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    Home » Baking Ingredients

    Published on: July 8, 2010 by Janice Lawandi; Updated on: March 10, 2023 5 Comments

    What to bake with lemons

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    "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" Here's everything you need to know about what to bake with lemons and how to incorporate lemons in your baking.

    A collage of two images: an image of lemon custard ice cream in a cone and an image of lemon bars.
    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
    Jump to:
    • Some facts about lemons
    • Pro tips for baking with lemons
    • Infusing baked goods with lemon flavour
    • Recipes to bake with lemons
    • Books about baking with lemons

    Some facts about lemons

    • the pH of lemon juice is around 2, which means it is very acidic. For reference, apple juice has a pH around 3.5 or 4, so moderately acidic, and milk has a pH around 6.5, so close to neutral. You need to keep the pH in mind when baking, especially when working with chemical leaveners or if you plan to make baking substitutions that include lemon juice.
    • 1 lemon yields roughly 60 mL or ¼ cup of lemon juice.
    • 1 lemon yields 15 mL or 1 tablespoon of lemon zest.
    A scoop of lemon ice cream served on a speckled plate with a cone and a black spoon
    Lemon custard ice cream

    Pro tips for baking with lemons

    Remember when you are baking with lemons, make sure to:

    • wash and scrub well the skin of the lemon fruit so that you can zest it and add the lemon zest to your cakes and cookies.
    • zest lemons and other citrus, grating only the outer layer of peel (the coloured, waxy skin), and leave behind the pith (the white spongy part between the skin and the citrus fruit).
    • always zest the lemon before juicing it because if you try to do it the other way around, you will probably end up grating your fingertips. Trust me!
    • strain lemon juice and any citrus juice before using to remove pulp and pits so that you are only adding the juice without that extra fibre.
    A pink ceramic plate with glazed lemon shortbread cookies.
    Lemon shortbread cookies

    Infusing baked goods with lemon flavour

    Adding lemon juice to a gluten-free lemon cake or fruit muffins doesn't add a lot of lemon flavour. It's not concentrated enough and there are too many ingredients in batters, including sugar and flour, that inevitably overpower that tart lemon flavour.

    The best options to boost the lemon flavour in baked goods include:

    • lemon extract, an alcohol-based extract (made in a similar process to vanilla extract)
    • lemon oil, an oil extracted directly from lemons (lemon oil is actually a by-product that is recovered when lemons are squeezed for their juice)
    • lemon bakery emulsion, a water-based emulsion of lemon oil and water
    • lemon zest, from the outermost layer of the skin of a lemon containing the natural oils of the fruit, excluding the white pith, which is bitter.

    Though they bring the bitter lemon and floral notes, these ingredients don't bring that mouth-puckering acidity we all expect from lemons.

    Rubbing lemon zest into granulated sugar with fingertips in a bowl to make lemon sugar.

    Lemon sugar

    My favourite option for making lemon-flavoured baked goods is with the zest, adding it to cake and muffin batters. In fact, whenever I want to infuse baked goods with lemon flavour, I always opt to use lemon zest in the batter. I think it works just as well as extracts or oils, and lemons are readily available year-round at most grocery stores.

    Instead of just tossing the zest in with the other ingredients, I highly recommend you rub it into the granulated sugar in the recipe for several minutes to make lemon sugar. The sugar crystals damage the surface of the zest, liberating the flavourful oils contained within, and infusing the sugar. This leads to a little more flavour.

    Iced lemon loaf cake on a terrazzo board being sliced.

    Recipes to bake with lemons

    Here are some examples of recipes you can bake with lemons:

    • three fruit marmalade (uses whole lemons)
    • lemon curd (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • easy lemon bars (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • lemon mousse (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • gluten-free lemon cake with raspberries (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • lemon loaf cake (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • lemon crackle cookies (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • lemon glazed soft gingerbread (uses lemon juice)
    • lemon custard ice cream (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • cranberry lemon muffins (uses lemon juice and zest)
    • lemon shortbread cookies (uses lemon juice and zest)
    Lemon drizzle cake topped with icing and fresh raspberries.
    Lemon loaf cake

    Books about baking with lemons

    If you want to learn more about cooking and baking with lemons, start with the book Simply Citrus by Marie Asselin, which I highly recommend:

    • You can read my Simply Citrus book review
    • You can buy the book from Amazon

    More Baking Ingredients

    • Graham cracker crumbs in a springform pan lined with parchment paper, to be spread out and pressed to form a crust for cheesecakes.
      How To Make A Baked Graham Cracker Crust
    • Spreading whipped cream over pastry cream and berries in a bowl to make trifle.
      How to Make Whipped Cream
    • A jar of active sourdough starter that has been fed and doubled in size.
      Sourdough Starter
    • An open jar of homemade vanilla extract with vanilla beans poking up above the alcohol.
      How to make vanilla extract

    Baking resources

  • Baking conversion charts
  • Baking ingredients and pantry staples
  • Baking substitutions
  • Common baking conversions
  • Choosing baking pans
  • How to measure ingredients for baking
  • Mixing methods
  • Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Dionne Baldwin says

      July 14, 2010 at 8:50 pm

      I never thought to use strawberries in a spring roll!! What a good idea! I've done the entire pan thing too. After all, we can't share a recipe not worth eating, right?. 🙂

      Reply
    2. baking.serendipity says

      July 12, 2010 at 7:59 pm

      Strawberry studded brownies are genius! I love this idea 🙂

      Reply
    3. Magic of Spice says

      July 09, 2010 at 7:38 pm

      Great post and recipes...Love those spring rolls:)

      Reply
    4. Katherine says

      July 09, 2010 at 4:36 pm

      Fantastic post! Your writing is so much fun, just saying 🙂
      And your strawberry brownies look so delicious. I could eat them from the picture (and the pan). So yummy! so good! I'm drooling here...

      Reply
    5. Anonymous says

      July 08, 2010 at 11:11 am

      what happened to the strawberry, ginger lemon jam?

      Reply

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