Better Than Starbucks Lemon Loaf

If you like lemon cake as much as I do (the one offered at Starbucks in particular) and if, also like me, you have been looking for a truly good recipe for said lemon cake, and have continued to come up short, have I got a cake for you! I have tried recipe after recipe, and while all of them are perfectly good, none of them have the deep lemon flavor for which I long. Finally, after much experimentation (and inches added to my hips), I have come up with the be-all of lemon loaf cakes in this tasty recipe.

One of the things that makes this cake particularly good is the use of lemon oil. I use Boyajian Lemon Oil from Sur la Table and, no, this isn't a sponsored post. I just love stocking lemon, orange, and lime oils in the pantry, the addition of which truly takes whatever citrus dessert that I'm making right over the top. Fresh lemon juice is also the key, and from flavorful Meyer lemons. Lastly, lemon zest, and lots of it, provides a dense and fresh lemon lift. When using zests, always, always use organic citrus. Heaven only knows what you'll be putting into your baked goods by way of toxins and pesticides if you don't.

Better Than Starbucks Lemon Loaf

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pure Lemon oil 
3 extra-large eggs
1/3 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (I use Melissa's)
1 Tablespoon Meyer lemon zest (ditto)
1/2 cup canola oil

Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon cream
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon oil

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 9” x 5” loaf pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients; set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer, cream sugar and butter. Add vanilla, lemon oil, and eggs, beating after each addition. Beat in lemon juice. With mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients, alternating with oil. Beat until blended.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake in the center of the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until cake tests done. Remove loaf from oven. Let rest in pan for ten minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When loaf is cool, whisk together glaze ingredients and pour over top. When icing has set, slice and enjoy.

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Individual Bing Cherry-Lemon Cakes

 I am in love with Weck jars. A German production since1900, these easy-to-fill, rust free jars (the glass lids mean no caps and rings), have been delighting home canners for more than a century. But while they are great for canning, they are also the perfect size for small, layered salads, mini parfaits, puddings, custards, layered dips, and...for baking darling little cakes like these. One look at this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website, and there was no doubt that these cakes were in my future. 

I knew that, lover of lemon that I am, I would double the amount of zest.  Being a cherry lover I also knew that my cakes would have a Bing Cherry sauce rather than blueberry. After all, it is Bing Cherry season, time to enjoy them to their fullest, and make as many different recipes as possible.  Plus, my version allows for a chocolate-covered cherry on top, making them irresistible!

Considering that I'd made the sauce a couple of days ahead (You can find the recipe here.), putting these together was a breeze. They bake up perfectly and, if you need to take these to a picnic or pot luck, all you have to do is snap on the glass jar lid, and you're good to go. I topped mine with tiny scoops of vanilla ice cream (I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to do this.) and a cherry.

Here is the original recipe from the kitchens of Williams-Sonoma.  Try their version, and then try mine with cherries. Let me know what you think.  Either way, I'm sure that you'll love them.

Individual Blueberry-Lemon Cakes

Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries

1/4 cup plus 6 Tbs. sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tsp. cornstarch

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat a Breville Smart convection oven to 375°F convection. Grease the insides of six 5.4-oz. Weck mini mold jars. Line the oven’s baking tray with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries and the 1/4 cup sugar and cook, stirring until the sugar is mostly dissolved, 3 to 4 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch and stir into the saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and the 6 Tbs. sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture, whisking until the batter is just combined.

Spoon 1 Tbs. blueberry mixture into the bottom of each jar. Top each with 1/4 cup batter and then 1 Tbs. blueberry mixture. Place the jars on the prepared baking tray and transfer to the oven. Bake until the tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely in the jars before serving. Serves 6.

These are the jars that I used, click the image to go to the site:

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