You won’t want to miss this Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf with its soft, fluffy texture and tangy lemon flavor. We’re topping it with thick lemony icing to complete this delicious quick bread recipe.
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Iced Lemon Loaf is a great little sweet and tangy treat that you can get in the drive-thru if you have a Starbucks near your home.
If you don’t, now you can make it at home in your own kitchen.
You are going to enjoy the bright and tangy flavor in this Starbucks Copycat Lemon Loaf recipe,
🎥 Video Tutorial: How to Make Iced Lemon Loaf
Click the PLAY button below to watch our video tutorial on how to make Iced Lemon Loaf just like Starbucks.
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🔑 Key to Success #1 – Don’t Overmix the Batter
This Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf is a simple quick bread recipe that starts with eggs, sugar, sour cream, and oil.
The sour cream is a nice little trick to make bread and muffins extra moist and fluffy.
Use a whisk to mix together the wet ingredients. You don’t need an electric mixer for this one.
Next, add in the lemon zest and lemon extract for flavor.
Finally, slowly add the dry ingredients.
Whisk all the ingredients together only until they are fully combined.
Over-mixing the dry ingredients may cause the bread to turn out less soft and tender than it could be.
🔑 Key to Success #2 – Use Lemon Extract, Not Lemon Juice
To flavor the lemon loaf, we’re using lemon zest and lemon extract.
There is no lemon juice in the bread loaf itself although we use lemon juice exclusively in the lemony icing.
It would just take way too much lemon juice to get the strong lemon flavor that we want in the bread.
You can use a handheld zester to zest one or two lemons for this bread.
Or you can also find lemon zest in the seasoning aisle of your local grocery store.
If you don’t have any lemon zest on hand, it’s okay to leave it out.
🔑 Key to Success #3 – Add Icing When Cool
Once the lemon loaf comes out of the oven, allow it to rest in the pan for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a wire rack.
Let the bread cool completely on the wire rack before you add in the icing.
The icing is a very simple mixture of powdered sugar and lemon juice.
I like a lighter icing that is thinner like a glaze, but you can make it thicker like the icing on the Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf by using less lemon juice.
Start with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice then stir the icing together until it is smooth.
If it’s too thick, add a little more lemon juice until it is the perfect consistency.
Spread the icing over the top of the loaf and allow it to drip down the sides.
If you enjoy thinner icing, you can drizzle it all over the bread.
Either option you choose will be a fantastic finish to this easy recipe.
If you’re looking for more fun recipes, be sure to check out our experience of trying the Tik Tok Viral Donut Dump Cake recipe.
📌 Get the Printable Recipe for Starbucks Lemon Loaf With Icing
Save this Starbucks Lemon Loaf recipe to your favorite Lemon Recipes board or your Quick Bread board.
Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp lemon extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the Lemon Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and sour cream. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking.
- Stir in the lemon zest and lemon extract.
- Add in the salt and baking powder. Slowly add in the flour while stirring just to combine.
- Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. Stir until fully combined and smooth.
- Spread icing over bread when completely cool.