This classic lemon curd loaf with a rather yummy lemon glaze you can pour on top makes it onto our family favorite classics list! It’s a little sticky, sweetly lemony and makes the perfect after school afternoon snack. It’s made using this easy homemade lemon curd, so get a pot on the go and keep it in the fridge. And very handily it also magically becomes a quick breakfast the next day with some blueberries thrown on top! This recipe’s a keeper :)
Lemon Curd Loaf
Do you like lemons? We love them here. I usually have lots of fresh lemons hanging around the kitchen and we use them in both sweet and savoury foods and they give the most amazing zing to so many recipes.
This lemon curd loaf is one of the best ways in baking I know to use them. You get the freshness of the lemon, a little sweetness that we all know and love and there’s no added nasties in this you need to be limiting. Like all our baked sweet foods, they’re not something I give to the kids all the time, but eating Clean for the long term, especially with kids, means you’ll need some treat type foods up your sleeve and this loaf wins on all points: It’s easy, quick, keeps well and the kids love it. In fact they now can make this themselves. Yay!
I’ve added a lemon glaze here as I used to make it when I was figuring out how to replace the lemon drizzle cake that used to be store bought and full of ingredients I’d never heard of but was still…absolutely delicious. In all honestly working out ‘replacement’ recipes was the main part of switching to Clean eating for us, even before I started tackling how to get the kids to eat a wider variety of foods. Once I got the basics figured out, I then moved to widening their food tastes.
You’ll see this recipe is really similar to any regular cakey loafy recipe you’ll have made before, with some of the ingredients simply swapped out for their Clean alternatives. And I think you’ll agree it’s not noticeable at all in the end taste. But as the kids tuck in unaware, us Moms know we’ve taken out all the unpronounceable things from the ingredients and their just tucking into some Real, homemade goodness. It’s a win in my book!
Ingredients
There’s no long list of things you’ll need for this recipe and you’ve likely got most of them in your pantry already. You’ll need to make the lemon curd (it’s a 5 minute job, promise!) and you can keep it in the fridge for a while afterwards.
I’ve not been able to find a good Clean lemon curd in the shops, but check the ingredients of the ones you have in your local shops as I’m sure there must be one on sale and available somewhere if you’d rather not make the lemon curd from scratch.
Flour
I’ve used white spelt flour in this recipe. A regular shop bought lemon drizzle cake is light and fluffy and pale in color, so I wanted to emulate that. While I live the darker wholegrain flours, they can be heavy and give you a darker bake. While this is usually fine, for this one, using a white (unbleached) flour is the way to go.
You can also use Einkorn or Buckwheat flour for this recipe. Both work well also.
Butter
Real butter, always. I like to buy locally produced grass fed butter wherever I can. I use salted butter for this recipe, I’m not sure how much difference it really makes but I don’t add any extra salt so I go with this. Use whichever you have. If you have unsalted butter, perhaps add a tiny pinch of salt to the recipe when you add the flour as salt help make flavor ‘pop’.
Lemon Curd
Homemade lemon curd is so easy to make. We have it on toast for breakfast as well as being used in baking. As I mentioned above, if you can find a really good Clean one feel free to use that instead, I’ve never been able to find one but would be interested to know if you have. Let me know!
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Lemons
Lemons are one of the best fruits to use in baking in my opinion, they’re fresh and zingy and work well in muffins and cakes as well as this loaf. While they might be a bit bitter alone, with a little syrup they sweeten up beautifully and luckily for us, they’re super good for you:
- High in Vitamin C – Oranges aren’t the only vitamin C heroes on the block!
- High in Fibre
- Help with iron absorption – while lemons contain some iron, their main ‘iron’ benefit is that they help the body absorb it from other sources
- The soluble fibre in lemons may help improve digestive health
I like to buy organic unwaxed lemons as I often use the zest.
The price difference between Organic and non-Organic is often negligible also. If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere lemons grow naturally in the sunshine then a) I’m jealous and b) make the most of them!
Lemon Glaze
This lemon glaze is really no more than freshly squeezed lemon juice, a tiny bit of maple syrup and thickened with a touch of arrowroot powder. I leave the kids (and us!) to pour their own lemon glaze over this loaf as and when they’re eating it as pouring it on before then will make this lemon curd loaf a bit soggy.
You van keep the glaze in the fridge for 3-4 days so it lasts as long as the loaf does. Heat it in the microwave for a minute or so if you don’t want the chill on it when you serve it.
Lemon Recipes
- Last minute lemon salad dressing
- Lemon curd no bake bars
- Roasted chicken with lemon and thyme
- Lemon spaghetti
- Easy lemon butter baked fish
Storing
Once this loaf come out of the oven, let it cool down in the tin. Once it’s totally cool to the touch you can keep any leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
I’ve found that towards the end of it’s life, you can pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds to make it super soft again before you put your lemon glaze on top. This doesn’t heat it as such, it just softens the sugar and butter in the loaf and makes it soft again.
You can also freeze this you’ll be pleased to hear. I slice it up before I freeze it so I only need to defrost what I need and then wrap it in food wrap. To defrost it, leave it out on a plate over night on the worktop, covered, and then come morning it’s more than ready. In the summertime you can put this into lunchboxes frozen and by snack time it’s ready to eat. It also has the added benefit of keeping the box cool when it’s hot outside too.
More Clean Eating Loafs
- Banana and date loaf
- Carrot and walnut loaf
- Spiced pumpkin loaf
- Easy blueberry loaf
- Classic banana bread
How To Make Lemon Curd Loaf
Ingredients
- Lemon Curd Loaf
- 1¼ Cups Flour I’ve used white spelt flour. See the post for more flours to use
- ½ Cup Butter Melted
- ½ Cup Maple syrup Or honey
- 2 Medium Eggs Whisked
- 2 tbsp Lemon curd Homemade, see post for recipe
- 1 Lemon Juice and zest. Zest optional
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- Lemon Glaze
- 2 Lemons Juiced
- ½ Cup Maple syrup
- 1 tsp Arrowroot powder
- Cold water
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 190° and line or grease a loaf tin
- In a large bowl, add the whisked eggs and maple syrup and using beaters, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy
- Add the melted butter and the juice from one lemon and combine well with the beaters
- Add the flour and baking powder and add the lemon zest now if you’re using it. Using a wooden spoon combine the flour into the mixture, making sure not to over mix
- Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 22-24 minutes. Check if the loaf is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the loaf and seeing if it comes out clean. If it’s still got mixture in it, pop it back in then oven for another couple fo minutes
- Allow the loaf to cool completely in it’s tin before transferring it to a wire rack
- To make the lemon glaze mix the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of cold water until the powder has dissolved fully
- In a small pan, heat the lemon juice and maple syrup gently on a low heat and stir well to combine. Then add the arrowroot mixture and continue to heat
- The lemon glaze will thicken quickly, and once it’s heated through (not boiling!) take it off the heat and allow to cool in the pan before transferring it to a jam jar or Mason jar, and seal it
- The lemon glaze is really hot when it’s first made because sugar heats to a high temperature. Beware!
Lemon Curd Loaf Recipe
Lemon Curd Loaf
Ingredients
- Lemon Curd Loaf
- 1¼ Cups Flour I've used white spelt flour. See the post for more flours to use
- ½ Cup Butter Melted
- ½ Cup Maple syrup Or honey
- 2 Medium Eggs Whisked
- 2 tbsp Lemon curd Homemade, see post for recipe
- 1 Lemon Juice and zest. Zest optional
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- Lemon Glaze
- 2 Lemons Juiced
- ½ Cup Maple syrup
- 1 tsp Arrowroot powder
- Cold water
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 190° and line or grease a loaf tin
- In a large bowl, add the whisked eggs and maple syrup and using beaters, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy
- Add the melted butter and the juice from one lemon and combine well with the beaters
- Add the flour and baking powder. Using a wooden spoon combine the flour into the mixture, making sure not to over mix, and add the lemon zest now if you're using it
- Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 22-24 minutes. Check if the loaf is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the loaf and seeing if it comes out clean. If it's still got mixture in it, pop it back in then oven for another couple fo minutes
- Allow the loaf to cool completely in it's tin before transferring it to a wire rack
- To make the lemon glaze mix the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of cold water until the powder has dissolved fully
- In a small pan, heat the lemon juice and maple syrup gently on a low heat and stir well to combine. Then add the arrowroot mixture and continue to heat
- The lemon glaze will thicken quickly, and once it's heated through (not boiling!) take it off the heat and allow to cool in the pan before transferring it to a jam jar or Mason jar, and seal it
- The lemon glaze is really hot when it's first made because sugar heats to a high temperature. Beware!
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