The Best Lemon Loaf Cake Recipe, Tried and Tested (Starbucks Copycat)

When I say “lemon loaf cake,” my guess is that a really particular slice of cake comes to thoughts. In my working experience, when requested about the Starbucks lemon loaf, most men and women glimpse both of those ways just before admitting in a hushed tone that it is one of their beloved treats. I get it—it feels a little scandalous to acknowledge how delectable that loaf slice is. Deliciously moist, delicate and fluffy, the lemon glaze including the fantastic mouth-puckering flavor. It is an all-spherical dessert.

But for all of my lemon loaf girlies out there, get heart: you don’t have to make a Starbucks operate each time the craving strikes. In this version of our Bake-Off sequence, I analyzed 7 recipes to obtain the ideal lemon loaf cake recipe out there. As to be envisioned, some were being superior than some others. And even though my style testers agreed that none of these held a candle to the deliciousness that is the Starbucks holy grail (however a person came pretty shut), we did uncover a couple of alternatives for you to whip up at dwelling to satisfy that sweet-and-tangy tooth.

Regulations of the Street

As normally, all recipes are adopted just as created without having any changes for personal flavor or taste preferences. Loaf cakes were being all baked and glazed the same evening and tasted the subsequent day.

Rating Guidelines

Taste: Lemon is the identify of the recreation, so we wished a lemon-forward flavor. The cake by itself need to have a lemony feel that receives increased by a lemony glaze. The taste shouldn’t be as well sweet but need to style like a dessert.
Texture: When evaluating to the Starbucks lemon loaf cake, we have been searching for a moist cake that was a minimal fluffy, a little bouncy, and undoubtedly not dry in texture.

Though we did rank these in buy, each individual cake also stood on its very own, so we have provided tasting notes so you can make the loaf cake most aligned with your choices. Continue to keep looking at for the final results of our lemon loaf cake bake-off!

The Ideal Lemon Loaf Cake, Ranked

7. Barefoot Contessa: Lemon Yogurt Cake

Recipe Notes: Yogurt was made use of to incorporate dampness. Guidelines did not check with to rub the lemon zest into the sugar, contrary to other recipes. Recipe takes advantage of equally cooked lemon syrup and lemon glaze on major

I know, we have been all stunned at this recipe position so lower. Whilst the texture of the loaf by itself was a little bit bouncy, it did lean a little on the drier aspect in contrast to the some others (even though it made use of lemon syrup and glaze). The taste was also a small as well refined for a lemon cake. Some tasters mentioned it was a lot more like a yellow cake than a lemon cake, and others mentioned it was just bland. Overall, a fantastic cake—just not what we ended up seeking for from a lemon loaf.

6. The Kitchn: Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf

Recipe Notes: Employs bitter product and vegetable oil as an alternative of butter. The recipe also utilizes lemon extract in the cake in addition to lemon juice and zest

Presented the title of this recipe, you can bet my hopes ended up superior. And whilst I did believe in terms of texture that this was about as close as we could get to the Starbucks loaf, that is where it finished. Some tasters on the other hand, thought the texture was also spongey, and not fluffy enough. The taste was not only bland to some, but just about synthetic to many others. (This was likely owing to the use of lemon extract.) Next time, I may possibly try baking this devoid of the extract and just employing extra zest to aid the taste a bit. But the glaze on leading? Excellent.

5. Benjamina Ebuehi: Common Lemon Drizzle Cake

Recipe Notes: This recipe made use of the most eggs of all the loaves (4). It used the creaming approach of butter and sugar to make a gentle texture and increase from aeration. This edition mixes all the dry substances with the damp and phone calls for the milk to be added immediately after all is blended.

Over-all, our tasters rated this loaf in the middle of the pack. The texture alone was a bit on the denser side. It practically reminded me of an olive oil or almond flour cake, and most testers observed this cake to be moist. The cake does use a significant supporting of lemon syrup for when the cake will come out of the oven. The taste, however, was a bit mild for us and we just needed to punch up the lemon. I would bake it again, but use an additional lemon or two.

4. Cloudy Kitchen area: Lemon and Bitter Product Loaf Cake with Lemon Glaze

Recipe Notes: Employs sour cream for humidity and tang. This was the only loaf cake to use almond flour in the dry ingredients.

I would describe this recipe as yielding a refined lemon loaf. In terms of texture, it was undoubtedly on the denser aspect, and baked up as a pretty hefty loaf. The texture alone was moist and had a bit of a crumb many thanks to the use of almond flour. And while I did not intellect the almond flour and could style it in the loaf, some others who could also style the almond flour didn’t like that they could style it. General, this would be a wonderful slice of cake to have with tea.

3. Ravneet Gill: Lemon Loaf Cake

Recipe Notes: The recipe takes advantage of double cream in the batter. It’s topped with lemon syrup and a glaze.

When it came to our leading 3 recipes, they have been all rather shut. All in all, these rankings arrived down to moment details. This recipe utilized double cream (hefty product) in the batter, supplying it a incredibly wealthy texture. Testers considered the texture was good for a normal dense loaf, but quite moist as well. In conditions of taste, it was a superior lemon loaf with a lot of tang and just ample sweetness. We’ll be producing this one particular once again.

2. Broma Bakery: Lemon Loaf (Starbucks Copycat!)

Recipe Notes: The recipe works by using bitter product and milk in the batter. It termed for the the very least volume of eggs (2). Recipe boasted a wealthy glaze with cream and butter.

When it will come to a Starbucks Copycat, we definitely preferred this a person. Even though texturally it wasn’t an precise match to Starbucks, it was lighter and fluffier—which we practically desired. The flavor was also nice, with lemon closing out each chunk, and was only created better with the wealthy lemon glaze that was sweet and tangy at the exact time. This was a close next for the ideal lemon loaf cake.

1. Butternut Bakery: Iced Lemon Loaf Cake

Recipe Notes: The recipe utilizes a reverse creaming system for texture. Phone calls for each vegetable oil and butter.

Our winner just edged out the other individuals many thanks to its texture. This recipe takes advantage of the reverse creaming process, in which you cream the butter into all of the dry ingredients with the sugar in its place of just creaming the butter and sugar alongside one another very first. This was certainly voted in general very best and had the closest texture to the Starbucks loaf. It was dense but gentle at the very same time. (Paradoxical, I know, but you’ll recognize when you test it.) And the taste was completely lemony thanks to the glaze, reminding folks of a pound cake with lemon. I may possibly insert some additional zest following time just to truly go all the way with the citrus. But overall, we seriously relished this a single.