Glazed Lemon Loaf Cake

This is the BEST Glazed Lemon Loaf Cake recipe. The lemon pound cake is super easy and foolproof to make, then gets drizzled with an easy lemon syrup and glazed with the best lemon glaze.

Ingredients

Cake:

1 cup butter softened

3 large eggs room temperature preferred

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup sour cream room temperature preferred; OR Greek yogurt

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1-2 lemons

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest about 1 lemon; zest before cutting in half/juicing

2 cups flour spooned and levelled (240g or 8.5 ounces; do NOT over-measure flour! If you have kitchen scales, I highly recommend weighing your flour!)

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Lemon syrup:

½ cup lemon juice about 3 lemons; please measure juice before adding icing sugar

1 cup icing sugar sifted if clumpy

Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar sifted if clumpy

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice about ½ lemon

Instructions

Prep: Preheat oven to 360°F. Line a 9x5 inch (OR 8x4 inch) loaf pan with baking parchment.

Cream ingredients: Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer using the beater attachments until creamy (you can also use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment). Add eggs and sugar and cream until light in color and fluffy. Add sour cream, lemon zest and lemon juice; mix until combined (it's OK if it looks split and scraggly).

Add dry ingredients: Add flour to bowl with creamed ingredients, then sprinkle baking powder and salt on top. Mix on low with your mixer, until you have a smooth batter.

Bake: Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before adding the syrup (leave cake in pan).

Syrup: Combine ½ cup lemon juice with 1 cup icing sugar. Using a skewer, poke several holes into cake, about ¾ into the cake (do not poke holes all the way down to bottom of cake!). Brush syrup over cake, waiting for syrup to soak in before adding more. Let cake sit in pan for 10 more minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Glaze: Mix 1 cup icing sugar and 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth and barely pourable (it's a thick glaze). Carefully spread on top of completely cooled cake. Let firm up for at least 10 minutes before serving.