Bright and zesty gluten-free lemon drizzle cake that is simultaneously super moist with a light and tender crumb. With a candied lemon drizzle that hardens like crunchy icing on the outside, this lemon loaf cake is a classic recipe you'll turn to again and again!
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a 9x5 loaf pan with butter and line it with a sling of parchment paper. An 8.5x4.5 pan or 9.25x5.25 pan will also work, but you will need to adjust your baking time. See notes below.
In a medium bowl, sift together oat flour, almond flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed.
Add the lemon zest and beat until evenly distributed.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until combined and scraping down the sides after each addition. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla until just combined.
Add the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the crème fraîche, scraping down the sides after each addition and mixing until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth out the top with an offset spatula or spoon.
Bake on the middle rack for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Note: if using a different size pan, your bake-time will vary. For an 8.5x4.5 pan, add 5-10 minutes of bake time. For a 9.25x5.25 (or 9.5x5.50), begin checking for doneness at 55 minutes.
While the cake bakes, make the crackly lemon drizzle, if opting for the drizzle. Whisk together the sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
When the cake comes out of the oven, pour ½ of the lemon drizzle on the cake and use a spoon or pastry brush to spread it evenly over the surface. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before using the parchment paper sling to lift the cake and transfer it to a wire rack. Brush the remaining lemon drizzle over the front, back, and sides of the cake and let cool completely, at least 1 hour, before slicing.
Alternatively, if making the traditional lemon icing, let the cake cool completely before pouring the icing over the top. When the cake is cool, whisk together the icing ingredients, adding enough lemon juice until it is just thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle it over the top, spreading it out with the back of a spoon so it drips over the edges. Let set for 20 minutes to firm up before slicing.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
Substitutions:
Gluten-Free Oat Flour: Oat flour adds the lightness and structure for the fluffy crumb. If you don't have oat flour, you can make your own by grinding gluten-free rolled oats in a blender or food processor until fine, then sifting out any larger pieces. While I have not tested subbing out the oat flour, the best substitute for oat flour in this recipe would be to use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 flour by weight. Alternatively, I would recommend subbing out the oat flour by weight with a combination of sorghum flour and a tad more tapioca flour (I personally would use 100g sorghum flour and 21g more tapioca flour). If you try this sorghum flour substitution, do not leave out the xanthan gum. Almond Flour: Almond flour adds protein and moisture to the cake, so I would only recommend substituting the almond flour with a comparable flour, such as hazelnut flour or chestnut flour by weight. For nut-free version, replace the almond flour with 74g (½ cup) millet flour and follow the recipe as written.Sweet Rice Flour: I tested a grain-free version of this cake using almond flour, coconut flour, and tapioca flour that was very good, but needed a bit more tweaking. When I'm able to test it a couple more times, I'll update the post with that grain-free option.Tapioca flour: Tapioca flour adds just a little more softness and loft to the crumb. My test loaf without tapioca flour wasn't quite as tall and beautiful, but if you need to sub it out, I would recommend arrowroot starch, potato starch, or using equal parts more oat flour and sweet rice flour, by weight. Xanthan gum: This loaf cake is also delicious without xanthan gum, but won't be quite as tall, domed, and fluffy. Xanthan gum helps with the structure and texture, but if you don't have any, you can still make this recipe!Crème fraîche: In side by side comparisons, I preferred the loaves made with crème fraîche. Slightly thicker and richer with higher fat content, crème fraîche creates a moist and beautifully domed loaf. You can sub in sour cream cup for cup. The tested with sour cream were still very delicious, although slightly less domed. This, however, hardly affected the flavor. While I haven't tested it, you could also try subbing in mascarpone or buttermilk.
Update: One reader tested with buttermilk and had great success. Another reader subbed in canned coconut cream for the crème fraîche and said it was excellent.
Add poppy seeds: If gluten-free lemon poppy seed cake is what you're craving, go ahead and mix in 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds to the batter just after mixing in the dry ingredients. Sugar: A reader reported that she replaced the granulated sugar with coconut sugar and, while the loaf turned out darker than one would expect from a lemon cake, it tasted delicious!
This nutritional information has been automatically calculated, and as such, may be incomplete or inaccurate. Please reference the specific ingredients you use for the most accurate nutritional information.