Love Starbucks Lemon Loaf, but not all the refined sugar? This healthy lemon loaf recipe is the perfect way to have your cake and eat it too! This Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf recipe is made with Swerve sugar substitute and a few other ingredients making it a great healthier option.
The BEST Healthy Lemon Loaf Recipe!
Do you love a slice of Starbucks Lemon Loaf, but not all the refined sugar and calories? This healthy lemon loaf recipe will cut the calories in half and completely eliminate the refined sugar from the coffee shop classic cake.
I made this copycat Starbucks lemon loaf recipe using Swerve granular sweetener in the cake and Swerve confectioners sugar substitute in the frosting, completely cutting the refined sugar in this sweet lemony treat!
Here’s how I make this delicious Starbucks Lemon Loaf Recipe
What products can I use instead of granular sugar?
I’ve discovered that baking with these Swerve sugar substitute products are a great option to the traditional granular, confectioners and brown sugars. Most grocery stores now carry these products, or you can get Swerve Granular, Swerve Confectioners or Brown Sugar Substitute here on Amazon.
I use Swerve sugar substitute in these other delicious recipes:
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread
- Healthy Carrot Cake Loaf
- Cherry Overnight Oats
- Healthy Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal
- Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Loaf
How do you make a moist lemon cake from scratch?
For this copycat Starbucks lemon loaf, you’ll start by combining the wet ingredients; butter, granular sugar substitute, eggs, oil, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla extract. Using a hand or stand mixer cream these ingredients together until mostly smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
With your mixer running on the lowest speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Transfer the batter to a prepared loaf pan and bake.
Once baked and cooled to room temperature, frost the lemon cake. Slice and enjoy!
For exact ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions be sure to reference the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
What’s the secret to a moist cake?
I’ve discovered a few secrets to making your cake super moist.
- Use oil – I prefer unflavored coconut oil, like Carrington Farms Unflavored Coconut Oil.
- If using butter, make sure the butter is at room temperature. Not cold and not melted.
- Fat from plain full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream is a great way to add extra moisture to a cake.
- Don’t overmix the batter – this will add air bubbles to the batter, which will dry out the cake.
- Don’t overbake the cake – this will remove moisture. Text for cake doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean and crumb-free, the cake is done baking. Remove from the oven right away.
- Frosting always help seal in moisture. If frosting your cake, make sure it cools completely to room temperature before frosting.
Love lemon cake? Check out my recipes of Lemon Poke Cake, No Bake Lemon Cheesecake Bars and Lemon Bundt Cake for some amazing lemon flavor!
How many calories are in a lemon loaf from Starbucks?
A single slice of Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf has 470 calories.
How much sugar is in Starbucks Lemon Loaf?
A single slice of Starbucks Lemon Loaf has 42g of sugar. That is the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of granulated sugar!
If you loved this delicious Starbucks Copycat recipe, check out some of my other similar recipes:
- Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino
- Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino
- Starbucks Pumpkin Scones
- Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino Recipe
- Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino Recipe
- Starbucks Pink Drink Recipe
- Skinny Starbucks Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino
- Skinny Starbucks Eggnog Latte
- Better Than Starbucks Pumpkin Loaf
- Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Starbucks Copycat Salted Caramel Mocha
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Copycat Chick-fil-A Peach Milkshake
- Frosted Lemonade from Chick-Fil-A
- Vanilla Bean Iced Coffee
Check out my Google Web Story for how to make this delicious, healthy Starbucks Lemon Loaf.
Looking for some other healthy snack ideas? Check these out:
Here’s the Healthy Lemon Loaf Recipe:
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Healthy Starbucks Lemon Loaf
Equipment
- 9 x 5 Loaf Pan This Non-Stick loaf pan by Wilton is fantastic!
- Parchment Paper Sheets These pre-cut parchment paper sheets are amazing!
- Stand Mixer I love my KitchenAid stand mixer for making cakes and breads.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Swerve Granulated Sugar Substitute
- 2 Tablespoons butter softened (not melted)
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup unflavored coconut oil like Carrington Farms
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice juice of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
- 3 Tablespoons butter softened, not melted
- 1 1/2 cups Swerve Confectioners Sugar substitute
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 5 x 9" loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, with a hand or stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and Swerve granular sugar substitute. Add the eggs and combine. Add the oil, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and extracts. Combine until mostly smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- With the mixer running on the lowest speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredient mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and crumb free. Remove from oven and let cake cool complete.
- While cake cools, mix together the frosting. In bowl, add the softened butter and Swerve confectioners sugar. Using a rubber scraper, begin combining. Add the lemon juice and lemon extract. Stir together until smooth. Frosting will be thick.
- Remove cake from pan and parchment paper. Frost the top of the cooled cake. Enjoy right away or refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the frosting set up.
Notes
Nutrition
I want to make small cup cakes. would the lemon loaf work like this? any ideas on temp and time for cooking?
So, you are actually promoting this as healthier but no reference to how many calories are in it?
Hi Debra! Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. Normally, the nutrition information should display in the recipe card area. However, for this particular recipe, it was not. I’ve now fixed the recipe so that the nutrition information displays appropriately at the end of the recipe. For your reference, this healthier Starbucks Lemon Loaf has the following: (per serving) 261 cal., 19 g Fat, 0 g Sugar. A single slice of Starbucks lemon loaf has 470 calories and 42 g of sugar. I hope this helps. Best!