Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Lemon Loaf



I have started to build up a pretty good reputation for my baking abilities. I'm starting to think that my dream of baking professionally or owning a bakery might not be a total impossibility. If I won the lottery I would open a bakery or tea-shop where I could showcase all my baking.



Much to my surprise, I was asked by a co-worker if I would bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies and a lemon loaf for a gathering she was having and she offered to pay me. I was worried about what to charge her. I get embarrassed around asking people for money or putting a value on my baking. In the end, she gave me double the amount I asked for, saying that you couldn't even buy the quality of baked items that I make, so it was a great deal for her. She also asked me if I would do the dessert catering for her grandson's baptism in July! I am so excited about this opportunity and also hellishly nervous as I've never undertaken something like this before. What should I make that will appeal to both kids and adults? I hope it all goes smoothly.

This recipe is supposed to be a copy-cat Starbucks lemon loaf recipe. I've never tried Starbucks' loaf, but all I know is that this one is moist and delicious in its own right. On a side note, does anyone have a recipe for Starbucks Lemon Raspberry loaf? If you do, please send it my way.

Lemon Loaf
Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon juice with a mixer until blended.

4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Add oil and mix well.

5. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan on a rack.

6. Making the icing: In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, milk and lemon extract with a mixer until smooth.

7. When loaf is cooled, remove from pan and frost top with icing.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks great Tia! Wow, congratulations on getting more baking commissions, doing dessert for the baptism sounds so exciting :)

Elissa said...

Wow, congratulations! It must be an amazing feeling to know that you're building up quite the reputation and your treats are so good that people are willing to buy them!
That loaf looks fantastic, especially with the glaze dripping down... mmm. It looks BETTER than the starbucks loaf!

Anonymous said...

Of course you can reach your dreams. Just believe. And never be afraid to ask for what you're worth.

I love lemon loaf! Lemon anything ...

Anonymous said...

I just took a blind stab at a rendition of the starbucks lemon raspberry loaf and I have to say it turned out *ok*. Basically I just took the old stand by lemon loaf recipe -found your recipe after of course :(- ran some raspberry jam through a seive to get rid of the seeds, thinned it out a bit with a little lemon juice and marbled that into the loaf batter once in the loaf pan. It isn't bad. The jam is a bit dark in color.. Next time I will try doing an actual raspberry coulis (maybe with a little jam mixed in to thicken and sweeten it) I think that would be closer in color to the starbucks version. Also I had a little of the jam mixture leftover and mixed it into the icing sugar to make the glaze, it is a very pretty pinky color.

Tia said...

Anonymous - I'm going to give that a shot right now. I just got some fresh raspberries that are calling my name :) I like the idea of a pink glaze for the top too. Very girly!

Fernanda said...

Thank you for posting this recipe! Could you imagine that so many years later, one could stumble upon it and be really happy? My family has issues with gluten and milk, so I substituted the flour for a baking mix of my own, and the butter for coconut oil. The result was an amazingly good cake, as we did not have in years! Also, they asked for it, so the second time I did it, I added 1/2 cup of raisins (they love it) and it was perfect. Starbucks or not, this recipe is a keeper!

Anonymous said...

Best lemon cake ever,did not even share loaf with co-workers