Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is studded with poppy seeds and topped with a lemon glaze! This easy lemon loaf cake recipe is so moist and tender and makes a great breakfast or dessert.

We love lemon flavored desserts like our Moist Lemon Cake Recipe, Lemon Mousse Recipe, and our Easy Lemon Curd Recipe that makes a great filling for cakes and cookies.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is an easy pound cake recipe made with lemon juice, lemon zest, buttermilk, and poppy seeds. This cake is extremely moist and tender and keeps fresh for days. My secret to extra flavorful lemon cakes is to brush them with a lemon syrup just after baking so they soak up the flavor, and then brush them with a thick lemon icing. So delicious!

This Lemon Cake with Poppy Seeds makes a great dessert or afternoon snack and tastes even better than the Starbucks Lemon Poppy seed loaf – perfect with a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea!

Julia’s Tips and Tricks

• Baking dish: You can use a 9×5-inch baking pan or a 8×4-inch baking pan. The loaf will rise taller in the smaller pan but takes a few minutes longer to bake.
• Prepping the pan: Line the pan with a piece of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides so you can easily lift out the cake after baking
• Ingredients: Make sure that the butter has room temperature and is soft. For the best results, I recommend having all your ingredients at room temperature, this helps the cake bake more evenly
• Lemon juice: For the best flavor, use freshly squeezed lemon juice! Bottled lemon juice works too, but I prefer the taste of fresh lemon juice. You need 3–4 lemons for this recipe.
• Sugar: For a slightly less sweet breakfast cake, lower the amount of sugar to a 3/4 cup.
• Lemon peel: Use a Microplane zester to grate the lemon peel.
• Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, make your own by combining 3/4 cup milk and 2 1/4 teaspoons lemon juice. Let it sit for a few minutes before adding it to the other ingredients. You could also use 1/4 cup plain yogurt and 1/2 cup milk as a substitute
• Glaze: When you make the lemon glaze for this poppy seed bread, don’t add too much liquid. You want the glaze to be nice and thick, not runny.

How to make Lemon Glaze for Pound Cake

A lemon glaze adds even more lemon flavor to lemon cakes and breads. During baking, flavors often mellow, so to get a more intensive lemon flavor I like to brush the still hot Lemon Bread with a syrup made from lemon juice and powdered sugar and then add a lemon glaze icing on top when the cake has cooled.

Making a lemon glaze is very easy. Start with sifting the powdered sugar to avoid clumps, and then add lemon juice and milk. I always start with only part of the liquid and then add more as needed, so the glaze is thick and creamy and not runny. This way it will form a nice thick icing crust that adds so much lemon flavor.

You can use this Lemon Glaze for Cakes, Bundt Cakes, Cookies, and Loaves.

More Lemon Desserts

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Easy Lemon Cream Pie Recipe

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Easy Lemon Raspberry Cake

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Easy Lemon Sheet Cake Recipe

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Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes

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4.94 from 32 votes

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

By: Julia Foerster

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread is studded with poppy seeds and topped with a lemon glaze! This easy lemon loaf cake recipe is so moist and tender and makes a great breakfast or dessert.

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

For the Cake:

• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 1 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 3 large eggs, room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ¼ cup lemon juice
• ▢ ¾ cup buttermilk, see tips for substitution
• ▢ 2 tablespoon poppy seeds

For the Lemon Syrup:

• ▢ ¼ cup lemon juice
• ▢ 3 tablespoon powdered sugar

For the Lemon Icing:

• ▢ 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ 3 teaspoon milk

Cups – Metric

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9×5-inch (or 8×4-inch) loaf pan and line it with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides to lift out the cake.
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest, and salt. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using an electric mixer) cream the softened butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
• With the mixer running on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.
• With the mixer on low, add about one-third of the flour mixture and mix until almost combined, then add half the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and then the last half of the buttermilk, ending with the last third of the flour. Beat until just incorporated. Add poppy seeds and fold in with a spatula.
• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45–50 minutes until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out mostly clean with only a couple of moist crumbs. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours.
• Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Stir together the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar for the lemon syrup. Carefully transfer the cake to a cooling rack, then brush the syrup all over the cake while it’s still warm. Allow the cake to cool completely.
• When the cake is cooled, make the icing. Start with adding 1 Tbsp lemon juice to the powdered sugar, then add as much milk as needed. The icing should be thick and not too runny. Spoon icing over cake and let harden before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 326kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 132mg | Potassium: 187mg | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 440IU | Vitamin C: 4.9mg | Calcium: 98mg | Iron: 1.4mg

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