Lemon Loaf

By Texaschef11

Ingredients

• For the Lemon Cake
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tea­spoons bak­ing powder
• 1/4 tea­spoon bak­ing soda
• 1 tea­spoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 8 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup grated lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted but­ter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 tea­spoons pure vanilla extract
• For the Lemon Syrup
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup sugar
• For the Lemon Glaze (Optional)
• 2 cups con­fec­tion­ers’ sugar, sifted, or more if needed
• 4 to 6 table­spoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

Step 1

Make the Cake:
Pre­heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the sides and bot­tom of two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans with non­stick cook­ing spray. Line the bot­tom with parch­ment paper and spray the paper.

Sift both flours, bak­ing pow­der, bak­ing soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a food proces­sor and pulse until com­bined. With the motor run­ning, driz­zle the but­ter in through the feed tube. Add the sour cream and vanilla and pulse until com­bined. Trans­fer the mix­ture to a large bowl.

Sprin­kle the flour mix­ture, one third at a time, fold­ing gen­tly after each addi­tion until just com­bined. Do not overmix.

Divide the bat­ter evenly between the pre­pared pans. Bake in the cen­ter of the oven for 20 min­utes, rotate the pans, reduce the oven tem­per­a­ture to 325 degrees F., and bake for another 30 to 35 min­utes, or until a tooth­pick inserted in the cen­ter of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.

Mean­while, make the Lemon Syrup:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is com­pletely dis­solved. Once dis­solved, con­tinue to cook for 3 more min­utes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Line a half sheet pan with parch­ment paper and invert the loaves onto the pan. Use a tooth­pick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves.

Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cakes cool com­pletely, at least 30 minutes.

(The soaked but unglazed loaves will keep, wrapped in two lay­ers of plas­tic wrap and frozen, for up to 6 weeks.)
If you like, make the glaze:
In a small bowl, whisk together the con­fec­tion­ers’ sugar and 4 table­spoons of the lemon juice. The mix­ture should be thick but pourable. If the mix­ture is too stiff, add up to another 2 table­spoons lemon juice and whisk again, adding small amounts of lemon juice and/or con­fec­tion­ers’ sugar until you get the right con­sis­tency. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 min­utes, before serving.

The glazed loaves will keep for up to 3 days, wrapped tightly in plas­tic wrap, at room temperature.