Lemon zest

[ILovetobake]

Wondering if this ever happened to anyone. I made a lemon loaf today and the fresh lemon zest I used turned black on the outside of the loaf, on all sides. Top, bottom and sides. The zest was fine inside the loaf. It was not baked too long. This never happened before, and I’ve made it many times. Does anyone have an idea why this would happen? Thanks!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Wondering if this ever happened to anyone. I made a lemon loaf today and the fresh lemon zest I used turned black on the outside of the loaf, on all sides. Top, bottom and sides. The zest was fine inside the loaf. It was not baked too long. This never happened before, and I’ve made it many times. Does anyone have an idea why this would happen? Thanks!

The zest is burnt.

 

[ILovetobake]

Is there any way to avoid this? I’ve used zest in cakes, cookies, lemon loaves many times over the years and this never happened before. Can’t figure out why it happened this time. The loaf was definitely not over baked.