking for a lemon loaf recipe that I could use at home.

Ingredient list for Starbucks' Iced Lemon Pound Cake

Thanks to Google, it didn't take long to find what I was looking for. The lemon loaf recipe posted by Derf on Food.com was exactly what I needed. Unlike Starbucks' lemon cake, there is no corn syrup or extra color added. In fact, the recipe uses only 2 lemons and a few basic ingredients.

I was delighted the first time I baked the cake but I loved it even more after reducing the sugar by 1/4 cup and replacing 1/2 cup of milk with 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup lemon juice (as advised by a commenter).

The following is my modified recipe. You can find the original recipe by clicking HERE.

Jin's Favorite Lemon Loaf
adapted from Derf's recipe on Food.com

Ingredients:

1⁄2 cup butter, room temperature
3⁄4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1⁄4 cup milk, 1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 lemons, rind of

Glaze:
1 lemon, juice of
1⁄4 cup sugar
 
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Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and lemon rind in a bowl.

In another large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until creamy.

Blend in milk and lemon juice.

Pour flour mixture into batter and stir to moisten.

Scrape into greased pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

Cool the loaf in the pan for 5-10 minutes.

While the loaf is cooling, make the glaze by combining the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. Stir and heat till sugar is dissolved.

Place a cooling rack onto a cookie sheet.

Remove the loaf from the pan and onto the cooling rack. While the loaf is still hot, use a toothpick to poke holes all over the top and spoon glaze evenly over it.

Let the lemon loaf cool completely on the rack.

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Additional notes:
I love baking these lemon loaves to give away to friends. In order to make the cakes look even more fancy, I have baked them in the Nordic Ware Mini Baby Bunny Cake Pan and the Nordic Ware Mini Citrus Loaf Pan. In both cases, I greased and flour the pans really well so that the designs show up well and the cakes are released easily. I baked the cakes at 350F and for about 28-30 minutes.