This poppy seed lemon bread is a quick and easy moist bread with bright lemon flavor, consisting of fresh lemons, nutty flavored poppy seeds, and a sweet lemon glaze.
Enjoy this tasty lemon poppy seed bread for breakfast, tea time, or even as dessert!
For more delicious quick bread recipes, try our tasty Cream Cheese Blueberry Bread, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread or Pumpkin Bread next time.
Jump To
🛒Ingredients
- All-purpose flour - I don’t recommend using cake flour as it tends to be too light. While gluten-free flour could be an option, I haven’t tested it for this lemon poppy seed cake.
- White sugar - Light brown sugar could be used instead, although it may change the color of this quick bread.
- Poppy seeds - These are easy to find in most stores but check the expiry date for the best taste.
- Buttermilk - Sour cream or full-fat plain greek yogurt can be used instead. The buttermilk adds moisture and flavor to this lemon pound cake with a tender crumb. Allow the buttermilk to come to room temperature before use.
- Lemon juice - Freshly squeezed
- Fresh lemon zest - I’ve used two large lemons for the zest. Make sure to wash them well first. Bottled lemon juice can be used in a pinch.
- Baking powder - Check the expiry date of this ingredient to ensure a good rise in the lemon poppy seed bread.
- Salt - Kosher salt or sea salt
- Poppy seeds
- Oil - Canola oil, vegetable oil, or something similar with a neutral flavor.
- Glaze - Combine powdered sugar with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down to where you'll find the recipe card.
🥣How To Make Lemon Poppyseed Bread Step By Step
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease an 8-inch (or 8 ½ x 4 ½) bread loaf tin with butter and lightly dust it with flour.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the lemon zest and sugar. Mix well to release the aromatic flavors of the lemon zest. Add the eggs and whisk until they are fully incorporated into the mixture.
- Stir in the buttermilk, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, and poppy seeds. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in batches and mix until well combined. Then, add the canola oil. The batter should have a thick consistency but still be pourable.
- Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I recommended checking the bread around the 45-50 minute mark, as oven times may vary.
- Once the bread has cooled, prepare the glaze in a small bowl and pour it over the cooled lemon loaf. Serve and enjoy.
📋Tips
- Grease the loaf pan with butter or cooking spray and flour to prevent the bread batter from sticking. Another option would be to line the loaf pan with parchment paper, allowing extra length for overhang on either side. Once the lemon pound cake has baked and cooled, it’s easy to remove it by pulling up the pieces overhang.
- If you aren’t sure whether your lemon poppy seed cake is cooked, insert a toothpick into the center, which should come out clean.
- Let the lemon poppy seed bread cool for a few minutes in the loaf pan before transferring it to a wire rack. This helps prevent the cake from keeping its shape and will be easier to remove too. Don’t forget to remove the bread from the loaf, as it will continue cooking.
- Don’t overmix the lemon pound cake batter; it will become dense instead of light and fluffy.
- Cover the loaf with aluminum foil if the top of the lemon poppy seed cake browns too quickly.
Storage Instructions
- 🍱To Store. Allow your iced lemon bread to cool completely and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. You can keep it longer, for about 5 days as well but the texture may not be the same and moist anymore.
- 🥶Freezing. Place the cooled bread into an airtight container, preferably with slices wrapped individually in plastic wrap or separated between cut-out smaller parchment paper sheets, and freeze for up to 3 months.
- 🔥To Reheat. To reheat, thaw it a bit first and then reheat in the oven, air fryer or toaster.
Variations
- Add vanilla extract or almond extract to this lemon poppy seed bread. Both complement the flavor of lemon desserts.
- Unsalted and melted butter can be used instead of oil in this recipe. Allow the melted butter to cool first before combining it with the rest of the ingredients.
- Add chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts), shredded coconut, raisins, or fresh berries to the bread batter.
- Make lemon poppy seed muffins instead of a bread loaf. Bake these muffins at 400F for 16-18 minutes.
- Make mini loaves from this recipe using two 5×3 inch mini loaf pans, dividing the batter between the pans, and baking for 30 minutes at 400F.
- To make gluten-free lemon poppy seed cake, use a gluten-free flour blend incorporating xanthan gum. I don’t recommend using nut flour such as almond flour.
⏲️ Recommended Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- 9x5 inch Bread Loaf Pan or 8x4 inch tins
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Airtight Food containers for storing
- Baking Sheets - optional, for lining the muffin tin
Easy Quick Bread Recipes
- Dairy Free Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Banana Bread With Raisins
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Pumpkin Banana Bread
- Banana Strawberry Bread Recipe
- Refined Sugar Free Banana Bread
❤️Did you make this recipe? Please be sure to leave a rating and a comment below. Thank you!❤️
📖Recipe
Surprisingly Easy Lemon Poppy Seed Bread (With Glaze)
This delicious poppy seed lemon bread is a quick and easy moist bread with bright lemon flavor, consisting of fresh lemons, nutty flavored poppy seeds, and a sweet lemon glaze. Enjoy this tasty lemon poppy seed bread for breakfast, tea time, or even as dessert!
Ingredients
For Lemon Cake
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- Lemon zest from 2 large lemons
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
Lemon Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Lightly grease an 8-inch (or 8 ½ x 4 ½) bread loaf tin with butter and lightly dust it with flour.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the lemon zest and sugar. Mix well to release the aromatic flavors of the lemon zest.
- Add the eggs and whisk until they are fully incorporated into the mixture.
- Stir in the buttermilk, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, and poppy seeds.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in batches and mix until well combined. Then, add the canola oil.
- The batter should have a thick consistency but still be pourable.
- Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I recommended checking the bread around the 45-50 minute mark, as oven times may vary.
- Once the bread has cooled, prepare the glaze in a small bowl and pour it over the cooled lemon loaf. Serve and enjoy.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
🤷Frequently Asked Questions
Should you soak poppy seeds before baking?
It’s not essential to soak the poppy seeds before baking this lemon poppy seed bread, but you could soak the seeds in the buttermilk to soften them up if you wish.
Soaking poppy seeds also helps to release the flavor of the seeds for a more tender and flavorful lemon poppy seed bread.
Why do people bake with poppy seeds?
Poppy seeds add a delicious nutty flavor to baked treats and also add texture. You could intensify the flavor of the poppy seeds by toasting them before adding them to the bread batter.
Why has the top of my lemon poppy seed cake cracked?
A crack down the center of the bread is fairly normal for most quick bread recipes. The top of the bread cooks faster than the center, and as the center of the bread cooks, steam is released to the surface of the bread, escaping through the top of the bread and creating a crack. This doesn’t always happen, but if it does, it’s nothing to worry about.
Sunflower oil is a better choice. Unlike canola & soybean oils, sunflower oil is not toxic. The more we designate & use sunflower and other desirable oils in our cooking & baking the less demand for toxic, "corporate" oils.