GF Lemon Loaf Cake
With lemon jewels included
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Today we’re covering a classic. Lemon loaf is a type of pound cake, which has been around since the 18th-century, and relies on the very pleasing ratio of equal parts butter:sugar:eggs:flour. At some point, some diva added lemon juice and a crunchy, lemony glaze when the loaf was still hot from the oven. Later, people started adding chemical leaveners to the batter to achieve a lighter, airier texture. A couple years ago, Nicola Lamb added chopped segments of lemon to her recipe—genius.
Now, I’ve tinkered with this classic to ensure the butter quantity can properly tenderise the gluten-free flours (because they’re less capable of absorbing fat), developing a custom flour blend that results in the ideal flavour and crumb, and adjusting the leavening to achieve a gloriously level top (essential here because the crunchy lemon topping needs to spread and soak into the cake evenly) and airy interior.
You’ll need to supreme some lemons to combine into the batter, which is worth the hassle because they add so much textural interest and beautifully balance the sweetness of the cake. I’ve included a short video below the recipe in case you need a visual guide. If this is your first time supreming citrus: you can use this same technique to include pith-less oranges in a dessert or add grapefruit to a salad etc. You need a very sharp paring knife to supreme safely, so if you don’t have one, a small serrated knife works well instead.
Overview
Zest and supreme the lemons, then chop the segments into pieces. Prepare the batter, beat in the flour blend and lemons, and bake. After removing from the oven, mix the lemon glaze together and pour all over the cake. Allow to cool before serving.
Recipe
Makes one standard loaf cake (tin size ~ 8.5 x 4.5 inches or 22 x 12 cm)
Lemon Cake Batter
175g butter, softened
30g neutral oil (like avocado, rapeseed, etc.)
180g caster sugar (granulated is fine if necessary)
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
200g eggs, room temperature (about 4)
190g GF flour blend (Tip 1)
60g white rice flour (Tip 2)
35g corn starch
32g brown rice flour
30g tapioca starch
25g milk powder
5g potato starch (or substitute with 5g corn starch if you can’t be fussed)
3g (1 tsp packed) xanthan gum
10g (2 tsp) baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
50g milk, room temperature
about 300g lemons (2 large, 3 small), seedless will make your life easier
Crunchy Lemon Glaze
50g lemon juice (of about 1 lemon)
125g sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla paste (optional)
Method:
Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F) conventional. If your oven only has a fan/convection setting, preheat to 150°C (300°F). Cakes—particularly gluten-free cakes—bake far better in a conventional oven, because the absence of a fan keeps the interior moist and allows the cake to bake slowly and more evenly.
Weigh your lemons: you should have around 300g. Zest all of the skin into the bowl of a stand mixer. (Tip 3)
Supreme the lemons using a very sharp paring knife or otherwise with a small serrated knife.
Cut off the top and bottom of each lemon. Place it flat onto a cutting board and slice strips off the sides, maintaining the curve of the lemon and removing as little flesh as possible. After going all the way around, pick up the lemon, hold it firmly in one hand, and remove the remainder of the pith. You should be left with a shiny, skinless and pith-less lemon.
Holding the lemon in one hand, slice into each segment just inside the membrane that separates each segment. Create a V-shape with each cut so that the segments fall out of the lemon. Rotate the lemon as you go and continue slicing until you are left with only membrane in your hand and all of the lemon flesh in the bowl or plate beneath. If using seeded lemons, remove all of the seeds and discard.
You should have about 100g of lemon segments. Supreme another lemon if necessary, but about 300g of whole lemons has always worked out well for me.
Transfer all of the segments to a cutting board and roughly chop so that each segment becomes about 4 or 5 pieces. Set these aside in a bowl and squeeze the leftover lemon membranes into the bowl to extract the juice.
To prepare the batter, cream on medium speed the lemon zest with 175g softened butter, 30g neutral oil, 180g caster sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract. Cream until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture resembles buttercream (if using granulated sugar, stop when the mixture looks correct—if you keep creaming until the sugar dissolves, you will have over-aerated). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat to combine.
Slowly add the 200g of eggs while beating on medium, allowing each egg to emulsify into the mixture before continuing with the next. After adding all eggs, diligently scrape down the paddle and bowl to ensure there are no chunks of butter hiding and beat again on medium-low until everything is homogenous.
Whisk all of the flour blend ingredients, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Pour this over the batter and beat on the lowest speed until just combined. Add the milk and reserved lemon segments and juice. Beat again until just combined and homogenous. Be mindful of over-mixing: though you can’t develop gluten as in a glutinous cake, you can still overdevelop the xanthan gum and create gumminess.
Grease and line the loaf tin with kitchen paper (parchment). Pour batter into the tin and smooth the surface, ensuring the batter rests snuggly in the corners.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes and check: the surface should be golden and an inserted skewer should come out damp and mostly clean. I usually bake for another 10 minutes, so 50 minutes total. Remove the cake and set aside.
Mix together the lemon glaze ingredients in a small bowl. I like to include the vanilla paste for some added flavour, and the specks are beautiful, but feel free to exclude. The sugar should not dissolve, so stop mixing once just combined.
Pour the lemon glaze all over the cake and spread with a spoon or spatula to evenly distribute. You can pull the paper away from the cake to encourage the glaze to fall down the sides.
Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin. Once cool, the glaze will have formed a yummy crunchy layer all across the surface.
Cut into thick slices and, if desired, toast in a pan with or without butter until the surface is caramelised.
Storage: Lemon loaf cake will last 4-5 days, sealed, at room temperature, if kept as a whole loaf. Individual slices will last 1 day, wrapped.
Serving suggestion: Toasted, as described above. Chantilly, vanilla ice cream, and/or lemon curd are all lovely additions if serving as dessert.
Tip 1: You can use a commercial flour blend if desired, but this custom blend is absolutely ideal for tender cakes and has a more balanced starch:rice ratio than any blend I’ve tried. A commercial blend may need more moisture if it’s higher in starch, so take notes and adjust for making again in the future. The crumb should be noticeably moist and not at all crumbly or grainy.
Tip 2: It is very important that the rice flours are superfine. The trademark ‘graininess’ that people complain of when tasting gluten-free baked goods is very often the result of rice flour that has been too coarsely milled. I’m in the US now and have been using the Anthony’s brand fine rice flours, and they have worked beautifully, though they are not prominently labelled as ‘fine’ or ‘superfine’. When shopping for rice flours, read reviews to see if others have said they are fine or coarse.
Tip 3: I’ve seen many people go too far when zesting. Only zest the very exterior and do not go any deeper, otherwise you will introduce bitterness into the zest.
Notes for Nerds:
I recommend purchasing a scale that detects tenths of grams, because xanthan gum is both very ‘packable’ (ie the quantity can change significantly if compressed or if scooped while fluffy) and very potent, meaning small differences in quantity can impact your bakes. I use a JSR-150 for weighing gum/salt/baking powder/etc. but any scale accurate to 0.1 g will work.
Zest is essential in this recipe, because though the juice contains all of the acidity, the zest contains the vast majority of the aroma of lemon, ensuring the cake tastes and smells distinctly of the fruit. The zest is creamed with the butter and sugar because the sugar crystals grind against the zest, extracting and releasing the fragrant oils.
In bakeries, lemon loaves are often served with an icing sugar-based opaque glaze. The crunchy glaze here is way more texturally interesting and flavour-balancing, in my opinion. If you feel the translucent glaze looks too homemade for your offering, add additional lemon wedges and/or lemon zest on top, after the cake has cooled.
Vanilla is unusual in a lemon cake like this one, but I believe if you taste this with and without vanilla, you’ll agree it rounds and deepens the flavour.
A little oil is included alongside the butter to increase the perceived tenderness of the cake and retain moisture as the cake sits. This happens because oil coats flour very effectively, which creates lightness, and oil is liquid at room temperature, unlike butter, which contributes to perceived moisture.
I hope you give this loaf cake a try! It’s such a pleasure to have on the counter for a few slices throughout the day, and toasting and serving it with a little whipped cream and/or fruit takes it into sublime dessert territory.
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