Simple Lemon Loaf or Lemon Pound Cake

Today you will get a simple, yet extra moist and very lemony lemon loaf or lemon pound cake. If my hubby were to decide, I am sure I would be making cakes with citrus fruits all the time. It is by no accident that my first published recipe is a French tarte au citron oder lemon tart. I made it for Valentine’s Day and published it shortly afterwards. My list can go on and on, I do have double lemon cupcakes, blueberry lemon cake, American lemon pie and (key) lime pie on the blog, I think it is endless. All of these baked goods were for him, of course. He just loves this tart flavor and I won’t say no to lemons and limes either. Especially in winter when fruits are harder to get and the options limited. So I decided to make a simple lemon loaf. The recipe I found used tons of lemons so I gave it a go and the result is full of lemon flavor.

When I checked out Petra’s blog Obers trifft Sahne (in German), I was happy to see that she uses way more lemons than what I am used to. For me a lemon cake should have an intense lemon flavor, zest and juice of just one lemon won’t be enough for that. In fact there are some recipes that only use zest in the cake and the juice in the icing. That is like no lemon flavor at all. So I was happy to use a lot more lemons for this recipe, you will need at least four, maybe even more lemons.

I believe this type of cake is a super German recipe. My father loved simple recipes and he loved a good lemon loaf. In that regard my hubby and he are pretty similar. Here in Germany you can even get a lemon cake from a box. Of course it is nothing compared to a recipe made from scratch where you know exactly which ingredients you used and which will use real lemon flavor, the zest and well as the juice. So I am inviting you to give this recipe a try. If you want lemon flavor, you will get lemon flavor, I promise.

Credit: Obers trifft Sahne (in German)

Print Recipe

Simple Lemon Loaf

Serves: One loaf

Prep Time: 30min – Cooking Time: 1hr – Total Time: 1hr 30min

This simple lemon loaf contains a lot of lemon flavor.

Ingredients

• Lemon Loaf
• 250 grams of butter at room temperature
• 200 grams of icing sugar
• Zest of about 3-5 lemons depending on size (you should get one heaping tablespoon of zest)
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 4 eggs
• 280 grams of all-purpose flour
• 50 grams of almond flour
• 10 grams of baking powder
• 
  
• Icing
• 100 grams of apricot jam
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• About 100-150 grams of icing sugar
• Optional: one lemon and mint leaves for decoration

Instructions

1

For the lemon loaf cream the butter with the sugar until much lighter in color, about five minutes. Meanwhile zest the lemons and squeeze out the juice. Oil a loaf pan (about 25cm) and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2

Then beat in each egg separately for about 30 seconds. Beat in lemon zest and juice, the batter will look curdled, that's normal. Mix in flour, almond flour, and baking powder. Only mix until combined. Spread evenly in prepared from.

3

Bake for about an hour, an inserted toothpick should come out clean.

4

While your loaf is cooling off, gently heat the apricot jam. Release the loaf while still a bit warm and brush with the apricot jam. If you want to freeze the loaf, I recommend doing it at this point. You can also wrap single servings tightly.

5

Reduce the lemon juice and zest for the icing until you have about two tablespoons left to intensify the flavor. Combined with about 80 grams of icing sugar and add sugar until you have a bit thicker consistency. Ice the cake and enjoy. If you want, you can decorate with some lemon slices and mint leaves (see pictures). It will keep for a few days if wrapped tightly.