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.
A loaf is named cake in French
Before sharing my recipe I wanted to share a fun fact. In French, we name loaves cakes, I mean the cakes baked in a rectangular loaf tin: cake.
So In French cookbooks, food blogs or restaurant menus, each time you see a cake, then you’ll can be sure we talk about loaf.
To name a round cake which is the classic shape in France, we use the word gâteau which means cake. Or gâteau a manqué.
My tips for a lemony ultra moist lemon cake
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 zest (I like to use a Microplane 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 doesn’t contain much butter for a lighter outcome but has cream instead (or yogurt).
- Baking temperature: Don’t bake at too high a 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.
- The 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
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.
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 ml 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 flour.
- Bake at 165°C / 330°F for 40 to 45 minutes.
Prepare syrup and pour syrup over hot cake
- 10 minutes before cake is baked, 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.
Notes
If needed, please refer to the conversion and measures article here
The main steps: Prepare batter by combining all ingredients and bake. Meanwhile, make the syrup and pour over the hot cake.
Baling time 45 min. cake and 5 to 10 min. syrup (not additional as prepared while the cake is baking)
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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
THIS IS AMAZING
one problem is that the timing with the syrup and the cake don’t correlate so I made the syrup a bit early, and it cooled down.
What size loaf pan do you use?
French loaf pans usually have 2 sizes: 24 cm (9.5 inches) or 28 cm (11 inches) long. The pan used here is 28×11 cm (11×4.3 inches). Note that French loaf pans are a bit smaller at the bottom.