Lemon is a vital, refreshing ingredient in most of our households. I feel it is a magical all-rounder fruit that we consume almost everyday. We consume it in so many variations. We even use it on our skin and hair for natural cure, and also we go to the extent of using it as a cleaning agent in our house and garden. The wonders of this fruit is just incredible and refreshing to the whole body.

Every time I find some fresh juicy lemons at the market, I want to buy them to make pitchers of lemonade or to include it in my baking.

Lately my new found love; with the lemon has to be the – Lemon Loaf. It is a soft and moist pound cake that is infused with citrusy flavor and topped with some lemon infused glaze. It has become a repeat in our household, and my husband declared that it tastes way better than the Starbucks version! A bonus: it is dairy free.

By the way: those are NOT Lemon leaves in that picture. I just used them to add some green to the picture.

Now, back to food talk. I want to share one simple trick that I learnt along the way to perfect a moist pound cake. We need to beat the margarine really, really well. I would recommend a handheld beater or a stand mixer for this recipe. You want to get your yellow, pale margarine to turn into an almost white, creamy and fluffy texture.

The rest is pretty straightforward. When you follow the steps, you will see how quickly you can whip up a treat for the entire family. The icing on this cake, is a citrusy glaze that will harden perfectly when rested for a few minutes. It is not too intense; but it will add a sweet refreshing taste with every single bite you take.

If you are like me, who goes overboard on Lemon craziness, you can grate some lemon zest on top of the cake for some extra kick as well as for some aesthetics.

Lemon Loaf

Serves 6 – 8 | Prep-time 25 mins | Cook-time 55 mins

Ingredients :

• 1 1/2 cups of Unbleached Flour
• 1 cup of Light Brown Sugar
• 1 cup of Margarine
• 3 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
• pinch of Baking Soda
• 1 Lemon for Zest
• 2 tablespoons of fresh Lemon Juice

Directions :

• Take the margarine and eggs out of the refrigerator and let it get to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F° or 170 C°.
• Grease a 9×5×3 inch loaf pan with margarine or non-stick baking spray, and line parchment sheet to the bottom.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda together and keep aside.
• Use a Zester or a Grater and zest the lemon. Mix in the lemon zest with the sugar and keep aside.
• Take a large bowl and beat the margarine well until it’s soft, fluffy and turned into an almost white color.
• Add the sugar+zest mixture and beat it until everything is well combined.
• Add the eggs one at a time to the mixture and beat it well until the batter is creamy.
• Mix in the vanilla extract into the batter and combine well.
• Add the lemon juice to the batter and mix well.
• Finally add the flour; use a spatula to fold in the batter and combine well until all the flour is mixed into the batter.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 -55 minutes, until skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Notes :

• I have used Unbleached flour in this recipe as a personal choice, but all purpose, regular flour too will do the job.
• I have used Brown sugar in this recipe which is sweeter than the regular sugar. But regular sugar will work fine.
• Margarine can be substituted with Butter.
• Remember to zest the lemon before squeezing the juice out. Only grate the yellow skin. Do not take the white inner part of the lemon skin, as it will yield a bitter taste to the recipe.
• Folding in the flour to the batter – gently mixing in with a spatula rather than stirring or beating vigorously. This way the batter will remain fluffy with incorporated air bubbles from the beating. Also this reduces the excess gluten formation.
• A medium lemon should give around 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice. So for this recipe you might need 1 and half lemons.

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients :

• 2 cups of Powdered Sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons of fresh Lemon Juice

Directions :

• Take a medium bowl and add in the powdered sugar.
• Mix in the lemon juice one table spoon at a time and whisk until the mixture turns into a glossy, smooth texture.
• Keep the cake on a wire track with a tray lined to the bottom. Pour in the glaze to the top of the cake and let it sit for 8-10 minutes. Any excess glaze will be collected in the bottom tray for an easy cleanup.