Low-Fat Lemon Loaf

Whenever summertime rolls around I find myself craving fresh, summery ingredients and lemons are by far one my favorite summertime ingredients. I love lemons as they are in all of their mouth puckering glory, but I also love them in dessert and the sweet little tang they give off. Lemons make even the heaviest of desserts seem light and guilt free and to me that's a beautiful thing.

This cake is dense and rich but actually very low in calories since I omitted butter and multiple eggs and replaced them with part-skim ricotta. I have found that using ricotta, yogurt or applesauce in baking is a great way to cut down on fat and calories but not skimp on taste. I choose to use ricotta in this recipe because of how well ricotta pairs with lemon and the rich texture ricotta provides.

It's a easy to make, one bowl recipe that is perfect for a light, summer dessert.

Low-Fat Lemon Loaf

Yield: 1 loaf

Prep Time: 5 minutes     I     Bake Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• zest of two large lemons
• juice of two large lemons
• 2/3 cups ricotta (part skim)
• ¼ cup milk (2%)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Next put all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and using a hand mixer or stand mixer blend the ingredients until well blended. 

Pour the batter into a well greased loaf pan and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

You can eat the loaf as is or you can mix a quarter of a cup of confectioners sugar with a teaspoon of lemon juice to make a lemon icing. If the icing is too dry you can add a drop of milk to loosen it up, inversely, if the icing is too wet just add a little bit more of confectioners sugar.