Iced Lemon Loaf

Someone brought in to work yesterday a bunch of fresh lemons right off her neighbor's tree.  They inspired me to make a lemon loaf, and I knew just what recipe I wanted to try.

Supposedly this tastes like Starbucks' original iced lemon cake.  I wouldn't know, because friends don't let friends drink Starbucks.  But, I hear they have a pretty tasty lemon cake.  Or had.  Until they discontinued it. And then brought it back.  But not the same one.  Fickle product lineup is just one more reason to stay away from Starbucks.  

I followed the original recipe, but rearranged the directions.  I modified the glaze slightly (in italics), though, to give it a little more zip.

1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon lemon extract
⅓ cup lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 × 5 loaf pan.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick.  Continue beating while adding the oil and butter, then the vanilla extract, lemon extract, and lemon juice; mix until well blended.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend until smooth. Add lemon zest and mix well, making sure it's evenly distributed.  Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for  about 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. (Check at 40 minutes.)  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then gently remove and cool completely on rack.  Spread with glaze while still warm.

Glaze
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1 tablespoon whole milk powder
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1½ - 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Beat all ingredients together until smooth, adding enough lemon juice to make a thick but easily spreadable glaze.

Conclusion:  Very good -- moist and delicate with a mild lemon flavor (except for the glaze, which I made quite lemony).  It's moderately sweet, and surprisingly buttery tasting.  It's somewhat oily, but that's typical in commercial-style cake (to keep it "fresh".  For quick consumption, you could reduce the oil up to half.)  It over-browned on the bottom (due to the high oil content), so would need protection there.  It was especially good still slightly warm.  A dash of cayenne would really make this interesting.

Original recipe:  Starbucks Lemon Loaf via My Honeys Place