Lemon and Sour Cream Loaf Cake with Lemon Glaze

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I know you’re probably in the middle of Easter baking and food planning, but I just wanted to slide this in here in case you needed a quick wee weekend (or anytime) baking project. I posted a while back on IG about revamping this loaf cake to include a lemon version, which I attempted last week. After about four tweaks, I realised that it wasn’t the right base recipe to be using for a lemon loaf cake - in order to get enough lemon flavour in, I was having to up the liquid to a level that was making the cake super oily and weird. So I bailed on the ricotta idea, and went in the direction of lemon and sour cream, which is one of my fave combos.

Lemon and sour cream isn’t the first combination that comes to mind when you think of lemon, but it makes a lot of sense - the smooth flavour of the sour cream plays with the tartness of the lemon juice and lemon zest. The moisture gives the cake a beautifully tender crumb, which is enhanced by the melted butter and almond meal also in the batter. This is a quick stir together cake, which, once baked, is doused in an easy lemon syrup, which again lends more moisture and helps elevate the punchy flavour of the lemon. I then finished the whole thing with a thick lemony glaze.

I know I say this about almost everything that I make, but this is definitely going to become a firm favourite around here. One of my goals this year was to share some ‘simple’ recipes alongside the multi component ones that I often gravitate toward - recipes that can be made without a stand mixer, or without any fancy ingredients or kitchen equipment (I don’t consider a scale to be fancy, if you don’t have one already you better get on it). This cake is made with just two bowls and a whisk, meaning it is super easy to throw together, regardless of your kitchen situation. Happy loaf caking! x

A few wee tips:

• I ran out of sour cream during one of the tests, so I subbed some full fat greek yoghurt and it worked great. Creme fraiche would also work - you just want something of a similar consistency and moisture / fat content (so no buttermilk or cream cheese etc).
• When you line the pan for this, make sure that you have some overhang so that you have something to pull the cake out of the pan with. I like to clip down the parchment paper with some small bulldog clips while I transfer the batter to the loaf pan, but make sure that you take them off before baking - i’ve baked clips into a cake before, and it’s not super cute.
• If you like, you can finish this with some lemon zest.
• I like adding the syrup while the cake is still a bit warm, so that it absorbs it nicely, but wait until it is properly cooled before adding the lemon glaze, so that it does not run off the cake. The glaze will look super rough when you first put it on, but it will settle and become smooth in a minute or two.
• I like my glaze to be quite thick - but by all means feel free to make yours a little thinner if you like. I usually start with 30g of lemon juice, mix it until fully incorporated, then add more just a little squeeze at a time. You need the glaze to be thicker than you think or it goes everywhere.

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