lemon olive oil loaf cake
this lemon olive oil loaf cake is moist, sweet, tart, and full of fresh lemon. from the cake, to the simple syrup and glaze, its bursting with bright lemon flavor. enjoy this easy and delicious cake all spring and summer!
Equipment
- stand mixer with whisk attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters
- 9X5 loaf pan, preferrably aluminum
- medium flexible spatula
- parchment paper
- foil
- small or medium sauce pan
- small or medium mixing bowls
- cake tester or small toothpicks
- pastry brush, optional
Ingredients
lemon olive oil cake
- 1 ¾ c (210 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp (4g) baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp (3g) salt
- 1 c (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp (40g) lemon zest (about 2 medium lemons)
- 2 tsp (10ml) lemon extract
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract, optional
- 3 (170g) large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ c (177ml) olive oil
- ¼ c (79ml) whole milk, room temperature sub with milk of choice
lemon simple syrup
- ⅓ c (79ml) lemon juice (about 1-2 lemons) freshly squeezed recommended
- ⅓ c (67g) granulated sugar
lemon glaze
- 1 c (120g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 2-4 tbsp leftover lemon syrup or lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9X5 loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving 1-2" overhang on the long sides. Set aside.
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk together until well combined. Set aside.
- Combine the sugar, lemon zest, lemon extract, vanilla extract and almond extract in a mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. Mix together until the oils release and the sugar resembles wet sand. This takes about 30 seconds with a mixer or 1-2 minutes using a whisk by hand.
- Start at a low speed while adding the eggs to the lemon sugar. Increase the speed to high once all the eggs have been added. Whisk lemon sugar and eggs on high for 4-5 minutes, until thick.
- On medium high speed, slowly stream in olive oil. Beat on high an additional minute. On low speed, stream in milk. Beat on low to fully combine.
- By hand, sitr in the dry ingredients to the wet ⅓ at a time unitl just incorporated. Add next ⅓ when about 10% of the flour is still visible, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Dont over mix the batter. Just mix until no visible flour streaks are left.
- Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake at 350F for 40 minutes. At this time, you will most likely need to add a foil tent to the top of the loaf. The edges will be mostly dont, but the center ⅓ of the cake will need an addtional 10-20 minutes. Check the loaf cake every 5 minutes from this point on. The cake is finished when the top is golden brown, slightly domed ( the tent foil will deflate this a bit), with the edges slightly pulled away from the pan. A cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean or with a few moist crumbs. While the cake is baking (after putting the foil tent on), start the lemon simple syrup:Pour the lemon juice and sugar into a small sauce pan. Heat over medium heat unil the sugar fully dissolves. This takes about 5-10 minutes once the liquid begins to simmer. Remove from heat and pour into a heat proof bowl or cup. The syrup should be warm, but no longer hot by the time you apply it to the cake.
- Cool cake (in pan) on a cooling rack. After 5-10 minutes, poke lots of holes all over the cake using a cake tester. A cake tester is preferred as the holes will be very, very small. If you do not have a cake tester, it is up to you if you want to make larger holes with a toothpick, or allow the simple syrup to soak into the cake without the help of the holes.
- Pour or brush the lemon syrup onto the still warm cake 10-15 minutes after coming out of the oven. Use as much or as little of the syrup as you like. The lemon syrup will measure about ½ c. I used all but 3 tablespoon of the syrup (slightly under ¼ c). Allow the cake to cool an addtional 5-10 minutes in the pan (for a total of 20-25 minutes). Using a butter knife, gently loosen the unlined edges from the pan. Gently lift the bread out of the loaf pan using the pieces of parchment overhang. Cool an addtional 30 minutes before topping with the glaze.
- To make the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar with the remaining lemon syrup or more fresh lemon juice until smooth and well combined. Add more juice or sugar to achieve your preferred consistency. Pour ½ of the glaze on the cake. Wait about 5 minutes and pour the remaining half on top. Allow 45-60 minutes for the glaze to full set or enjoy while wet.
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