This perfectly lemony, high altitude lemon loaf cake is rich and moist, with a dense but fluffy crumb, topped with sweet and tart lemon icing, while plenty of fresh lemon juice and zest adds so much flavor. The cake itself isn’t too sweet, so the lemon icing is the perfect finish for this simple but delicious cake.
Looking for more lemon recipes? You’ll love these lavender lemonade honey popsicles, lemon tart, lemon poppy seed cream cheese muffins, and lemon crumb bars.
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Why You’ll Love This Cake
Quick and Easy to Make. Making the cake batter is a quick process of creaming butter and sugar, then adding the wet and dry ingredients.
Perfect Pound Cake Texture. I love the dense cake crumb that’s so rich, moist, buttery and full of lemon flavor. Whether you call this lemon bread or lemon cake, it’s worth making over and over.
Stays Fresh for Days. One of the best things about pound cake is how soft and moist they stay for days after baking. Three days after baking this cake, it was still as fresh tasting as when it came out of the oven.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cake
- Unsalted Butter. Makes the cake moist, rich and flavorful.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Eggs. Gives the cake structure and richness.
- Flour. All-purpose flour adds structure and strength.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Lemons. Fresh lemon zest and juice adds flavor and acidity for a tender cake crumb.
- Sour Cream. Adds moisture and acidity for a soft, tender cake crumb.
- Vanilla + Lemon Extracts. Flavor.
Icing
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Lemon Juice. Thins the icing to a pourable consistency and adds tartness to balance the sweetness.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a standard-sized loaf pan (9×5 inches) with a piece of parchment paper so that the paper hangs over two sides. This makes it easy to lift the cake out of the pan. Position the oven rack in the center of the oven.
- Zest the lemons over the sugar, then use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and lemon sugar for 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down several times.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating each for 10 seconds before adding the next.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Take the lemons that you zested, cut them in half, and juice them. You’ll need 1/4 cup of juice. Whisk the lemon juice together with the sour cream and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the lemon juice mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix just until mostly combined, then use a spatula to fold in any remaining bits of flour. The batter will be thick.
- Spread the batter into the loaf pan. Bake on the center oven rack for about 55-65 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, then lift the cake out by grabbing onto the overhang of parchment paper. Set on a cooling rack to cool to room temperature before pouring on the icing and serving.
Icing
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until the icing is a smooth, thick drizzling consistency.
- Pour the icing over the cake, letting it drip down the sides. The icing will set in about 15-20 minutes.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely. Just double the recipe to make a large, standard-sized bundt cake (12-cup capacity).
I recommend this lemon cake recipe for a layer cake.
Either works, but I recommend fresh lemon juice, since you need fresh lemons for their zest anyway. The zest adds more lemon flavor to the cake than just the juice on its own.
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High Altitude Lemon Loaf Cake (Iced Lemon Bread)
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 9×5 Inch Bread Loaf Pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp fresh lemon zest (from 2 small lemons)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 small lemons)
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 ½ – 3 tbsp lemon juice (from 1 small lemon)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a standard-sized loaf pan (9×5 inches) with a piece of parchment paper so that the paper hangs over two sides. This makes it easy to lift the cake out of the pan. Position the oven rack in the center of the oven.
- Zest the lemons over the sugar, then use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and lemon sugar for 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down several times.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating each for 10 seconds before adding the next.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Take the lemons that you zested, cut them in half, and juice them. You'll need 1/4 cup of juice. Whisk the lemon juice together with the sour cream and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the lemon juice mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix just until mostly combined, then use a spatula to fold in any remaining bits of flour. The batter will be thick.
- Spread the batter into the loaf pan. Bake on the center oven rack for about 55-65 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, then lift the cake out by grabbing onto the overhang of parchment paper. Set on a cooling rack to cool to room temperature before pouring on the icing and serving.
Icing
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until the icing is a smooth, thick drizzling consistency.
- Pour the icing over the cake, letting it drip down the sides. The icing will set in about 15-20 minutes.
Video
Notes
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
This was my first time making any kind of loaf and it turned out perfectly! I had to cook it for a few minutes longer but was very successful!
This baked up perfectly at 8600 ft. Delicious!
This recipe is a WINNER guys!! I doubled this recipe to make a Bundt cake for a work event and it was an absolute hit! It was so moist, the perfect amount of lemon flavor, and multiple people asked for the recipe after.
A few tips if you’re going the Bundt cake route: Grease and flour the pan and you’ll have no issues with sticking. Ice in two phases, in order to get it to stick, rather than just soaking into the cake. Ice on a cooling rack over a sheet pan, in order to prevent pooling of icing in the middle of the Bundt cake. And you may need to cook a little longer than 60 min—trust your cake tester/skewer! (For context, I’m also in Denver.)
i never bake, maybe once every two years so i am by no means an expert but i measured everything in grams (i’ve read it’s better for baking). also, i made a few tweaks to the recipe because I live 2 inches shy of 7000′ elevation. the changes i made were using 3 eggs, olive oil (118g) instead of butter and 1 pint fresh blueberries (approximately 150g folded in at the end, then sprinkled the remaining on top). I also liberally sprinkled turbinado sugar on the top (i saw it in another lemon load recipe) oh, i did not use lemon extract. as for baking due to elevation i increased the heat to 350 degrees for exactly 60 minutes turning the pan at the half way mark. i then decreased the heat to 335 for 10 minutes. turned the oven off, opened the door and let it sit. OH MY WAS IT DELICIOUS! i promptyl baked another one for a party tomorrow night. (Curly girl, i’m a curly girl, too!)
This recipe is my go for when I have company over or for when I need a hostess gift. Everyone loves it and it always turns out perfect. I struggled with baking in Ridgway, Colorado at 9000 feet but your recipes have made me enjoy baking again. Thank you!
Curious – adjustments for muffins and how many muffins this recipe would make. Thanks!
I wouldn’t use this recipe for muffins, personally. Try this lemon muffin recipe instead: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/lemon-poppyseed-cream-cheese-crumb-muffins/
I’m hosting a girls poker party in a couple of days and so I made this as a trial run for the dessert, and while I made a couple of mistakes, it still turned out delicious. I used more zest than called for which wasn’t a mistake. One of my mistakes was not paying attention to the loaf pan that I used. Mine was a bit bigger and I baked it For 60 minutes, that being the middle of what’s recommended. Because my pan was bigger and I cooked it for five minutes longer than the shortest baking time, it was just a tiny bit dry on the ends and sides, but the flavor was definitely there and the further toward the center my husband and I got, the more tender and perfect the crumb was! Doing my second bake tomorrow paying attention to everything, and I know it’s gonna be absolutely perfect and my girlfriends will be very impressed!
I only have a hand mixer. How do I proceed? I really want to make this recipe.