The Best Lemon Bread Recipe

Written by Pam Published on January 23, 2019

I needed one lemon for a recipe, yet when I went to the store the only available lemons were in bags of eight. That meant I had seven leftover lemons I needed to use. I pondered the question of what to do with them. I could make lemon water, but I’d still have some left over. Then a craving for bread hit. I decided why not make lemon bread? This is an orange bread recipe I adapted from a cookbook called “Bully’s Best Bites” put together by the alumni association Mississippi State University. I think it is the best lemon bread recipe I’ve had in quite a while!
best-lemon-bread-recipe

The Best Lemon Bread Recipe

This recipe can be made with or without icing. I usually don’t add the icing to save a few calories, but it’s really tasty with the icing. If you need the recipe to be gluten-free, substitute gluten-free baking flour for the flour called for in the recipe. The original recipe called for cake flour. I didn’t have any cake flour on hand and didn’t want to make a trip to the store. So, here’s a cooking tip: Make Your Own Cake Flour by mixing 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour with 1/4 cup cornstarch. Voila! Homemade cake flour. It’s much cheaper to make this than purchase cake flour and it only takes a minute or two to throw this together.
best-ever-lemon-bread

Here’s what you’ll need:

granulated sugar
butter
eggs
sour cream
lemons
baking soda
salt
all-purpose flour
cornstarch
*If making the frosting, you’ll need powdered sugar as well
best-lemon-bread-recipe

Printable Recipe

The Best Lemon Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
Juice from two lemons (about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
For Frosting:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a standard sized loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter using a mixer.
Add eggs and mix well.
Mix in sour cream, lemon juice, and the grated lemon rind.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking soda, and cornstarch.
Mix flour into creamed sugar mixture until blended.
Pour mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out crumb free.
All bread to cool before removing from pan.
If making frosting:
Place powdered sugar in a small mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time, stirring well after each addition, until desired consistency is reached.
Pour the icing over the cooled bread.

Cooking Tips

*Sometimes I vary the recipe by adding a box of lemon pudding mix into the recipe.
*If you don’t have fresh lemons, you can substitute an equal amount of bottled lemon juice.
*No lemon juice? No problem. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon extract to the batter instead. This depends on your taste. If you like a stronger lemon flavor, add two teaspoons, if you prefer a light lemon flavor, add one teaspoon.
*Be sure to grease the pan before beginning for easy clean-up and allow the bread to cool before removing from the pan.
best-ever-lemon-bread-recipe