Food: Lemon Loaf

I love pinterest. I found this Lemon Loaf recipe over at the fabulous food blog, Glorious Treats several weeks ago and just had to try it out. I made several modifications to the recipe - which can be good or bad - but I am super excited with how it turned out. Perfectly lemony, and perfectly wonderful for summer.

Lemon Loaf - Makes 2 loaves 9"x5"

Lemon Cake:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups sugar

8 large eggs

2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1.5 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar

4-6 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray sides and bottom of pans with cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

Blend the sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice in large bowl and mix well. Slowly add the melted butter, while mixing. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until just combined. Slowly add the flour mixture a little at a time, do not over mix!

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake another 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.

Make the Lemon Glaze:

In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. If the mixture is too stiff, add up to another 2 tablespoons lemon juice (a little at a time) and whisk again. Pour the glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving. The glazed loaves will keep for up to 3 days, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

**The original recipe calls for lemon syrup. I made lemon syrup the first time and felt like the loaves were too moist for my taste. So I left it out the next time. If you are interested in covering the loaves with syrup:

Lemon Syrup

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

Make the syrup while the loaves are baking. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Invert the baked and (mostly) cooled loaves onto a large sheet pan. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves.

Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cakes cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

(The soaked, but unglazed loaves will keep well, wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap and frozen, for up to 6 weeks.)

Recipe adapted from Glorious Treats, originally found in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking