This past week I returned to Toronto after four months of staying in Nova Scotia with my parents, waiting out winter. I am really grateful to have been able to spend that much time with my family, in a year when many people have been separated from their loved ones for so long. Although I didn’t ever envision myself living with my parents for almost 6 months of my first year “living on my own” (I moved to my first solo apartment in February 2020), I had a lot of fun sharing many meals with them, many walks, and many evening chats. In my time home I also spent a lot of time reflecting and reminiscing on the meals and foods that formed the basis of my love for cooking. My grandmother was a huge part of those early food memories. She was an amazing baker; I used to call her the “pie queen”. She passed away in 2016 but we still have her recipe cards which my mom and I spent one recent Saturday afternoon exploring.
Most of my go-to baked goods are her recipes, and I hope to share more of them here to continue on her legacy. This lemon loaf was written on a few recipe cards throughout our findings, including Mom’s notebooks, so it is definitely an Avery family favourite. The original calls for shortening, which I’ve subbed below for butter. Like many of her recipes, there were limited instructions. I feel like my Nanny had such great instincts in the kitchen, as does my Mom, so those notes weren’t needed. I’ve tried to interpret the method below. I hope you try out this recipe and feel the love and warmth I do every time I bake it.
Lemon loaf is a classic Nova Scotia treat, perfect with afternoon tea, morning coffee, or… sneaking as many slices as you can when no one is looking. It is fragrant, sweet, and the lemon glaze adds an extra tartness to the exterior that makes you want to come back for more.
Here are a few tips for the recipe:
Do not overmix the batter
Like all cakes, you want to ensure that once you combine wet and dry ingredients that you don’t overmix, otherwise you will have a dense, chewy cake. The batter should just come together.
Pour the lemon glaze on right when it comes out of the oven
To get a crispy, sugary crust on the loaf, ensure you pour your glaze on right when it comes out of the oven. The glaze will run down the sides of the pan and soak into the loaf while it’s hot, almost hardening the sugar. If you pour it on when it’s cold it won’t soak in and it will be sticky.
Be patient and let it cool completely
Ok one of the recipe cards from my Nanny said to wait 24 HOURS BEFORE EATING. That is actually wild, I do not recommend. But I DO recommend maybe leaving the house for a few hours while it cools so you aren’t tempted to cut into it while it’s still warm! This is best served completely cooled and it will take a few hours to lose its temperature.
Nanny's Lemon Loaf
15 min prep time, 60 min bake time, let cool for 4-6 hours
Ingredients
½ cup room temperature butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup milk
Glaze
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup white sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing or lining with parchment paper.
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 2-3 minutes on high.
Add in the eggs and continue to beat until well mixed and fluffy. It will take some time for the liquid of the eggs to mix in fully to the butter mixture so be patient! It should look smooth and fluffy.
Add in lemon zest and combine well.
In a separate bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder.
Gently fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until craggly, it’s ok if there are some dry ingredient patches.
Pour in the milk and fold gently until well mixed but not overmixed. The batter should just come together, with no dry patches or milk patches.
Pour batter into loaf pan and place into 350F oven. Bake for 60 minutes until golden brown and cracked on top - a cake tester should come out clean!
While the loaf is baking, whisk together your lemon juice and sugar until sugar is dissolved.
Immediately after the loaf is removed from the oven, pour the glaze over top. It’s critical that you pour when it’s piping hot to get the beautiful crust outside that isn’t sticky.
Allow the loaf to cool completely, ideally 4-6 hours before slicing and serving.