This Lemon Raspberry Loaf Cake is bursting with lemon flavor, and a slight tartness from fresh raspberries. The sour cream, in the batter, adds extra moisture. The luscious Pink Raspberry Glaze is the crowning glory!
This time of year, our lemon tree is loaded with bright yellow lemons. They never go to waste– especially when baking lemon desserts.
This lemon and raspberry loaf cake was some much needed baking therapy. You see, my part of California is getting hit hard with rain to the point that our Salinas River has reached the flood stage. The sheriff’s office recommended for us to shelter in place. Fresh raspberries are grown just down the road from us. The combination of lemon and raspberries sounded terrific– and I was right!
A microplane makes zesting citrus fruits so easy! My technique is to hold the lemon, and move the microplane back and forth (as opposed to holding the microplane and moving the lemon). The reason I like this technique is that I can better see when the “pith” (bitter part) is exposed.
The lemon was zested over a bowl of sugar, then rubbed into the sugar until fragrant. In the meantime, measure the dry ingredients and a cup (or so) of fresh raspberries.
I’ve waxed poetic, in many of my baking recipes, how much I depend on Baker’s Joy Baking Spray. I prefer the spray to greasing and flouring my baking pans.
Another Baker’s trick is to gently toss berries with a tablespoon or so of flour. This prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
Using an electric hand or stand mixer, cream the lemon sugar with butter until light and fluffy.
Add the remaining wet ingredients. For extra lemon flavor, lemon oil is a wonderful additional ingredient. It’s potent, so just a little bit really amps up the flavor. Once the dry ingredients are gently mixed in, with a layer of the raspberries, bake the loaf per the recipe card.
Beautiful! The aroma is wonderful. The loaf has to completely cool, before adding the glaze– and that is the best part of this recipe, in my opinion!
Glaze ingredients include fresh raspberries, lemon juice, almond extract and confectioners sugar.
Mash or “blitz” the raspberries with water and corn syrup (optional, but I use it). I found the easiest way to do this was with my trusty Immersion Blender . Press the puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
Add the puree to sifted confectioners sugar, lemon juice and a little bit of almond extract. You’ll want to add enough confectioners sugar so that the glaze is pourable. Then, go to town and glaze that lemon loaf!
A baker’s tip is to set the loaf on a cooling rack, over the kitchen sink, when pouring glaze. I find this makes cleanup a lot easier. Just rinse, and it’s gone! The glaze needs to set before slicing.
The pink color of the raspberry glaze is so pretty!
I realized that instead of “folding” in the raspberries, I should’ve layered them. Minor boo-boo, but that didn’t do any damage to the texture of flavor.
TASTING NOTES: Checking the cake at 50 minutes, was a wise move. The cake was done, and that’s a good thing so that that the cake doesn’t end up dry. The lemon flavor, with a slight tartness from the raspberries was delightful. The glaze is definitely a must. There was just a hint of almond flavor, and the corn syrup in the glaze helped it to set up glossy and thick. Since it’s just the two of us, half of the loaf became a thank you gift for our neighbor– who brought a few grocery items to use, before the threat of road closures were being cautioned. I think this cake would do well with other berries, as well. I can’t wait to experiment!
Lemon Raspberry Loaf
Equipment
- Nonstick cooking spray, for the loaf pan recommended: Baker's Joy Spray (can omit flouring the pan this way)
- 8×4" Loaf Pan
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
- 1 lemon zested
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 112 grams ; at room temperature
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon) 60 milliliters
- ¼ tsp Pure lemon oil optional; recommended LorAnn Oil
- 1/2 cup sour cream 120 grams
For the dry ingredients:
- 2 cups flour, plus more for the loaf pan 260 grams
- 1 cup raspberries 120 grams
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For the glaze:
- 1/2 cup raspberries 60 grams
- 1 to 2 tablespoons water 15 to 30 milliliters
- 1 teaspoon corn syrup optional
- 1 – 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar 130 to 190 grams ; sifted
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice 15 milliliters
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
For the loaf:
- Preheat oven to 375℉ . Grease an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and coat lightly with flour. OR, spay the pan with Baker's Joy Baking Spray and omit dusting with flour.
For the wet ingredients:
- Add the granulated sugar to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and zest over the lemons. Using your hands, rub the lemon zest into the sugar until very fragrant and the sugar starts to turn a light yellow color. Add the butter and beat on high until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Stir in the sour cream and lemon juice and lemon oil (if using).
For the dry ingredients:
- Set out two bowls and add the 2 cups of flour to one and the raspberries to the other. Scoop a scant tablespoon of the flour onto the raspberries, toss gently to coat and set aside. Add the baking powder and salt to the bowl of flour and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just until combined. NOTE: It's best to gently stir, rather than using an electric mixer to avoid building up gluten.
- Add about a third of the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Scatter over half of the flour coated raspberries and continue layering in the batter and raspberries, ending with a layer of batter.NOTE: I mistakenly gently folded the raspberries into the dough, and that resulted in an uneven distribution of berries! It didn't affect the good taste, though.
- Bake the loaf until peaked, golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. NOTE: I checked my loaf at 55 minutes, with a wooden skewer, and it was done!
Glaze the loaf:
- Mash or blitz the raspberries with 1 tablespoon of water and the corn syrup, if using, into a puree. NOTE: I used my immersion blender to do this. Easy!Press the puree through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the seeds. Be sure to scrape puree off the bottom of the fine-mesh sieve.Add the raspberry puree to the confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl along with the lemon juice and almond extract. Stir into a smooth glaze, adding more water or confectioners’ sugar if needed to reach a thick but pourable consistency.
- Pour the glaze over the loaf and allow it to set up before slicing and serving.
Notes
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