lemon loaf

When I was living in Canada, I used to frequent Starbucks from my office—my daily order would be a Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew and a slice of Lemon Loaf. We don’t have Starbucks where I live now (arguably we have better coffee here anyway), but I miss my routine order. This is a copycat recipe of the Starbucks Lemon Loaf—at least I think so anyway. I can’t remember what theirs tastes like anymore.

recipe:

• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
• 2 eggs
• splash of vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup (125ml) buttermilk—or alternatively, add 1 tsp of white vinegar to regular milk
• zest & juice of a lemon
• 1 & 1/2 cup (225g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• glaze: 1 cup (130g) powdered sugar, 1 tbsp milk, 1 tbsp lemon juice

method:

1. Cream together room temperature butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. Add buttermilk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. If mixture begins to curdle, don’t worry—it’s supposed to look like that.
3. Sift in flour and baking powder and gently fold in. (Optional: add poppyseeds at this step.)
4. Transfer batter to loaf tin and preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius.
5. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into loaf comes out clean.
6. Let loaf cool completely, then make glaze and pour over entire loaf.
7. You’re done!