Happy Sunday, baker friends!

I’m not a full-fledged Lemonhead.  I have found that lemons can be too overpowering, bitter, sour, and can dominate the flavor of a dish if you mistakenly put too much. Knowing this, I aimed to develop a lemon bread with a bracing, but not overpowering lemon flavor. The use of both lemon juice and zest offers a nice balance, helping achieve a refreshing and wonderfully bright flavor in this rich, light, tender bread. The cake takes minutes to make. While it’s still warm, a simple lemon glaze is poured all over it. The syrup helps add more bright citrus taste and keeps it moist for days. I have now discovered how good lemon desserts can actually be.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granular sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

Sprinkle with granulated sugar before baking

Let’s do it!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease and line with parchment paper an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and set aside.

Beat together the butter and sugar until combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the lemon juice, lemon, zest, and almond extract to the butter mixture until combined.

Mix the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the sour cream.

Pour into the pan, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar on top before baking.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the bread is baking, whisk together the glaze ingredients in a microwave bowl, and heat for about 1 minutes until sugar is dissolved.

To Make the Glaze:

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated zest

Remove the bread from the oven. While the loaf is still hot, poke holes in the loaf, and drizzle with glaze, stopping periodically to allow it to soak in. Set it aside and let it cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.

The bread will keep for 5 days on the counter. Loaf gets better the next day!

Enjoy every bite!

Thanks for stopping by.

Eileen