Sourdough Lemon Loaf Cake

This easy sourdough lemon loaf cake is the perfect one bowl recipe to make when you need something sweet. It’s soft, buttery, bursting with lemon flavor and can be made with starter or discard. The simple sweet and tangy lemon glaze adds an extra pop to the flavor, and makes the loaf look extra special.

If you love lemon recipes, you’re going to enjoy these sourdough lemon crinkle cookies and these sourdough lemon muffins. You might also like this blueberry lemon sourdough bread and this sourdough discard cake with dates and lemon drizzle.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe!

One Bowl Recipe – mix this batter in one bowl with a whisk. It can be prepped in 10 minutes and placed in the oven to do all the work.

Bright Lemon Flavor – lemon zest and extract combine to bring lots of lemon flavor to the loaf. Lemon juice is mixed into the glaze, which adds an additional sweet lemon flavor, and pairs perfectly with the slight tang of the sourdough.

Use Starter or Discard – you can either use active sourdough starter or discard in this recipe. It’s a great way to use whatever you have more of on hand.

Ingredients

• Butter – I’ve used salted butter. You want your butter melted, but let it cool a bit before adding so it doesn’t start to cook the eggs.
• Sugar – white granulated sugar keeps the flavor simple and allows the lemon to shine in this recipe.
• Eggs – use large eggs. My eggs are around 60g each.
• Lemon Extract – I love the extra lemon flavor from the extract. Just a small amount is used to really enhance the lemon here without needing multiple lemons.
• Milk – I’ve used whole milk in this recipe. You can use a non-dairy milk if you prefer.
• Lemon – you’ll use the zest of the lemon in the loaf mix and the juice of the lemon to make the glaze.
• Sourdough Starter – starter or sourdough discard will work great in this recipe.
• All Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Powdered Sugar – powdered sugar mixes with lemon juice to make a simple and tasty glaze.

How to Make Sourdough Lemon Loaf Cake

I created this recipe from my sourdough vanilla cupcakes recipe. Long story short, we had friends coming for a play date and I needed something quick and easy I could have baking in the oven while I tidied the house. Voila, this sourdough lemon loaf cake was born!

Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

Add the melted butter, sugar and eggs to a bowl and whisk until well combined. Then add the milk lemon extract, lemon zest and sourdough starter, mixing until well combined.

On top of the wet ingredient mixture, add the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Lightly whisk the mixture until it forms a batter. You don’t want to over mix it here – you don’t want a lot of air in this mixture.

Pour the mixture into a buttered loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 175C (350F).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for around 30 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Make The Lemon Glaze

Mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until a smooth glaze forms. Drizzle over the cooled cake. Garnish with lemon zest if desired.

If you prefer a cream cheese frosting, you can add some extra powdered sugar to my vanilla cream cheese frosting featured in my sourdough cinnamon rolls recipe.

How to Store + Freeze

While this is super easy to throw together, it also freezes really well! I love having individual slices (popped in a ziploc bag) in the freezer when I need a quick little treat with coffee! You can store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

If you don’t plan to freeze this loaf, store in a ziploc bag or an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Share the sourdough love!