This cake lasts a grand total of two days in our house. Maximum. We all love it, but William in particular – it’s almost like he has an internal lemon cake clock that tells him too many weeks have passed without it!
I tested this recipe dozens of times refining for the most even rise, a moist yet sturdy texture, and of course, that bright lemony flavor that probably drew you to this recipe in the first place. I can assure you, the lemon really sings here, and the cake is gluten free as well as containing only ¼ cup of oil making it a healthier alternative to other lemon yogurt cake recipes I’ve found.
It truly is the perfect spring cake – it’s wonderful for for brunch or dessert, and it’s so easy to make that I often get the kids involved. No mixer required just two bowls and a whisk!
Now this recipe contains a lot of batter for a big loaf, so it’s important that you don’t over fill your tin with parchment paper or the cake will run out over the sides. I’ve shared the best way to line your tins here, and if you think your tin is likely to overflow, grab some muffin tins and fill a few with your extra batter!
Watch Me Make My Super Moist Glazed Lemon Yogurt Cake
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How To Make My Super Moist Glazed Lemon Yogurt Cake
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a standard loaf pan with baking spray and line with a parchment paper sling running horizontally across the long sides of the pan. This is a lot of batter for a big loaf, so don’t use too much parchment paper or the cake will run out over the sides of the pan
Step 2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar for 30 seconds by hand. Add the vanilla, oil, yogurt, zest and juice from both lemons, and whisk to combine.
Step 3. In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt.
Step 4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined and there are no traces of flour.
Step 5. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and use a pairing knife to make a ½ inch deep cut down the center of the cake vertically, and bake for 55-65 minutes until a tester comes out just clean.
Step 6. When the cake is baked, cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
Step 7. While the cake cools, whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together to form a thick glaze.
Step 8. Spoon the glaze on top of the cooled cake.
Step 9. Enjoy!
What Else Can I Use?
- For gluten free flour blends: Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour is my baking flour of choice. Cup 4 Cup is also great. King Arthur is a little dense for this cake.
- You can use regular all-purpose flour in place of the gluten free.
- I like full fat or partial fat yogurt in this recipe, nonfat doesn’t provide the fat that supports the cake’s structure.
- If you want to make this diary free, you can use a plant based yogurt. However, if it doesn’t contain fat then scale the yogurt back to ½ cup and up the oil to ½ cup.
- When I say “neutral oil” I am referring to a mild oil that won’t affect the flavor of the cake. Light olive oil, sunflower oil, and vegetable oil are my go-tos.
- If you want a LOT of glaze, double the glaze recipe. I sometimes do and brush it on 3-4 times, letting it dry a bit between glazing.
- The cardamom is totally optional, it provides a very subtle warmth. The cake is delicious without it as well.
- Some ovens run hot so if you’re not sure your oven temp is correct then start checking it at 30 minutes!
- There are plenty of moisture makers in this recipe, with yogurt, oil, 3 eggs and lemon juice it certainly shouldn’t be dry. If your mixture is dry, ensure that you’ve measured your dry ingredients correctly, and keep an eye on your bake time in case it needs to come out of the oven sooner than I’ve suggested.
My Super Moist Glazed Lemon Yogurt Cake is special because:
It says it in the name – it’s super moist!
It’s gluten free and only contains ¼ cup of oil!
It really accentuates the bright lemony flavor of Spring we all know and love.
Zesty Spring Recipes
Lemon Coconut Macaroons (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
Bakery-Style Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (Gluten-Free)
My Magic Lemon Meringue Pudding (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian)
The Famous Maialino Olive Oil Cake But Healthier (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
If you make my Super Moist Glazed Lemon Yogurt Cake, and I hope you do, please leave me a comment here and rate the recipe. Your feedback means a lot to me! You can also post to Instagram and tag me so I can share your creations!
If you like full recipe videos, you’ll want to follow me on Facebook and Youtube as I publish new videos daily!
Super-Moist Glazed Lemon Yogurt Cake (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 2 cups Gluten-free flour blend
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom optional
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest about 2 lemons
- ⅓ cup lemon juice about 2 lemons
- ¾ cup unsweetened plain yogurt partial or full fat
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze:
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- Juice from ½ of a lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a standard loaf pan (9×5) with baking spray and line with a parchment paper sling running horizontally across the long sides of the pan. This is a lot of batter for a big loaf, so don’t use too much parchment paper or the cake will run out over the sides of the pan
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar for 30 seconds by hand. Add the vanilla, oil, yogurt, zest and juice from both lemons, and whisk to combine.
- In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined and there are no traces of flour.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and use a pairing knife to make a ½ inch deep cut down the center of the cake vertically, and bake for 55-65 minutes until a tester comes out just clean.
- When the cake is baked, cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
- While the cake cools, whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together to form a thick glaze.
- Spoon the glaze on top of the cooled cake.
- Serve and enjoy!
The recipe looks great BUT it lists ginger in the instructions list but not in the ingredients list. How much ginger is required?
Hi Nicole, no ginger needed – I had ginger on the brain! I’ve updated the recipe now ☺️
Enjoy,
Kat.
I made this recipe as soon as I for the email, because it sounded wonderful! A couple of issues I had were that in recipe instruction step 4, it says to “add the ginger”, but there is no ginger listed in the ingredients (I just left it out). Also, there was no liquid in the recipe besides a small amount of lemon juice, oil, yogurt, and eggs. I followed the recipe word for word, but without additional liquid, the batter became a very thick dough, almost like biscuit dough. I added about 3/4 cup of water to loosen it up just enough to spread in the pan. It came out beautifully fluffy, moist, and delicious.
Hi Stephanie, I must have had ginger on the brain! That was removed because you definitely don’t need that 😉 I wonder whether your batters texture could be to do with the flour that you used? But nonetheless, go you for making changes that made it work! I’m so glad you enjoyed it in the end!
Kat
I know it can be a real hit or miss with moisture in a recipe when dealing with gluten free flour, so I definitely just chalked it up to that. It was an absolutely delicious recipe, though, and I’m going to be making it again today because the first cake was gone in two days!
Recipe looks wonderful. I’d like to substitute something for the white sugar. Can you suggest a substitute?
Will allulose work? Applesauce + allulose?
Thank you.
Hi Vicki! If allulose is your sweetener of choice then you should be able to replace the sugar 1:1. I wouldn’t add the applesauce because it may change the texture of the batter being another wet ingredient in the mix – let me know if you give it a try!
Enjoy,
Kat
I haven’t made this loaf yet but it sounds wonderful! I wanted to know if a sugar alternative like erythritol could be used? Sharon
Hi Sharon, you should be able to swap in erythritol or another sweetener of your choice 1:1. Let me know if you give it a try!
Enjoy,
Kat.
This is one of the worst disasters I have ever made! First, completely filled the loaf pan and spilled over the sides…fortunately, I suspected it would so I had it on a baking tray so it didn’t ruin my oven. Then what was left was flat and pretty tasteless…I followed the directions exactly…what did I do wrong?? I will never make this recipe again!
Hi Angie,
It sounds like there may have been too much parchment paper in your tin perhaps? I might have to record a video explaining how I line mine!
I hope you’ll give it another try sometime.
Kat.
Ok, this is happening to me too! First time I made this, I (accidentally) used expired baking powder, so I thought that could have been the issue (spilled over, sunk down in the middle, came out pretty gummy). But today it looks like it’s happening again, with fresh baking powder, about 15 mins into the bake. Using regular AP flour, a parchment paper sleeve, and otherwise all listed ingredients. I may just try not using all the batter next time – I’d love to get this to work!
Hey Tia! I’m wondering whether a standard loaf tin just isn’t that standard! Perhaps try putting some of the extra batter into some muffin tins and see how you get on.
Let me know!
Kat.
Best gluten-free cake I have ever eaten, so moist you wouldn’t know it was gluten-free. Nice easy recipe to follow thank you.
I’m so thrilled you loved this one Karen!
Enjoy,
Kat
Where are the ingredient amounts listed
The full recipe is at the bottom of the page!
Let me know if you give this one a try!
Kat.
I was so hoping this would be good bc it looks amazing. But, it turned out extremely dry, and we ended up throwing it out, I cooked it exactly as instructed, including the type of GF flour you suggested. Any thoughts?
Hi Annie,
It can be difficult to know exactly what’s gone on but the first thing that springs to mind is, does your oven run hot? I’ve had a few people say that they had to take the cake out of the oven much sooner than I suggested, so I’ve updated my recommendations with beginning to check the cake from the 30 minute mark. I hope you give this one another try!
Kat.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. Just wanted to ask if plain full fat Greek yogurt is ok to use? Or should it be regular yogurt? The textures are quite different.
Hi Paula, yes a full fat Greek yogurt should be absolutely fine! It’s the fat that is the crucial component!
Enjoy!
Kat.