Quick and easy lemon cake recipe for loaf pan cake recipe for guests and birthdays with a simple recipe that can be adjusted to enhance the lemon flavor if needed.
🇩🇪🇺🇸One recipe, two kitchens — grams ⇄ cups, switch right in the card.
This is my go-to cake for guests and birthdays: quick to mix, fragrant and wonderfully fresh. Simple ingredients, one loaf pan, and the perfect partner for an afternoon coffee.
Lemon loaf cake is the German Zitronenkuchen, and it is the cake most likely to be sitting under a dome on a kitchen counter. Simple butter cake, a lot of lemon, and a thin sugar glaze that cracks when you slice it.
Zest carries the flavor, not juice. Lemon juice is mostly water and acid, and too much of it makes the crumb heavy — the aromatic oils live in the peel. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips before creaming; it releases the oils and perfumes the whole batter. Use unwaxed or well-scrubbed lemons, since most US supermarket lemons are coated.
Place ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl and mix slowly at first with the stand mixer, then increase speed until a smooth batter is formed overall.
Pour the dough into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 60-70 minutes at 180 °C. Start 60 minutes timer here
Then let the cake cool on a wire rack and remove from the mold in between.
Finally, mix the frosting in a bowl and spread on the cake. In the refrigerator (wrapped in aluminum foil) the cake keeps for a few days and stays fresh.
Nutrition per serving
197kcal
10 gFat
26 gCarbs
3 gProtein
15 gSugar
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Instructions and preparation of the lemon cake recipe in loaf pan
Place ingredients for the batter in a mixing bowl and mix slowly at first, then mix through on a higher speed until a smooth batter is formed. Pour the dough into a greased loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes at 180 degrees top/bottom heat.
After baking, let cool on a cake rack and remove from the loaf pan in between. Brush the almost cold lemon cake with icing or sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.
For the topping, the lemon cake frosting requires 200ml of powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons of warm water and another packet of grated lemon zest – or just a little powdered sugar to sprinkle on top.
As an alternative to lemon zest, you can also use real lemons, lemon flavoring or lemon juice. If the mixed dough becomes too liquid with this, please add a little more flour so that the finished cake remains firm to the touch.
Just like the traditional marble cake and nut cake, the lemon cake is one of the absolute classics when it comes to cakes from the loaf pan. Especially popular is the lemon cake recipe in loaf pan with lemon flavor in spring and summer. We have the lemon cake recipe right next to our recipe for crunchy waffles without milk, the simple brioche bread, the delicious juicy chocolate cake, the apple crumble cake and the simple sponge cake with cream. However, the lemon cake recipe in loaf pan remains simply the best summer cake recipe.
Depending on your preference in the freshness of lemons, you can adjust the amount of grated lemons, lemon flavoring or even real lemon as you like. Likewise, depending on your preference, you can serve the finished lemon cake with frosting including lemon flavor or just sprinkle it with fluffy powdered sugar if you want to keep it more subtle and simple.
In the lemon cake recipe in a loaf pan, the amount is calculated for a loaf pan, but you can also bake the dough on a baking sheet. The baking time is then shortened, however. In general, you can also pour the dough into different molds or bake small round cakes. If you want to bake small cakes directly, you can also bake small gugelhupfe or muffins from the dough.
Children like it very much when you sprinkle colorful crumbles on the slightly dried icing, so that everyone gets a nice colorful piece. Of course, you can also add the crumbles to the dough, but the colors will then run extremely depending on the crumbles.
Loaf pans are always suitable for different types of cakes. Especially popular are marble cakes and nut cakes. But also juicy loaf cakes with sour cream or cream are very popular. For me, however, getting my loaf pan out of the cupboard usually means baking a Brioche.
When I really think of very traditional birthday cakes, I always see a loaf cake with dark chocolate and lots and lots of colorful M&Ms or Smarties on it. In my mind, though, it’s then a marble cake, but basically a birthday cake works just as well with the lemon cake recipe in box form.
Instead of the colorful chocolate lentils, however, I would then rather press small sugar decorations into the lemon icing and lots and lots of candles for the birthday boy or girl. Always remember, the cake never has to be perfect, but the gesture counts and the effort and love you put into the cake. Time is the most beautiful gift and time together the most beautiful.
Good luck with baking and of course this cake also works with orange flavor or lime flavor and fresh limes, if you prefer to try something out of the ordinary.
I have been baking and cooking for my family and community for years — honest recipes, all tested in my own kitchen and explained step by step so they turn out reliably for you too.
Amazing lemon cake, moist and full of flavor! I’ve baked it twice now and everyone loves it. My tip: dust it with powdered sugar instead of the glaze, and add a little more lemon flavor to the batter – it really rounds it out.
12
VVanessaTeam1 year ago
Thank you for the note, Margarete. Skipping the glaze is a great idea to try sometime too.
7
LLena4 years ago
Fantastic recipe, the cake is light and has a wonderful lemon flavor!
5
VVanessaTeam4 years ago
Thanks so much for your feedback, Lena!
3
SSophie H.2 years ago
Great cake, nice and light and easy to make. Perfect for the afternoon!
2
VVanessaTeam2 years ago
You’re welcome, and enjoy it, Sophie!
1
TThomas B.6 years ago
Delicious cake, nice and moist! Can you make the batter with lime instead of lemon?
1
VVanessaTeam6 years ago
Thank you, Thomas — I don’t see any reason you couldn’t turn the lemon cake into a lime cake. They both have a similar tartness, and limes are just a bit more aromatic.
0
CCharlotte M.3 years ago
The lemon cake is a dream! It comes out wonderfully soft, and the glaze makes it perfect. I used a bit more lemon juice instead of water in the glaze, which made the flavor even more intense. Super easy instructions, even my kids helped out. This one’s going to be a regular in our house now!
0
VVanessaTeam3 years ago
Thanks so much for your comment, Charlotte – you can bump up the amount of citric acid or lemon flavoring as much as you like.
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Comments 10
Amazing lemon cake, moist and full of flavor! I’ve baked it twice now and everyone loves it. My tip: dust it with powdered sugar instead of the glaze, and add a little more lemon flavor to the batter – it really rounds it out.
Thank you for the note, Margarete. Skipping the glaze is a great idea to try sometime too.
Fantastic recipe, the cake is light and has a wonderful lemon flavor!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Lena!
Great cake, nice and light and easy to make. Perfect for the afternoon!
You’re welcome, and enjoy it, Sophie!
Delicious cake, nice and moist! Can you make the batter with lime instead of lemon?
Thank you, Thomas — I don’t see any reason you couldn’t turn the lemon cake into a lime cake. They both have a similar tartness, and limes are just a bit more aromatic.
The lemon cake is a dream! It comes out wonderfully soft, and the glaze makes it perfect. I used a bit more lemon juice instead of water in the glaze, which made the flavor even more intense. Super easy instructions, even my kids helped out. This one’s going to be a regular in our house now!
Thanks so much for your comment, Charlotte – you can bump up the amount of citric acid or lemon flavoring as much as you like.