I love the lemon loaf at Starbucks and am always looking for recipes that get close to theirs. My aunt gave me the Downton Abbey Afternoon Tea cookbook so I thought it would be fun to try their recipe.

This is a simple recipe, you just mix together all of the dry ingredients and then beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. You’ll add the eggs slowly and then once it’s combined you’ll add the milk and vanilla. Then you’ll add in the dry ingredients until it’s just mixed. This bakes for about an hour and then once it’s cool you’ll turn it onto a rack and let it cool while making the syrup.

This part is easy too and I actually did mine in the microwave. Poke holes in the sides and bottom of the cake and brush the cake with the syrup. Then you’ll mix together the glaze and drizzle it onto the cake. You’re supposed to let it sit 15 minutes before cutting into it, but we were impatient and only waited about 5 minutes.

While it didn’t taste like Starbucks Lemon Loaf, it had a really nice lemon flavor. I was worried mine was flatter than it was supposed to be, but when I looked at the recipe picture it looked similar so it’s just a little squatter than you might expect. I let mine go a little longer than it should so the bottom was a little crustier than it should have been but I’d for sure make this again and it would be perfect with a nice cup of tea (or coffee!).

Recipe Used: Downton Abbey Afternoon Tea Cookbook p. 100