By Brandy 13 Comments
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The easiest lemon loaf recipe! Made with the ease of a cake mix and homemade lemon icing, it is absolutley delicious. You’ll love this cake!
You might also like our lemon sugar cookies! Our famous bakery style sugar cookies taken up a notch with a delicious lemon frosting and lemon wedge.
Watch our step by step video!
Easy Lemon Loaf
If you’ve been around for a minute, you know how much I love lemons. You also know that I rarely make cakes from scratch. Why go through the effort when boxed cake mixes work amazingly well?
I took a series of cake decorating classes years ago, and one of the biggest takeaways that I got from my instructor was that boxed cake mixes are the way to go 90% of the time. She shared several tips for doctoring up a cake mix to make it your own and I’ve found it super helpful over the years!This lemon cake is no exception. Our lemon loaf is ridiculously easy to make with the aid of a lemon cake mix, but don’t worry—-you still get ALL THE CREDIT.
The addition of sour cream makes this lemon loaf amazingly moist. You can add 1/2 cup or 1 cup. 1 cup will yield a richer/slightly denser loaf, and 1/2 will be a little lighter but still moist. Our homemade lemon frosting is my FAVORITE to add to cookies and cupcakes. I like spreading it across my cooled lemon loaf, then letting it chill until it sets up, making it easier to cut into slices.
Loaf Ingredients
- lemon cake mix
- eggs
- water
- oil
- sour cream
Lemon Frosting Ingredients
- butter
- lemon juice
- powdered sugar
Baking your loaf couldn’t be easier. Mix the ingredients together using an electric mixer. Stir in sour cream. Bake for about an hour in a loaf pan then let the pan cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaf and letting it cool completely on a rack.
This bakes in a standard 9×5” loaf pan and the pan will be very full. It may take over an hour to bake.
To make this in two smaller loaf pans (8×4”) start checking for doneness around 35 minutes.
Frost the cooled loaf with the lemon icing then chill until the icing is set. This recipe yields 12 slices of delicious, tangy, cake. This cake can be stored in the refrigerator or at room temperature for several days.
More lemon recipes you’ll love!
Lemon Curd Mini Cheesecakes
Lemon Blueberry Scones
Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
Easy Lemon Loaf Recipe
Easy Lemon Loaf Cake
The easiest lemon loaf recipe! Made with the ease of a cake mix and homemade lemon icing, it is absolutley delicious. You'll love this cake!
4.25 from 12 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour hour
Cool: 2 hours hours
Total Time: 3 hours hours 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 435kcal
Ingredients
Lemon Loaf
- 1 box lemon cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sour cream
Frosting
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x5" loaf pan with non stick cooking spray. Line bottom with a piece of parchment paper.
Stir cake mix, oil, water and eggs together. Beat with electric mixer 1 minute.
Stir in sour cream.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 60 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean, it is done.
Let loaf cool 10 minutes. Run butter knife around edges of loaf and pan. Turn pan over to remove cake. Peel off parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
Let cake cool completely.
Mix butter, lemon juice and powdered sugar togehter. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
Frost top of lemon loaf. Refrigerate until set.
Notes
This bakes in a standard 9x5” loaf pan and the pan will be very full. It may take over an hour to bake.
To make this in two smaller loaf pans (8x4”) start checking for doneness around 35 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 435kcal
Brandy
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Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
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About Brandy
Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
Disclaimer: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com without any additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Sany saysHi! How do you think I could adjust this with a yellow cake mix?
Reply
- Brandy says
You could add lemon zest and lemon extract to the cake batter!
Reply
- Debbie james says
Do you use a regular lemon cake mix or the lemon pound cake mix?
Reply
- Brandy says
Regular lemon cake mix!
Reply
- Kelly says
I followed your recipe to a T.. the middle never cooked I was so excited lolReply
- Brandy says
Every oven cooks differently so adding time should have helped. It’s basically just a cake baked in a 9×5 pan instead of a 9×13.
Reply
- Clarissa Kovats says
Can I make this this loaf using a white pound cake mix by adding lemon pudding and fresh lemon juice?
Reply
- Clarissa says
This is a queation! Can I make this lemon recipe from a white pound cake mix by adding lemon pudding mix
and fresh lemon juice>Reply
- Brandy says
I don’t see why not. 🙂
Reply
- Tricia says
I made this last night. I’ve looked for an easy lemon cake similar to Starbucks lemon loaf cake and this is it! Very easy and so so good.
Reply
- Brandy says
Yay! I’m so glad to hear this! Lemon is my favorite cake flavor. 🍋
Reply
- Hailey says
The texture was WAY too thick as there was too much egg. The flavour was also giving more egg than lemon.Reply
- Brandy says
Not sure what went wrong with yours as every lemon cake mix calls for 3 eggs. This is essentially a lemon cake mix, and the same ingredients that go with it (from the back of the box), with the exception of adding sour cream.
Reply
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