Easy Lemon Loaf Cake
This Lemon Loaf Cake is exceptionally delicious, with bright and lemony flavors all wrapped up in a buttery, soft and tender crumb. It’s a simple loaf cake to make when you’re craving all things lemon and sweet.

Sometimes simplicity is all that’s needed. This easy lemon pound cake is simply that. Easy and delicious. It’s simple and straightforward with ingredients you may already have on hand.
What you taste is simply… lemon. Pure and simple. With the combination of freshly squeezed lemon juice and freshly grated lemon zest, the lemony flavor is pure with just the right sweetness to balance.
In fact, we don’t even add the sweet lemon syrup common to many lemon loaf recipes. We think the lemon glaze icing makes it sweet enough. Most importantly, we wanted to eliminate a couple of steps and make it live up to its name. A Simple and Easy Lemon Loaf Cake.
Lemon Loaf Ingredients
Gather these simple ingredients (exact measurements are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post):
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Large eggs
- Lemon (for zest and juice)
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and salt
- Evaporated milk
For the Glaze:
- Powdered sugar
- Lemon juice
How to Make Lemon Loaf Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour an 8 x 4 loaf pan.
Step 1: Cream the butter
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients and milk
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add the flour and evaporated milk alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Step 3: Bake the loaf
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean, or with just a few crumbs.
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A Simple and Easy Lemon Loaf Cake
Sometimes simplicity is all that's needed. Our easy lemon loaf cake is simply that. Easy and delicious. We don't add anything extra. It's simple and straightforward with ingredients you may already have on hand.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- zest of 1 medium lemon
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk (5-ounce can)
Glaze
- 1 cup confectioner sugar
- 1 - 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (depending on how thick you want your glaze)
Instructions
for the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 x 4 loaf pan.
- Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, followed by the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add the flour and evaporated milk alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean, or with just a few crumbs.
for the glaze:
- For the icing glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 286Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 55mgSodium: 217mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 1gSugar: 32gProtein: 4g
how much lemon juice for the glaze?
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice. I didn’t make that very clear – I’ll update the recipe. Thanks!