I honestly can’t stop eating this amazing cake! After reaching for my third piece of this bright, fresh, moist, and perfectly balanced cake, I realized just how much I adore it. I needed a quick dessert for unexpected guests, and my fridge only had a bag of lemons. Naturally, I reached for my trusted recipe book, and I’m so glad I did. My notes said, “Must make again, amazing,” and they couldn’t be more accurate. Whether for guests or just for you, this cake is a winner!
A little side note: while it’s amazing fresh, this lemon loaf gets even better the next day—especially cold right out of the fridge. You won’t be disappointed!
Don't have buttermilk? No problem. Add 1 TBSP of white vinegar or 1.5 TBSP lemon juice to your cup measure, fill the rest with milk and allow the mixture to sit for at lest 5 minutes. It will thicken and turn into quick "homemade buttermilk"
This cake comes together very fast. The most time-consuming and difficult part is getting all of the ingredients together. Let's get started:
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Measure out the flour, spoon it into your cup measures and level it off by removing the extra flour with a butter knife, without compressing the flour into the cup. Sift the flour into a bowl. If you scoop the flour straight out of the bag, you will end up compressing it and getting more flour than you need, resulting in a dense cake. So don't skip this extra step.
- Grease and line 9x5 baking pan with parchment.
- Break the room temperature eggs into a container.
- Measure out the buttermilk and add the vanilla and lemon extracts to it.
- Zest the lemons as well as squeeze the required amount of lemon juice.
In a bowl of your stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat on low to combine, then increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer twice during this time to scrape up the sides of the bowl. Decrease the speed to medium low and add the eggs, one at a time, waiting in between additions until each egg is incorporated.
Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the third of your flour followed by half of buttermilk. Add another third of flour followed by lemon juice. Finish by adding the remainder of flour and buttermilk. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Mix on low for about 2 seconds to ensure everything is incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for about 34-43 minutes. Mine was ready at exactly 38 minutes. The cake should be golden and the toothpick should come out mostly clean, with a few moist crumbs, or for the best most precise measure - the internal temperature measured with an instant read digital thermometer inserted into the cake should register exactly 200° but no more than 206. The toothpick or your instant read digital thermometer should come out with a few moist crumbs but not wet batter.
Overbaking the cake will ruin it and not overbaking is by far the most important part.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for exactly 15 minutes. While you are waiting for 15 minutes make the syrup. After 15 minutes, poke holes on top of your cake so that the syrup can be better absorbed. Brush the top of the cake with all of the syrup. Allow to cool completely.
You can try this trick if desired: after brushing the cake with syrup, wrap it with the plastic wrap and allow to cool wrapped. This will trap even more moisture into the cake.
Bring water and sugar to a boil. Stir with a rubber spatula and remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice.
Combine powdered sugar with lemon juice until the desired consistency is reached. It should be quite thick but pourable.
The cake must be cooled completely before being glazed. Allow the glaze to set, uncovered, for 30-60 minutes.
Ingredients
Directions
This cake comes together very fast. The most time-consuming and difficult part is getting all of the ingredients together. Let's get started:
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Measure out the flour, spoon it into your cup measures and level it off by removing the extra flour with a butter knife, without compressing the flour into the cup. Sift the flour into a bowl. If you scoop the flour straight out of the bag, you will end up compressing it and getting more flour than you need, resulting in a dense cake. So don't skip this extra step.
- Grease and line 9x5 baking pan with parchment.
- Break the room temperature eggs into a container.
- Measure out the buttermilk and add the vanilla and lemon extracts to it.
- Zest the lemons as well as squeeze the required amount of lemon juice.
In a bowl of your stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat on low to combine, then increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer twice during this time to scrape up the sides of the bowl. Decrease the speed to medium low and add the eggs, one at a time, waiting in between additions until each egg is incorporated.
Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the third of your flour followed by half of buttermilk. Add another third of flour followed by lemon juice. Finish by adding the remainder of flour and buttermilk. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Mix on low for about 2 seconds to ensure everything is incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for about 34-43 minutes. Mine was ready at exactly 38 minutes. The cake should be golden and the toothpick should come out mostly clean, with a few moist crumbs, or for the best most precise measure - the internal temperature measured with an instant read digital thermometer inserted into the cake should register exactly 200° but no more than 206. The toothpick or your instant read digital thermometer should come out with a few moist crumbs but not wet batter.
Overbaking the cake will ruin it and not overbaking is by far the most important part.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for exactly 15 minutes. While you are waiting for 15 minutes make the syrup. After 15 minutes, poke holes on top of your cake so that the syrup can be better absorbed. Brush the top of the cake with all of the syrup. Allow to cool completely.
You can try this trick if desired: after brushing the cake with syrup, wrap it with the plastic wrap and allow to cool wrapped. This will trap even more moisture into the cake.
Bring water and sugar to a boil. Stir with a rubber spatula and remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice.
Combine powdered sugar with lemon juice until the desired consistency is reached. It should be quite thick but pourable.
The cake must be cooled completely before being glazed. Allow the glaze to set, uncovered, for 30-60 minutes.
