A Very Good Lemon Loaf

 

You can never have too many lemons in the house. At least that is my thoughts on the subject. I love lemon anything and so I always have a bowlful of them  sitting on my sideboard.   Aside from cheering me up with their beautiful scent and colour . . . the thought of baking a scrummy treat with them makes me smile.

 

I love lemon drizzle cake . . . a sweet tart cake, covered with a tart lemon glaze.  Oh so scrummy.  My recipe has the added scrumminess of a streusel topping.



I also make a great lemon loaf that uses lemon curd as a part of it's batter.  That one is very scrummy too, and moist . . . and stogged full of fresh blueberries.



Sometimes though your heart just yearns for a plain old fashioned simple Lemon Loaf . . . one without pretense or fiddly additions . . .

 

One that goes together in a flash and bakes into something moist and delicious and moreishly tasty.  This one fits the bill on all those counts.  Seriously.  If you can bear it, let it ripen overnight before slicing.   Trust me when I say this one is more than worth the wait.   Leaving it to ripen overnight, makes it even better.

 

*A Very Good Lemon Loaf*
Makes one medium loaf
Printable Recipe

Dense and filled with lots of tart lemon flavour.

150g of plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large free range eggs, at room temperature
190g of golden caster sugar (1 cup)
2 TBS unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon extract
the juice of 1 1/2 lemons (about 80ml, 1/3 cup)
125ml sunflower oil (1/2 cup)
the finely grated zest of one lemon

For the glaze:
130g icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
2 TBS milk
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 TBS lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.   Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin and lightly dust with flour.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.  Set aside.

Beat the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon juice together until well combined.  Add the dry ingredients and beat smooth.  Beat in the oil and lemon zest.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.   Bake for 45 minutes, until well risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let stand in pan for about 5 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.   Beat together the glaze ingredients until smooth.  Pour carefully over warm cake.  Allot to set before cutting into slices to serve.