1 (9 x 5-inch) loaf cake
1 hour 20 minutes
This lemon yogurt loaf is an easy, bakery-style loaf cake with a soft, pillowy crumb and bold citrus flavor. Made with both yogurt and mascarpone to make its texture extra tender and moist, the cake bakes up plush and soft every time, while fresh lemon zest and lemon oil give it a bright, fragrant lemon flavor. It’s perfect for lemon lovers looking for their next favorite lemon bread recipe!
Let’s Talk About This Lemon Yogurt Loaf Recipe
I wanted a lemon loaf that didn’t require dragging out a stand mixer or multiple bowls, so I developed this batter with the goal of making it quick and easy. And indeed—the batter comes together in about 10 minutes with just a whisk! No stand mixer or special equipment is required, making it an approachable recipe for bakers of all skill levels.
The recipe instructs you to pour a simple glaze made from fresh lemon juice over the warm loaf. Doing so allows the glaze to soak into the surface of the cake for added moisture and gives the cake the glossy, shiny finish you find in professional baked goods.
Looking for more classic, delicious cakes made in a loaf pan? Check out this Moist Banana Bread with Sour Cream, one of the most popular recipes on Hummingbird High!
The Secret Ingredients Behind A Super Soft and Tender Cake Crumb
Here’s a rundown of what you need (along with my exact ingredient recommendations and any substitions):
- Canola Oil. Throughout my years of recipe development, I eventually discovered that loaf cakes come out way softer and moister if I used oil instead of butter. Plus, you don’t need to worry about creaming together butter and sugar, helping you save time!
I used canola oil to make my lemon yogurt loaf, but really, you can use whatever neutral flavored oil you have on hand. One day, I’ll probably make an olive oil version of this cake and recommend it to you—alas, I have yet to try it though!
- Mascarpone. I know that it’s annoying to buy a specialty ingredient like mascarpone for a simple loaf cake recipe. But I promise it’s worth it for this cake! The mascarpone gives the lemon yogurt loaf an extra richness and subtle tanginess that you won’t get without it.
In a pinch, you can replace the mascarpone with whole milk yogurt. But I promise splurging for mascarpone is worth it! Use the leftover mascarpone in my 8 Inch Berry Chantilly Sheet Cake (Copycat Whole Foods Recipe)!
- Yogurt. For this recipe, I recommend using plain unsweetened whole milk yogurt. When I tested this recipe with Greek yogurt and alternatives like 0% or low-fat yogurt, it made the loaf cake more dry and less flavorful. So use plain unsweetened whole milk yogurt for the best lemon yogurt loaf cake!
- Lemon Oil or Extract. If you love INTENSE lemon flavor, I recommend splurging on lemon oil (I like Boyajian Pure Lemon Oil) to add to this recipe. Lemon oil is more flavorful than lemon extract (though in a pinch, the same amount of lemon extract works just as well).
Personally, I find that using lemon oil and extract can make baked goods taste too much like cleaning products. If you’re in the same boat as me, I found that this lemon yogurt loaf was PLENTY lemony with just the zest and glaze. If that’s the case, you have my approval to skip the oil or extract!
How To Make The Cake (With Pictures To Guide You)
Although this recipe is perfect for beginners and relatively straightforward, there are a handful of surprising techniques that elevate its results to bakery status. Let’s talk about them:
Making The Lemon Yogurt Cake Batter
Making The Fresh Lemon Glaze
My Best Tips To Help You Make The Recipe
Tips For Working With Fresh Lemons
- For an extremely aromatic cake, look for a large lemon around the size of your palm that you can’t quite close your fingers around. I use this microplane to zest my lemons and LOVE it. Be careful not to overzest the lemons or you’ll end up with a bitter cake! Only zest the yellow parts of the fruit and stop when you get to the white pith.
- Don’t throw out your lemon after you zest it! You need its juice for the lemon glaze.
My Foolproof Techniques For This Cake
- Make sure ingredients like the eggs, mascarpone, and yogurt are at room temperature before making the batter. I learned the hard way—when testing the recipe, if any of the ingredients were cold, my batter turned out too lumpy! Check out this article I wrote for Bon Appetit about how to bring baking ingredients to room temperature quickly. If you love nerding out on baking tips, check out my cookbook, too (the article is an excerpt from it)!
- Because this cake contains a lot of rich fats, it browns incredibly quickly (especially as it nears “doneness”). I recommend peeking inside the oven at 50 minutes. If the top of the cake and its edges look overly brown, place a loose sheet of aluminum foil over the cake.
Get the Recipe:
Super Soft and Tender Lemon Yogurt Loaf
Servings: 1 (9 x 5-inch) loaf cake
This Super Soft and Pillowy Lemon Yogurt Loaf is a quick and easy lemon loaf cake with a plush, tender crumb and bright citrus flavor. Made with yogurt and mascarpone, the batter mixes up in about 10 minutes using just a bowl and a whisk, no stand mixer required. Fresh lemon zest and lemon oil give the cake bold lemon flavor, while a tangy lemon glaze made from real lemon juice adds the perfect finishing touch.
Prevent your screen from going dark
-
First, make the cake. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the long sides. Spray the parchment, too.
-
Mix the dry ingredients for the cake. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
-
Combine the sugar and lemon zest, then whisk in the eggs, mascarpone, yogurt, extracts, and dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar—this will infuse the sugar with oils from the zest. Whisk the eggs into the sugar one at a time, only adding the next egg when the previous one is fully combined. Slowly pour in the oil, whisking slowly and steadily as you stream it in. Add the mascarpone, yogurt, and extracts all at once, and whisk until everything is just combined.Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until there are no lumps and the batter is smooth.
-
Bake the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Set the loaf pan on a sheet pan and bake for 60 to 65 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf cake comes out with a few crumbs attached.
-
Make the lemon glaze. When the cake has about 5 to 10 minutes left in the oven, make the glaze.Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl. Add the corn syrup and 1 Tablespoon of the lemon juice and whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, whisk in 1 teaspoon of the remaining lemon juice until thick but pourable.
-
Glaze the cake. Immediately after pulling the cake out of the oven, pour the glaze over the top of the cake. Use a pastry brush to spread it into a thin layer on top of the cake.
-
Serve and store. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before slicing. The lemon yogurt loaf cake can be stored at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.
buy the book
Weeknight Baking:
Recipes to Fit your Schedule
Over the past several years of running Hummingbird High, I kept a crucial aspect of my life hidden from my readers: I had a full-time, extremely demanding job in the tech world. In my debut cookbook, Weeknight Baking, I finally reveal the secrets to baking delicious desserts on a tight schedule.
