Moist Lemon Loaf Cake
This cake is ultra-moist and lemony, because that’s how we LOVE it at home. The secrets? A bit of cream or yoghurt in the dough and lemon syrup poured over the cake when still hot.
I did several tests before deciding that this was the ONE. My ultimate lemon cake recipe. Here are my tips and tricks for this recipe:
- Combine very finely grated lemon zests (I like to use a mycroplane grater) with sugar and let it stand for a moment so that lemon flavors infuse in sugar and are enhanced. If possible do this step 1 hour in advance, at least 30 minutes.
- The recipe don’t contains much butter for a lighter outcome, but has cream instead (or yoghurt).
- Don’t bake at too high temperature otherwise hot oven will quickly form a crust and the result won’t be as moist as it should be.
- Unmold the cake right after you take it out of the oven so that the hot mold won’t continue to cook the cake.
- Syrup is great to give a lemony and an even more tender twist to the cake, and it will work better if the cake is still hot. I prefer syrup that drizzle which is too sweet for me.

Moist Lemon Loaf Cake
Ingredients
For the batter
- 160 gr sugar
- 4 eggs
- 110 gr whipping cream / crème fraîche or yoghurt
- 180 gr flour
- 11 gr baking powder
- 70 gr butter melted + 1 knob to grease the pan
- 40 gr lemon juice about 1 lemon
- lemon zest of the 2 lemons (the one for the cake and the one for the syrup)
For the syrup
- 40 gr lemon juice about 1 lemon
- 30 gr sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 165°C / 330°F.
Prepare the batter and bake
- Zest the 2 lemons (the one of the cake and the one of the syrup), ideally using a microplane grater to get thin zests.
- Combine lemon zests with sugar and, ideally, let it stand for at least 30 minutes. Whisk the eggs with sugar until the mixture whitens and you get a smooth texture.
- Then add the other ingredients: cream, flour and baking powder, then melted butter and lemon juice. Combine until homogeneous.
- Grease the mold, eventually add a tablespoon of flour, coat the inside of the mold, and flip to remove any excess of flour.
- Bake at 165°C / 330°F for 40 to 45 minutes.
Pour syrup over hot cake
- Meanwhile, prepare syrup. Heat the juice of the second lemon with sugar, stir so that sugar dissolves in the hot liquid.
- Check if the cake is well baked with a sharp knife. It should come out dry. Unmold the cake and immediately after, thus when still hot, pour over the syrup.
- Let the cake cool down before eating.
Bon appétit !
Did your recipe leave out the lemon that goes into the batter? Or perhaps the only lemon is added after the back? I’ confused, I want to make this…
Bonjour Graham, I’m sorry it seems the recipe instructions were not clear enough. I rewrote it to make it clearer. In the batter zests of 2 lemons + juice of 1 lemon. In the syrup juice of 1 lemon. Don’t hesitate if you have other questions
Does the lemon cake require two lemons, one for the cake and the other for the syrup? Thank you.
Bonjour, I modified the recipe instructions to make it clearer. We need 2 lemons 1 for the cake and 1 for the syrup. In the cake zests of both lemons are used. I hope this is clearer now. Thank you for asking and sorry if it was not clear enough