Lemon Yogurt Loaf Cake
I love this lemon cake. Not only does it have a perfect texture and a lovely lemon flavor, it also happens to be very very simple to make. Oh and another bonus – it transports easily and the individual slices hold together well, making it a perfect cake for bake sales. I’ve brought it to many events and have never had a single slice left over at the end of the day. Everyone loves it!
The origin of this loaf cake is the “Baby Bundts” recipe in Nigella Lawson’s book, “How to be a Domestic Goddess.” There, she recommends baking the batter in a mini-bundt pan. I don’t have such a pan and I don’t have the kitchen space to store a specialty pan like that, so I always make it in loaf pans. I’ve also doubled the recipe as one loaf never seems to be enough. This cake is that good.
To make this cake, I start by melting the butter, and mixing it with the yogurt, eggs and lemon zest. You can see that I really am a fan of Nigella Lawson as the mixing bowl here is from her cookware line.
To the wet mixture, I add the dry ingredients – the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt – and mix it until it is a smooth batter. If you stir the dry ingredients together before folding them into the wet ingredients, you can ensure that the salt and baking soda are as evenly combined as possible. If you hate doing dishes (like I do), you can do it carefully in the same bowl. If you prefer a more foolproof method, mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl first before adding them to the wet ingredients.
For baking the batter, I’ve prepared two loaf pans with butter and baking paper. After dividing the batter evenly between the two pans, I pop them into a 165 C oven to bake.
After 40 minutes I check to see if they are ready and if not let them bake a bit longer. It should not take more than 50 minutes.
After the cakes are out of the oven and cooled, I remove them from the pans. For the glaze, I mix together the powdered sugar and the lemon juice until it has a smooth consistency that is thick enough to stick to the cake, but thin enough to drizzle. After icing both cakes, they are ready to slice and serve.
Lemon Yogurt Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 360 g plain yogurt
- zest from two lemons
- 4 eggs
- 170 g melted butter
- 250 g flour
- 150 g sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 250 g powdered sugar
- lemon juice from 2 lemons
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 165 C. Prepare two loaf pans by buttering and flouring them, or by lining them with baking paper.
- Mix together the melted butter, yogurt, eggs, and lemon zest.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt and gently fold together until you have a smooth batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.
- Bake the loafs for 40 – 50 minutes. A knife inserted into the center should come out clean when done. Let cool on a wire rack before removing them from the pan to glaze.
Make Glaze
- Combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix until smooth. The consistency should be thick enough to stick to the top of the cake, but not so thin it can't be drizzled. Add more sugar or lemon juice as needed to get the right consistency.
- Pour glaze over cooled loaf cakes.
- Slice and serve.
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