Very Best Gluten-Free Ricotta Lemon Loaf

This Gluten-Free Ricotta Lemon Loaf with Lemon Icing tastes like fresh lemons. This dessert loaf is moist, extra lemony, and is made with ricotta cheese. As a finishing touch, the loaf is lightly drizzled with fresh lemon icing giving this ricotta lemon coffee cake a punch of fresh lemon flavor.

A ricotta lemon loaf that’s just a touch more delicious.

This gluten-free loaf is everything we dream of in a dessert loaf. It’s buttery, light, and moist and has a perfect crumb and a zing from fresh lemons.

But even more importantly, it tastes soo good! We could not be more excited to share this ricotta lemon loaf recipe today. It has everything a gluten-free lemon loaf needs and more. Another recipe you may enjoy is the Gluten-Free Rice Flour Pound Cake.

Ricotta Lemon Loaf Recipe Notes,

In these notes, you will learn how to get that perfect crumb. It’s the small details that make this ricotta lemon loaf perfect.

This gluten-free dessert recipe is made from plenty of fresh lemons and lemon zest.

How to prepare the lemons for zesting?

Before zesting the lemons, remove the impurities, including wax, from the peel. To do this, pour boiling water over the lemons and soak them for one minute. Then drain the water, and wipe the lemons with a dry clean cloth. Now the lemons are ready for zesting,

How to add fresh lemon flavour to lemon loaf?

First, mix the nutrient-packed lemon zest with sugar using an electric mixer. Doing this first, helps release some of the essential oils from the zest, which will make all the difference in the flavour of the lemon loaf.

all the ingredients must be at room temperature

Next, cream the butter until fluffy. For this ricotta lemon loaf recipe, the butter, eggs and ricotta must be at room temperature for best results.

If you are short on time or forget to bring your ingredients to room temperature, here is a tip.

Fill a large bowl with warm water about 120 F, place the eggs, butter still in the paper and ricotta in a measuring cup into the water for 10 minutes. Do not submerge the ricotta in the water. Done!

adding eggs to the butter mixture,

Next, mix in one egg at a time. This will maintain a creamy and airy butter mixture. In the end, very briefly mix in vanilla and ricotta cheese until just combined.

To keep the batter lump-free, I alternate flour mixture with lemon juice and use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix everything until smooth. 

Don’t worry if the batter looks slightly curdled. This is due to the acidic lemon juice. The final result will be melt in your mouth cake crumb.

prepare the loaf pan

First,  brush the loaf pan with oil and then line it with parchment paper. By oiling the pan first, the parchment paper will stick easily to the pan.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and smooth out the top.

The lemon loaf takes about 70 minutes to bake. To avoid browning too quickly, after 45 minutes, loosely cover the loaf with foil paper shiny side facing out and continue baking.

Rest the lemon loaf in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer onto a cooling rack to fully cool.

lemon loaf isn’t complete without lemon icing!

I find that 1 cup of powdered sugar (icing sugar) with 5 – 6 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice will give you the optimal icing consistency. The icing should be thick. However, if you prefer the icing to be thinner, add 1/2 teaspoon at a time of lemon juice until you reach desired consistency.

Once the ricotta lemon loaf has cooled, drizzle the loaf with lemon icing allowing the icing to drip down the sides. Or, you can use royal cream cheese frosting instead.

This gluten free ricotta lemon loaf only needs fresh lemon icing. However, adding a few thin lemon slices will make the loaf look fresh and pretty.

storing ricotta lemon loaf

Place the lemon loaf in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to three days. Or refrigerate for up to five days.

This gluten-free ricotta lemon loaf recipe is by far the best. Enjoy!