If you love lemon, you need to bake this Kefir Lemon Bread, which is bursting with lemon flavor. Kefir makes it light and wonderfully moist. A quick lemon jam for the topping is a bonus. This bread is perfect for lemon lovers!
Lemon is one of my favorite foods. If you have been following our blog for some time, you already know that because you must have seen several recipes based on lemon on the blog.
About The Recipe:
- The sharp flavor of kefir makes the lemony flavor more noticeable.
- If you don't have kefir on hand, you can use regular plain yogurt or Greek yogurt but you might need to change the amount of it depending on their thickness. Kefir is not as thick as these two, so you will need to reach the same consistency by mixing yogurt with some water.
- The quick lemon jam topping is optional but it's just another thing that makes this bread so good. For one thing, it gives a nice look on the bread. Plus, the lemon zest tastes like candy as it waits.
- The process can get even easier if you use a cake mix. Use 3 cups of your mix, leave out flour, sugar and baking powder. Then continue with the other ingredients listed in the recipe card below.
Below is the original post written about 7 years ago.
It has been a long time since I wrote my last post. I have been working till late hours, so I can not even write back to your so much valuable comments. Hope you understand me. I didn't even notice that Give Recipe left a year behind until my hubby reminded me 4 days ago. He asked, “Aren’t you thinking of making something special to celebrate our child’s birthday?” You see, Give Recipe is like our child as he says I spend a big part of my time either dealing with it or thinking about it. I know I’ve neglected it since the school started (working as a teacher) but it’s always in my mind. However, I’m grateful to hubby for reminding me of my first blogoversary.
It was on a weekday and unfortunately, I couldn’t make anything special, so I had to postpone it to this weekend. I was decisive on making something sweet as I think it’s not a real celebration if there is nothing sweet. I thought a lemon bread would be great to celebrate a blogoversary. And of course it wouldn’t be a real celebration without some guests, so we called a few friends and enjoyed this bread together with Turkish black tea.
Finally, thanks a million to everyone for visiting Give Recipe and for helping me improve it with your comments, suggestions and questions.
As a big fan of lemon, I don’t want to waste any part of it. Believe it or not, I eat lemons with their rinds, they are not different from any other fruit. Most of my friends find it weird, but I do love the bitterish taste of their rind. When preparing the cake batter, I thought it would be great to garnish it with some slices of lemon rind. On the other hand, I didn't want that bitterness on my sweet bread, so although it wouldn't be a problem for me, I must find a way to make its rind sweet (for my friends). I just followed the steps similar to my usual jams, just in small amounts. You can play with the amounts of sugar and water to have the consistency you like.
So when you put the bread aside, you can prepare the lemon jam to make your cake have a ‘lemon’ cake look. Slice the lemon rind thinly, put them in a small pan, add sugar and water in it. Heat it over medium stirring occasionally until the sugar melts and continue simmering over the lowest heat until it thickens. Then you can take it from heat and top your bread with it.
More Sweet Bread Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Kefir Lemon Bread
A super moist and lemony bread with a quick lemon jam on the top.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup kefir
- ½ cup sunflower oil (grape seed, light olive oil, coconut oil are ok too)
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 and ½ tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 cups flour
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking powder
For the jam on the top:
- 2 lemons
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ¾ cup water
Instructions
For the bread:
- Preheat oven at 350F. Butter a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Cream eggs and sugar well. Add in kefir, oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Sift the flour into a bowl. Add it with baking powder into the wet mixture and mix just until combined.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan. Bake about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let it cool before removing from the pan and slice.
- Serve with extra lemon zest or lemon jam and rosemary.
For the lemon jam:
- Slice the lemon zest thinly(mostly without the white parts), put them in a small pan, add sugar and water in it.
- Heat it over medium heat stirring occasionaly until the sugar melts. Let it simmer until thickens.
- Then you can take it from heat and garnish your cake.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 324
- Sugar: 24.9 g
- Sodium: 89.4 mg
- Fat: 13.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.2 g
- Protein: 5.8 g
- Cholesterol: 59 mg
gastroanthropologist says
Happy blogoversary! Its a wonderful way to celebrate with a lemon cake.
It has been a bit of a struggle to keep current on my blog and visiting others with the holidays and work!
I love your recipes and post and have learned a lot about Turkish cuisine. Looking forward to your posts in your second year!
cuisinetouria says
salam zerrin
I like lemon thnaks for sharing & happy birthday to tour blog
penny aka jeroxie says
happy bloggy day. this is simple but lovely cake. I always enjoy reading your post. thanks for sharing. 🙂
Azita says
Happy anniversary!
Best Wishes,
Azita
DianaHayes says
Happy blogoversary!I feel so priviledhed to share in all of your great cooking. Your lemoncake sounds so rich. A wonderful way to celebrate.
rowena says
I know how "demanding" a blog can be but what you share is priceless. Auguri (best wishes) and here's looking forward to another year of delicious food and recipes!
Tien says
Happy 1 year birthday. The cake looks so yummy and moist. I am happy that your share your family recipes with us. -Tien 🙂
anncoo says
Happy Bogoversary! This is a pretty and yummy cake.
The Little Teochew says
A beautiful cake for a beautiful blog. Happy blog anniversary, Zerrin. I hope school started off well 🙂
Jessie says
wonderful lemon cake and happy blog-day to Give Recipe!
elra says
Happy Blog Anniversary Zerin. Keep us the good work. Yes, your lemon cake look absolutely delicious!
Tangled Noodle says
Congratulations on the first anniversary of your wonderful blog! I can't believe it's only been a year, given how many delicious recipes and incredible information you've shared with us. I apologize for being absent for so long from your site - the final 4 months of last year were so much busier than I'd expected as I tried to juggle classes and blogging. Unfortunately, the blogging part suffered.
But as the new year begins, I hope that we will all find the opportunity to continue sharing and keeping in touch through this marvelous medium of blogs. Your lemon cake is yet another bright expression of your joyous spirit and love of cooking! I can't wait to see what you'll share with us next.
Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!
timethief says
This is my first visit to your blog and I'm here because I'm a lemon lover who will be trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing it.
Please accept my very best wishes to you and your husband on this happy occasion, and may your readership grow by leaps and bounds in 2010. 🙂
Gera @ Sweets Foods Blog says
Congrats for your 1 year Zerrin!!!
Your blog is very enjoyable in every sense and you give a tasteful experience about Turkish cuisine and the delicious dishes.
I expect many and many years to come and continuing with your wonderful recipes like this lemon cake yum yum 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Gera
OysterCulture says
Happy Birthday to something truly special and the fact that it is co-produced by you and your husband, and I believe your mother-in-law if memory serves me does those wonderful drawings - makes it something really special. I cannot believe its only been a year, I've had so much fun learning about Turkish cuisine, gaining a new appreciation on something truly wonderful. Thank you and your husband for taking time out of your busy lives to educate us. Mine is so much richer as a result. I look forward to watching this little guy (or girl) grow and develop into something grand!
Oh, and I love lemons too, and lemons plus baked goods is even better. Cannot wait to try your cake!