Have you ever had the lemon loaf from Starbucks? It’s delicious and tart, a great sweet treat to have with tea or coffee. If you enjoyed that loaf, you’d love this one. It’s a really moist loaf, filled with lemon flavor. The poppy seeds give it a nice texture and the loaf has a great crumb. On top is an amazing glaze, filled with lemon zest and flavor. It’s the right brightness to add on top of this delicious lemon loaf.
If you try it out, the batter will look like it won’t come together, almost like it’s curdled. The added yogurt helps keep it moist, but since it’s mixed with citrus, it won’t combine completely at first. Feel free to add in more lemon zest to give it added tart flavor or even try this out with Meyer lemons to give it a different zing! Let me know if you make this and what you think of it. Enjoy!
Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf
Ingredients
Lemon poppy seed loaf
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup plain full fat yogurt
Lemon glaze
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the loaf
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×4 in loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Make sure the parchment hangs over the sides to help you take out the loaf when it’s cooked.
- In a bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking powder.
- In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and lighter in color.
- Add eggs to the butter mixture and beat together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after mixing.
- Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla until combined.
- Next, add half the flour mixture and beat together, then add the yogurt. Once mixed, add in the second half of the flour mixture.
- Lightly fold in the poppy seeds into the batter, then pour it into loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until golden brown on the top.
- Let the loaf cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before using the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan to finish cooling.
For the lemon glaze
- While the cake cools, mix together the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, powdered sugar and salt in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the glaze on top of the cooled cake.
- Cut the loaf into slices and enjoy!