The BEST Homemade Lemon Bread

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Lemon lovers rejoice! Grab a few lemons and make this old fashioned lemon bread like grandma used to make- that is so tender and moist and topped with a lemon cream cheese glaze!

Ok, I seriously couldn’t wait to share this recipe with you. This is for all you lemon lovers out there.  I also need to get rid of the second loaf in my kitchen before I eat every single crumb of it. Yup, it’s that good.

Since then, I also made a lemon raspberry version with a delicious lemon glaze. Totally finger licking delicious.

I decided I need a new version on the blog and that’s where this version was dreamed up. I kept to the lemon only this time. Simple and delicious. I decided to switch up the glaze and turn it into a lemon cream cheese glaze this time. I had some cream cheese in the freezer and it was definitely a good choice. The cream cheese adds a great tanginess that I love.

Although even without the glaze, this bread, or pound cake, is truly spectacular. I just can’t help glazing, sprinkling, frosting things when I have a chance.

How To Make Lemon Bread – Step By Step

Step 1 – Measure Out Your Dry Ingredients

First you want to grease and flour your loaf pans. And preheat your oven. 

start by measuring out your dry ingredients. You want to whisk them together to make sure they are evenly combined. 

Be sure to measure your flour correctly. If you over measure your flour it could result in a dense bread as opposed to light and fluffy. 

Step 2- Creaming

You want to then cream your softened butter and sugar together in  stand mixer fitted with your paddle attachment. Or you can use a hand mixer as well. 

Pro Tip: Soften your butter quickly if you forgot to take it out of ahead of time. 

Then add in your room temperature eggs. The mixture may curdle a bit on you, but don’t worry it will smooth back out once you add the dry ingredients back in. 

Pro Tip: If you forget to take your eggs out ahead of time, then place them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using. 

Step 3 – Zest Your Lemons

Then go ahead and zest your lemons in a separate bowl. 

Pro Tip: Turn the zester over so you can collect the zest and make sure you don’t go down to the white pith, bitter part of the rind.

Step 4: Add Your Sour cream and vanilla.

Now to the zest, mix in your sour cream and vanilla extract. 

Step 5: Alternate Your Ingredients

Then you want to alternate the dry ingredients with the sour cream mixture. Start and end with your dry ingredients. This is so you don’t weigh down the creamed mixture too much.

Pro Tip: Be sure to not over mix. I like to finish off the last bit of mixing by hand!

Step 6: Pour And Bake!

Then divide your batter into your prepared loaf pans and bake! Make sure to bake in a preheated oven on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. And then cool on a wire rack. 

Once it’s cooled make your fresh lemon glaze and drizzle over the top. If the glaze is too thick you can always thin it out with a bit more lemon juice or heavy cream as well. 

A few baking tips for this lemon bread:

1. Measuring your flour correctly–  Just repeat after me- spoon, repeat, level. In other words, spoon the flour in (don’t pack it down in), repeat until it’s a little over the top. Then level it off with a knife.  If you want to know more on not just how, but also the why behind measuring your flour correctly then give this post a read.
2. Zesting– I used two very large lemons for this bread. To be accurate though, I also measured it out for you as well. I used one whole tablespoon of zest (so this might take 3-4 lemons if yours weren’t jumbo size like mine). If you are unfamiliar with zesting, you want only the bright colored outer skin and you want to stop zesting when you see the white layer underneath. That white layer is not tasty, bitter, and will ruin your end product. So in other words, stop zesting at that point. Hold your microplane on top of the fruit, so you can see how much you are zesting, as opposed to holding the fruit on top.
3. Mixing your wet and dry ingredients– This recipe has you mixing your wet ingredients in a small bowl separately (which is your sour cream, zest, and vanilla). And your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, etc) in another bowl. Then once you have creamed your butter and sugar together, you add your dry and wet ingredients alternately starting with your dry and ending with your dry. Why? You do not want to deflate all of that air you incorporated during the creaming method.  I add mine in 3 batches. I also stop mixing my last dry ingredient batch when there is still a a few streaks of flour left behind in the bowl that way I can ensure that I do not over mix my batter.

What Pan Do I Bake This Lemon Bread In? 

This cake I have put in a bundt pan before, (this is the bundt pan that I own and love) large loaf pans (you get 2 good sized loaves), and also mini loaf pans (you get about 6-8 mini loaves). I have given this pound cake away for gifts before and anyone who tries it falls in love with this pound cake.

The hardest part of this cake? Decided between pretty fancy glaze on top…

And just complete going for it with the glaze and covering every inch possible…

More Lemon Recipes To Check Out:

• Easy Lemon Bars (+Video!)
• Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
• Blueberry Lemon Scones
• Toasted Coconut Lemon Bars

I decided on the latter..can you blame me?

I would love for you to follow along with me on:

Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest,  and Facebook

Happy Baking!

*Listed below are affiliate links. These are products that I own and recommend! I do make a small commission if you click on a link and make a purchase, but it costs you nothing extra. Just helps to keep this one woman show in business!

To make this recipe you will need:

• microplane
• Bundt pan, loaf pans, or mini loaf pans
• Kitchen-aid Stand mixer – this is my new mixer and I love it!
• Sifter
• Mixing bowls – I always recommend using metal bowls for baking because they do not leave behind any grease or residue over time.

Print Recipe

Lemon Bread

A tender moist lemon pound cake topped with a sweet and tangy lemon cream cheese glaze!

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Total Time1 hr 10 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: bread

Keyword: banana bread, lemon, poundcake

Servings: 16 slices (2 9x5 inch loaf pans)

Calories: 419kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Grated zest of 2 lemons about 1 tablespoon
• For the Lemon Glaze
• 4 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Sift  or whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
• In another bowl, combine the lemon zest, vanilla extract and sour cream.
• In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the mixing bowl well after each addition and mix until blended. Add dry and wet ingredients alternately to butter-sugar-egg mixture until uniformly incorporated- do not overmix.
• Grease and flour one bundt cake pan (or 2 large 9x5 loaf pans- or 6-7 mini loaf pans). Pour batter into pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for approximately 50 minutes (be sure to lower the baking time if you are making things smaller). The cake is done when a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before glazing.
• For the glaze: Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pour over top of cake and serve. For a thicker glaze use less lemon juice.

Notes

1. Measuring your flour correctly-  Just repeat after me- spoon, repeat, level. In other words, spoon the flour in (don't pack it down in), repeat until it's a little over the top. Then level it off with a knife.  If you want to know more on not just how, but also the why behind measuring your flour correctly then give this post a read.
2. Zesting- I used two very large lemons for this bread. To be accurate though, I also measured it out for you as well. I used one whole tablespoon of zest (so this might take 3-4 lemons if yours weren't jumbo size like mine). If you are unfamiliar with zesting, you want only the bright colored outer skin and you want to stop zesting when you see the white layer underneath. That white layer is not tasty, bitter, and will ruin your end product. So in other words, stop zesting at that point. Hold your microplane on top of the fruit, so you can see how much you are zesting, as opposed to holding the fruit on top.
3. Mixing your wet and dry ingredients- This recipe has you mixing your wet ingredients in a small bowl separately (which is your sour cream, zest, and vanilla). And your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, etc) in another bowl. Then once you have creamed your butter and sugar together, you add your dry and wet ingredients alternately starting with your dry and ending with your dry. Why? You do not want to deflate all of that air you incorporated during the creaming method.  I add mine in 3 batches. I also stop mixing my last dry ingredient batch when there is still a a few streaks of flour left behind in the bowl that way I can ensure that I do not over mix my batter.

Nutrition

Calories: 419kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 90mg | Sodium: 155mg | Potassium: 85mg | Sugar: 43g | Vitamin A: 12.8% | Vitamin C: 0.6% | Calcium: 4.4% | Iron: 6.5%