The easiest lemon loaf recipe! Made with the ease of a cake mix and homemade lemon icing, it is absolutely delicious. You'll love this cake!
You might also like our lemon sugar cookies! Our famous bakery style sugar cookies taken up a notch with a delicious lemon frosting and lemon wedge. If you like lemon desserts as much as I do you might like this collection of 20 lemon recipes that I put together.
Watch our step by step video!
Easy Lemon Loaf
If you've been around for a minute, you know how much I love lemons. You also know that I rarely make cakes from scratch. Why go through the effort when boxed cake mixes work amazingly well?
I took a series of cake decorating classes years ago, and one of the biggest takeaways was that boxed cake mixes are the way to go 90% of the time. My instructor shared several tips for doctoring up a cake mix to make it your own and I’ve found it super helpful over the years. This lemon cake is no exception. Our lemon loaf is ridiculously easy to make with lemon cake mix, but don't worry----you still get ALL THE CREDIT. If you like the lemon loaf slices from Starbucks you'll enjoy making your own with this recipe---for a fraction of the price!
Lemon Loaf Ingredients
- lemon cake mix
- lemon pudding mix
- eggs
- water
- oil
- sour cream
Lemon Frosting Ingredients
- butter
- lemon juice
- powdered sugar
How To Make Copycat Starbucks Lemon BRead
Baking your loaf couldn't be easier. Mix the ingredients together using an electric mixer. Pour into two prepared loaf pans and bake for 45-50 minutes. Let the pans cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaf cakes and letting it cool completely on a rack.
More lemon recipes you'll love!
Easy Lemon Loaf Recipe
Easy Lemon Loaf Cake
Ingredients
Lemon Loaf
- 1 box lemon cake mix ( 15 oz.)
- 1 3.4 oz. box lemon pudding mix (instant mix)
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup oil
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup sour cream
Frosting
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Spray 2 (8x4") loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom with a small rectangular piece of parchment paper.
- Stir cake mix, pudding mix, oil, water, eggs, and sour cream together. Beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.Bake for 45-50 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean, it is done.Note: every oven bakes differently. Start checking for doneness around 35-40 minutes. When I make this recipe it takes 50 minutes to bake my loaves.
- Let loaf cool 10 minutes. Run butter knife around edges of loaf and pan. Turn pan over to remove cake. Peel off parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
- Let the cake cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
- Mix butter, lemon juice and powdered sugar togehter. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
- Frost top of lemon loaf. Refrigerate until set.
Yvonne says
can you add fruit to this recipe or any other fruit
Brandy says
Hi! I haven’t tried it before, but I would think fresh blueberries would be yummy and not affect the texture too much.
Erin says
This turned out great, thank you! Very moist and soft. I glazed it with a simple lemon juice and icing sugar glaze instead of the recipe here.
Brandy says
So glad to hear!
Martha says
Two questions. Can this be frozen and have you ever made it in a 9 x 13 pan?
Brandy says
I haven’t, but you totally could. Just follow the baking times on the boxed mix. I haven’t tried freezing it, but most cakes generally freeze well!
Kerry says
This is, by far, the best lemon loaf I’ve ever made! So light and moist. I did use the juice and rind of one large lemon. Placed the juice in a one cup measuring cup, added the water to fill. Goodness this is amazing!
Brandy says
Kerry! This is so good to hear!
Mikki says
I followed your instructions exactly, and it is a most excellent recipe! I used extra virgin olive oil for the cake, which is always my go-to oil for baking. The cake has a nice crumb and is very moist. The frosting is the perfect thickness for spreading on top, with just the right amount of tartness.
Brandy says
Awesome! So glad to hear!
Tricia says
I made this last night. I’ve looked for an easy lemon cake similar to Starbucks lemon loaf cake and this is it! Very easy and so so good.
Brandy says
Yay! I’m so glad to hear this! Lemon is my favorite cake flavor. 🍋
Brandy says
I don’t see why not. 🙂
Clarissa Kovats says
Can I make this this loaf using a white pound cake mix by adding lemon pudding and fresh lemon juice?
Debbie james says
Do you use a regular lemon cake mix or the lemon pound cake mix?
Brandy says
Regular lemon cake mix!
Sany says
Hi! How do you think I could adjust this with a yellow cake mix?
Brandy says
You could add lemon zest and lemon extract to the cake batter!