Name: Easy Lemon Loaf Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 190 min
Ingredients: 1 box lemon cake mix; 3 eggs; 1/2 cup oil; 1 cup water; 1 cup sour cream; 1/4 cup butter (softened); 3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 2 cups powdered sugar

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The easiest lemon loaf recipe! Made with the ease of a cake mix and homemade lemon icing, it is absolutley delicious. You’ll love this cake! This post was originally shared in 2016 and has been updated with a video.

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.

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 that I got from my instructor was that boxed cake mixes are the way to go 90% of the time. She 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 the aid of a lemon cake mix, but don’t worry—-you still get ALL THE CREDIT.

The addition of sour cream makes this lemon loaf amazingly moist, and our homemade lemon frosting is my FAVORITE to add to cookies and cupcakes. I like spreading it across my cooled lemon loaf, then letting it chill until it sets up, making it easier to cut into slices.

Loaf Ingredients

lemon cake mix
eggs
water
oil
sour cream

Lemon Frosting Ingredients

butter
lemon juice
powdered sugar

Baking your loaf couldn’t be easier. Mix the ingredients together using an electric mixer. Stir in sour cream. Bake for about an hour in a loaf pan then let the pan cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaf and letting it cool completely on a rack.

Frost the cooled loaf with the lemon icing then chill until the icing is set. This recipe yields 12 slices of delicious, tangy, cake. This cake can be stored in the refrigerator or at room temperature for several days.

More lemon recipes you’ll love!

Lemon Curd Mini Cheesecakes

Lemon Blueberry Scones

Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

Easy Lemon Loaf Recipe

Easy Lemon Loaf Cake

The easiest lemon loaf recipe! Made with the ease of a cake mix and homemade lemon icing, it is absolutley delicious. You'll love this cake!

4 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Cool: 2 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Servings: slices

Calories: 435kcal

Ingredients

Lemon Loaf

1 box lemon cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
1 cup sour cream

Frosting

1/4 cup butter softened
3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x5" loaf pan with non stick cooking spray. Line bottom with a piece of parchment paper.
Stir cake mix, oil, water and eggs together. Beat with electric mixer 1 minute.
Stir in sour cream.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 55-60 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf. If it comes out clean, it is done.
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 cake cool completely.
Mix butter, lemon juice and powdered sugar togehter. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
Frost top of lemon loaf. Refrigerate until set.

Nutrition