CopyCat Starbucks Mini Lemon Loaves~ These delicious loaves are perfectly lemony and moist!
Save your $4 at Starbucks and make these easy, and delicious Lemon Cakes at home!
The mini cakes are so lemony and moist! The glaze is so delicious! Perfect with your cup of coffee.
This recipe is so simple to put together. Make a batch for home and giveaway wrapped loaves as gifts for friends and neighbors.
Copycat Starbucks Mini Lemon Loaf
This lemon loaf cake recipe has been on my blog for many years. I’ve been making this copycat Starbucks lemon loaf during the holidays and gifting it. Everyone goes crazy for this recipe. If you are a lemon fan, it will be your favorite too!
A wonderful lemon loaf that is so popular at Starbucks that you can make at home.
I made a light glaze, but you can make yours thicker and sweeter by adding more sugar.
I found the cutest Christmas boxes and tins at Ocean State Job Lot. The Lemon Loaves fit perfectly and can be shipped off across the country!
What You Will Need to Make this Recipe:
- eggs
- sugar
- unsalted butter
- vanilla
- lemon extract
- lemon juice
- flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- vegetable oil
- powdered sugar
- half and half
This recipe makes 4 Mini Loaves.
Ready for gifting!
If you’ve ever had Starbucks’ Lemon Loaf, you know how good it is. Full of lemon flavor, moist, dense, and rich. Try this recipe and you will be so happy to have a lemon loaf at home!
Cook’s Notes: Cake will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Don’t store it in the refrigerator because it’ll dry out.
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Note: The mini loaf pan measurement is 3 inches x 6 inches. The recipe made 4 mini loaves.
Nettie Moore is the cook, baker, photographer, and designer behind Moore or Less Cooking Food Blog. Nettie is a self-trained cook and baker. She loves creating easy recipes that don’t call for a lot of unknown ingredients. Nettie’s Blueberry Skillet Cake has been featured in Taste Of Home Magazine and her Peach Raspberry Pie has won awards! She was born and raised in Southern California and now calls New England her home, where she lives with her husband and two children. Follow Nettie on her blog, Moore or Less Cooking, or here: FACEBOOK|TWITTER|PINTEREST|BLOGLOVIN|INSTAGRAM
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WANT MORE LEMON RECIPES? TRY THESE!
CopyCat Starbucks Mini Lemon Loaves
Lemony mini cake loaves with a delicious lemon glaze!
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup powdered sugar (for the glaze)
- 2 tablespoons half and half
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Spray bottoms only of 4 mini loaf pans with Bakers Joy.
- In a KitchenAid or a food processor combine 3 large eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon lemon extract, and 1/3 cup lemon juice. Blend until well mixed.
- Add 1 1/2 cups flour to the ingredients and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 cup vegetable oil and mix until combined.
- Spread into prepared pans.
- Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick test is clean
- Cool on a wire rack while you make the glaze.
- GLAZE
- Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons half and half and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract. Add more sugar if you prefer a thicker, sweeter icing.
- Glaze the cake, slice, and enjoy!
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Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per ServingCalories 279Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 52mgSodium 183mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 0gSugar 26gProtein 3g
Love getting this recipe. Looks delicious and will try when
I need a Christmas brunch gift next week.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Love your site.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Shirley! Love you! Nettie
These look so good… If not before Christmas, definitely making after.. Merry Christmas to all in USA and who look at this site. WE are having slightly cooler weather here in Australia.. Nice for eating.. Love looking at all the recipes and trying lots o of them,
Thank you Sue! Happy New Year! Hope to visit Australia soon! Nettie
Hi – what was the size of your disposable pans? Did you one recipe make 4 mini loaves?
Hi Bennie,
The pans measurement are 3 inches x 6 inches. Yes, this recipe made 4 mini loaves. Nettie
I don’t have lemon extract, and I doubt I’ll buy any. I have just picked lemons on my counter. Could I use fresh lemon juice? About how much?
You should use the zest of the lemons. Zest has more lemony flavor than juice and juice adds unwanted liquid. Grate the the lemons on the finest grater you have. I’d say the zest of the 3 lemons would equal the bang of a teaspoon of extract. Go lightly with the grater as you do not want the white pith under the zest. It’s bitter.
Thank you for your quick response!
Thank you so much for this recipe
Thank you for visiting us Lea Ann! Nettie
Love this recipe… lemon cakes are my favourite…such a great idea to bake them for Christmas gifts ♥
Thank you Dor, they are my favorite too! Nettie
I can easily see this fast becoming a holiday favorite! Thanks Nettie!
Thank you Mary! You are right, everyone looks forward to these lemony delights! Nettie
What would be the baking time if I cooked this in one regular loaf pan? Thank you!
Hi Cindy,
For one loaf, I would say 40-50 minutes. Keep an eye on it, when it pulls away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center.
Nettie
My son loves eating and making lemon pounds! He needs to try these!
These look SO good, Nettie…and such a thoughtful gift idea!
Love this, lemon cake has to be my fave ♥
I love lemon cake, Nettie, and this one looks soooooooo good! Pinned and looking forward to trying it! 🙂
Have you ever landed on a (food related) website and then saw something so beautiful and delicious that you almost regretted going there? Well, I’m experiencing that right now, Nettie. In a good way, of course. That very first photo is worthy of being printed and framed. For the time being, it will be occupying my thoughts. Wonderful!
You are such a doll Adam, thank you for your kind words! Nettie
I have loved this recipe and admired it from the day you posted it! I finally have time to make it! Cant wait to eat it tonight!
Fabulous! So happy you like it Claudia! Nettie
I’ve made these several times and while they are delicious, I have a problem with them sinking in the center while baking. I’m not sure why this keeps happening I follow the recipe exactly.
It may be that the cake is underbaked. Cakes cook from the edges in, so the middle is the last part to cook.
This is why it’s possible to have a cake that’s burnt on the edges and undercooked in the middle—result that is due mainly to the temperature of the oven.
Cakes that sink are generally ones that rise in the first place, i.e. those that have a raising agent in them such as sponge cakes. Cakes that don’t have a raising agent, i.e. those made with plain flour, can still sink, but the effects won’t be as noticeable.
Cakes rise because the raising agent reacts with other ingredients and the heat of the oven to create little air pockets in the cake mixture that expand in the oven. The cake mixture cooks around the air pockets and holds it shape, creating a light, fluffy sponge cake.
When you have a cake that rises, you ideally want it to rise and cook uniformly. If your cakes regularly have huge domes, so they are much deeper in the middle than they are at the sides, there is a good chance your oven is too hot for the cake. This makes sense if you think about it: Cakes cook from the outside, so the edges will form a crust first, meaning the only place for the cake to rise is in the middle. Cooking for slightly longer at a lower temperature can help to give a more uniform result and prevent the sinkage that occurs when the crust of the cake has set but the inside hasn’t. For example, if a cake has a suggested cooking temperature of 180°C, I will start it for 10 mins at 150°C, then turn up to 160°C.
Always check your cake is cooked, don’t just go by visual appearance—though if the cake is pale and you can see the middle wobbling, you can go ahead and assume it isn’t cooked.
To check that it is cooked, insert a skewer into the deepest part of the cake at the centre. If the skewer pulls out clean, i.e. no mixture sticks to it, the cake is cooked. If mixture clings to it, the cake needs longer. If the cake needs longer, but the outside of the cake is looking in danger of burning, turn the oven down by at least 20°C—there will be enough heat to cook the cake, but it should stop it colouring any further.
Another way to check if your cake is cooked is to gently press the top of the cake with your thumb. If it springs back immediately, it’s cooked; if not, give it a couple more minutes, then test again.
With uncooked cream in glaze..how is it safe to keep out on counter or put in mail?
Shouldn’t it be kept in fridge?
With the summer weather, I would put them in the fridge, can mail with a freezer pack.
Nettie
Hi hi, chanced upon this wonderful recipe you have here and I would like to give it a try. Do you think you can provide me the measurements of the ingredients in grams? If not, what conversion should I use? US conversion? So am I right to say that I can replace the lemon extract with the grated zests of 3 lemons? The disposable aluminium tins can be used to bake in an oven?? And are there any substitute for half and half because it seems abit difficult for me to get that over here in my country I think….. pardon my ignorance… am a newbie to baking. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks a lot
Hi Ceo38,
I would use an online converter from cups to grams ( US conversion) yes to lemon extract subbing lemon zest, yes disposable aluminum tins are oven safe, if you can not find half and half, you can sub with cream. Good Luck and happy baking!
Nettie
Thanks for your fast reply… do u mind enlightening me if it’s ok to use whipping cream to substitute half n half? Must I mix the whipping cream with milk to make half n half or just use whipping cream with icing sugar n lemon juice to make the glaze? Thanks alot
Oh one last question. How long can this cake be kept? Kept in the fridge?
Short term it can be left at room temperature, but it will last longer if you keep it mostly refrigerated.
Can you freeze the mini loafs. And if so do you frost them first? Thank you.
To freeze Starbucks Lemon Loaf:
After the glaze is completely set, loosely package them in plastic wrap or Press-N-Seal. Place the wrapped loaves in a resealable plastic freezer bag. Freeze for up to three months. This makes it super easy to grab a loaf or two when needed.
Nettie
Is there a reason that the vegetable oil is added after the dry ingredients? For quick bread, I usually mix all of the wet ingredients in one bowl and all of the dry ingredients in another bowl. Then add dry to wet and mix only enough to combine.
That is the way that I have always made this bread, I know that it’s different than other quick breads, but it works for this recipe.
Nettie
Would they work as cupcakes?
I haven’t tried making them as cupcakes yet, sounds like a great idea!
Your recipes look so yummy!!
Hi! I am currently baking these in my oven as I sit here and type. They smell so yummy!!! I think my oven is baking them too hot as well, but it could be my baking dishes. I have them baking in ceramic dishes (to be used as the gift) and I think they will require a longer baking time. I am adding 5 min at a time. Will keep you posted, tho I think my oven temp needs to be adjusted second time around. (Lowered a little.) Thank you for sharing your delicious recipe with everyone!
Do you let the cakes cool completely before glazing them?
So yummy but my cake fell in the middle. My ingredients aren’t old? Thoughts on why this happened?
Why Do Cakes Sink in the Middle?
Incorrect oven temperature
Underbaking the cake
Expired baking powder
Too much baking powder or baking soda
Incorrect measurement of ingredients
Opening the oven door too early
Closing the oven door too sharply
Overbeating the batter in the last stage
Mixing the ingredients in the wrong order
Incorrect moisture levels
Incorrect pan size
Cooling the cake too quickly
Batter sitting too long before baking