Lemon Tea Bread

This recipe is a case of semantics.

You see, some might call this cake.  I call it bread.

I mean, who says you can't drown bread in glaze, anyway?

That brings up the other issue.

I call this glaze.

My mom says it's icing.

Since you put icing on cake, and this is clearly bread, I call the white stuff glaze.

Are you with me?  Good.  Let's talk about this bread.

There are several things that make this bread so delicious.  And moist.  And lemony.

There's yogurt and oil in the batter.  So moist and yummy.

And then, when you take the bread out of the oven, you'll notice that it might look a little dry.  So you should definitely drench it in lemon syrup.

And then, when the syrup soaks in,

you cover it in glaze.  Or icing.  

It's just semantics.

Lemon Tea Bread
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (low-fat is fine)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract

Syrup:
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 T lemon juice
1 T canola oil

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Add the yogurt, eggs, vegetable oil and extracts.  Whisk until just combined.  Pour into a greased loaf pan (I put a parchment paper sling in my pan to make it easy to remove).  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 55 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.

While the bread bakes, combine the sugar and lemon juice for the syrup in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves and the juice is clear.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, oil and lemon juice to make the glaze.

When the bread is done, let it cool in the pan for about 15 minutes.  Run a knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and turn it out of the pan and onto a piece of parchment paper (or wax paper).  Carefully and slowly pour the syrup over top of the bread, allowing it to soak in completely.

When the cake is completely cool, pour the glaze over the top, allowing it to drip over the sides of the bread.

You can cut this before the glaze hardens, but it will be a little messy.  Good luck waiting for it to cool, though!  It's so good!