Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf Recipe

In love with the sweet breads at your favorite coffee store? Want to try making a copycat Starbucks lemon loaf at home yourself? Give this recipe a whirl and enjoy it for breakfast this week.

Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf

I’ll be the first one to admit that I pretty much love everything on the menu at Starbucks. They just know how to make a recipe and make it delicious. The last time that I was there, I tried their Starbucks lemon loaf.

I knew without a doubt that I had to find out how to make this at home myself. Just like their gingerbread loaf, and Starbucks pumpkin scones sometimes this can be seasonal. BUT now I could enjoy it year round with this recipe on hand.

The basic concept of baking a sweet bread loaf isn’t hard. It’s finding that perfect combination of the wet ingredients and the flour, baking powder, and other dry ingredients to create that moist and delicious texture.

Easy Lemon Cake Recipe

• Luckily, with enough practice, I found the desired consistency that made this lemon loaf recipe a true success. 

What I love about this simple copycat recipe is that it really does taste like the real deal. I also love that it’s saving me about $4 every time I’m craving a slice because my cravings really add up! 

Why spend that much money per slice when I can easily create an entire lemon loaf at home to enjoy? Plus I can add as much lemon glaze and zest as I want to treat my tastebuds. 

Starbucks lemon pound cake recipe

All my years of baking have taught me a few basic tips that I’m going to share with you.

• No matter what you’re baking, the majority of these tips tend to be true as well.
• From cakes to bread, these simple baking hacks can make a huge difference in the outcome of your dessert. 
• #1 is to measure flour properly! Aerating will allow it to be fluffy and less dense, just the way you want it.

If you’re worried about your cake or bread recipes being too dry, a spoonful of sour cream or Greek yogurt can help.

The addition of the fat content from either will bring about a moisture content to your recipe that you’ll love. I prefer to use plain greek yogurt but I’ve used flavored before and it was fine as well. 

Iced Lemon Loaf

In my opinion, vanilla extract is never optional. Even though you might think it doesn’t add to the recipe, it really does. Again, take this from my personal experience as I’ve tested this theory out far too many times than I’d care to admit. 

Make certain that you preheat oven always when baking. This is a step that you don’t need to rush or skip as recipes are written to be created at an optimal temperature. 

Cooling the lemon cake on a wire rack once removed from the oven will make certain that it doesn’t keep baking in the pan.

• People tend to think that once it’s taken out of the oven it’s done but it will continue to cook in the pan due to the residual heat. 

Starbucks lemon loaf

The other big piece of information to keep in mind when making this simple lemon loaf is that you’re going to want a large bowl to combine all the ingredients.

• I used to have high hopes of using a small bowl for space purposes but I can’t tell you how many extra bowls I’ve dirtied up along the way.
• Just use a large bowl from the start and use that bowl to combine all the ingredients as directed by the recipe. 

Starbucks lemon bread recipe

One of the biggest reasons that I’m a fan of this copycat bread recipe is because I love the addition of the lemon zest and lemon juice. For me, the more citrus flavor the better. 

If you happen to not have lemon juice on hand after you’ve already started creating this recipe, you can use lime juice as well. You might notice a bit of a taste difference but overall.

It will still have the same flavor and outcome. Who knows – you might create a lime bread recipe that Starbucks will then want to copy from you! 

Starbucks lemon cake tips

One of the biggest things that you want to keep in mind is that you don’t want to overcook the cake. There are a few things that you can do to prevent this from happening. 

For me, the best way to ensure that I’m not overbaking recipes or baked goods is to have a toothpick inserted once the timer goes off.

• If the toothpick that you insert comes out clean, it’s time to remove from the oven as that’s the indicator that it’s done baking.

However, if the toothpick still has batter on it, you need to leave it in the oven to cook longer. I would check every 2 minutes or so with the same toothpick method from that point on. 

Starbucks lemon cake 

Keep in mind that this lemon loaf recipe is packed full of bold flavors. I’ve also made this cake recipe without adding on any type of glaze or frosting.

You can just opt to dust it with powder sugar if you’d rather. You can also take out some of the sweetness and not having any toppings at all. 

The next time that you’re wanting to create a copycat recipe that you’re certain to love, give this Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf a try. It’s certain to be one of those dessert flavors that keep you coming back for “just one more piece”. 

Want another yummy idea? Try our root beer cake, Bisquick muffins or lemon poppyseed cake here too!

If you want to know how to half a recipe to make less, read this post. Tip: Spray your pan with non stick spray to clean a pot.