A tender raspberry lemon poppyseed loaf cake, bursting with raspberry and lemon flavor! This soft, delicious cake has a layer of lemon icing on top.
Looking for more bread recipes? Try my blueberry crumb muffins, chocolate chip banana bread, pumpkin muffins or orange almond muffins.
This recipe was first published May 13, 2021.
The thing I love about this lemon poppyseed loaf cake is just how versatile it is. You can add just about any berry to get a whole new flavor! I often use it for a raspberry loaf cake, like today's recipe, or blueberry.
Loaf cake is the perfect treat to make for breakfast or brunch. I love to keep it chilled in the fridge and slice a piece in the morning to have with a hot cup of coffee.
If you opt to leave off the lemon icing on top, try smearing on a thin layer of cream cheese. It's delicious!
Jump to:
About 15 years ago, Starbucks used to sell the most delicious raspberry poppyseed muffins. I like to think that this is a close variation of it. And I definitely put cream cheese on that muffin. Not sure how that even started?
Mother's Day just passed, so next year this would be a really special thing to make for Mom. I actually made my Great Grandma's cinnamon apple dutch baby a few days prior, then buttermilk biscuits the day of.
Ingredients
Read on to see what's in this loaf cake and any substitutions I have for you.
- butter - reach for 100% butter, not margarine
- sugar - I use cane sugar for this recipe, you can use white sugar
- vanilla extract
- eggs
- flour - this recipe hasn't been tested with anything but all purpose flour, if you want to try it gluten free I've had success with other recipes using Bobs Red Mill 1:1 gf flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- lemon zest
- lemon juice
- buttermilk - if you don't have buttermilk on hand you can make your own by combining milk and lemon juice or milk and vinegar
- poppyseeds
- raspberries - fresh is best, frozen will be too soggy once you unfreeze them
- powdered sugar - you'll need powdered sugar for the lemon icing
- pink food coloring - if you want your icing to be pink you'll need a drop of food coloring, otherwise you can leave it out and the icing will be white
How To Make Raspberry Lemon Poppyseed Loaf Cake
To make your raspberry lemon poppyseed loaf cake, you'll want to start by beating together the butter and sugar. Light and fluffy is what you are looking for.
I prefer to use a stand mixer, so I can set the speed and get the rest of the ingredients ready to add. If you don't have a stand mixer, that's okay, a regular hand mixer works.
To your creamed butter and sugar add in the vanilla extract and eggs. Blend the eggs in well but don't beat them. Just until the batter looks smooth. Then mix in the lemon zest.
Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl and measure out the lemon juice and buttermilk. If you use a glass measuring cup for the buttermilk and fill it to ½ cup then you can squeeze in lemon juice until it reaches ¾ cup.
Alternate adding dry ingredients and wet into the batter. The batter should be a pale yellow color and smell amazing! Add the blueberries, use a spatula to mix these in.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter. Bake for a total of 60 minutes, turning the pan half way through. Then let it cool, add your icing and serve!
FAQ
Don't fret - this is good! It means you've baked it properly, getting that crack on the top means you'll have the best results.
Yes! I suggest blueberries.
The ration is 1 cup of milk to 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. This recipe calls for ½ cup of buttermilk so you'll need ½ cup of milk and ½ tbsp lemon juice. Stir it together and let it sit for 10 minutes until it starts looking curdled.
More Lemon Baked Goods
- Blueberry Lemon Crumb Muffins
- Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake
- Lemon Curd
- Lemon Dutch Baby
- Cinnamon Apple Loaf Cake
Raspberry Lemon Poppyseed Loaf Cake
A tender raspberry lemon poppyseed loaf cake, bursting with raspberry and lemon flavor! This soft, delicious cake has a layer of lemon icing on top.
Ingredients
loaf cake
- ½ c butter, room temp
- 1 c sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs, room temp
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 c flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ c lemon juice (about 3 big lemons)
- ½ c buttermilk, room temp
- 2 ½ tsp poppyseeds
- 1 pint raspberries
lemon glaze
- ½ c powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp water
- lemon juice, a squeeze
- optional: pink food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper
- Add the butter and sugar to a mixing bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer)
- Beat the butter and sugar, for 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy
- Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest
- Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and poppyseeds
- Measure out the buttermilk and lemon juice, mix the two together (see notes)
- Alternately add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients into your bowl, mixing on low until almost combined
- Use a spatula to mix in the raspberries
- Pour the batter in to the loaf pan
- Bake for 60 minutes, half way through (at 30 minutes) turn the pan and continue baking
- Cool
- To make the glaze combine sifted powdered sugar and lemon juice, a little at a time - it should be thin but not runny, to this add a drop of pink food coloring if you like
- Pour this over the loaf and serve
Notes
Use a glass measuring cup to measure ½ cup of buttermilk and squeeze in the lemon juice until the line reaches ¾ cup
To check for doneness, insert a toothpick in to the center of the loaf cake - if it comes out clean it is done, if not bake an additional minute or two at a time
This raspberry lemon poppyseed loaf cake tasted even better after 24 hours!
Keep chilled in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 318Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 431mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 3gSugar: 28gProtein: 5g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Colleen
The temperature seems off. Was it tested with a dark nonstick pan? unless that’s what I’m using I’ve never baked a quick bread at a temp lower than 350, which might be why others said it wasn’t done after 60 minutes. At 350, in a light metal pan, it took exactly an hour for me.
I made the recipe exactly as written. I wasn’t thrilled with the rise but I’ll accept that the fault could lie with my leavening agents, since they’ve been open since Christmas cookie season (but other recipes don’t seem to be affected). I was disappointed that the raspberries sank to the bottom, leaving the bottom third of the bread soggy and the top 2/3 with no berries at all. I ended up putting a slice into a bowl and using a fork to break it up a bit, which helped a little with berry distribution. Lemon flavor wasn’t as prominent as I’d like. If you like lemon I’d recommend adding some lemon extract to the batter.
Tara Moore
Hi Colleen! Thanks for all your questions. I'm not sure what's causing the berries to sink, my only thought is that for me, I have encountered this a few times if my berries weren't completely dry when adding them to a batter (like if they got cleaned/rinsed right before using). They then tended to sink to the bottom. If you'd like more lemon flavor I would suggest adding additional lemon zest, preferably from a meyer lemon if you have them - those have a very deep wonderful lemon flavor and it's what I use in my baking, very yummy! Baking at 325 allows a quick bread to bake more evenly without having too dark of edges or too dried out around the edges. It's definitely preference, so one could also do a 350 bake for a quicker bake and a higher rise. Also keep in mind everyones ovens run at different heat levels, where some may run cooler or some hotter. A recipe can only guide us so much but helpful to know our personal equipment in our kitchens and how they tend to operate 🙂 Hope that all helps have a great week!
Caitlin
A bit dark for a Lemon loaf, i had to bake it for a total of 1 hour 15 minutes at 325F. The lemon flavor didn’t come through very well, I wonder if I missed a step. The loaf itself rose high and was delicious packed! I love how the poppyseed bleeds overnight in the fridge
Ren
This turned out delicious! One note: the baking time was pretty far off for me. I covered the loaf with tinfoil and had to put it back in for a solid 30 minutes.
Tara Moore
Thanks for the positive feedback Ren. Baking time can vary so much, especially where you are located and how hot your oven runs.