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Lemon Bundt Cake

Last Updated On: February 29, 2024 | Published: February 26, 2023 by Melissa Diamond | 4 Comments
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This moist Lemon Bundt Cake is soft, has a fine crumb, and wonderful flavor!

If you love lemon desserts like we do, don't miss this easy and delicious scratch cake recipe.

Why We Love It

We just love Bundt Cake Recipes, and this cake in particular is so delicious! Here are just a few reasons to love this Lemon Bundt Cake:

How to Make a Lemon Bundt Cake

You can find the full, printable recipe card for this cake at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
Greased and Floured Bundt Pan
  • In a medium sized bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Whisk for 30 seconds to blend and set aside.
Dry ingredients for Lemon Bundt Cake
  • In another bowl or measuring cup, add the milk, vegetable oil, and lemon extract. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your electric mixer, add the softened butter, and mix until smooth. (If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment). Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 3-5 minutes.
  • Next, add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until the yolk is blended.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture- beginning and ending with dry ingredients. We do three additions of dry ingredients, two additions of wet ingredients. Scrape down sides as needed. After last addition, mix just until blended.
Lemon Bundt Cake Batter in Mixer
  • Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
  • Allow the lemon bundt cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out. Before turning out of the pan, you can brush over the cake with a light coating of lemon simple syrup. This will give it an added boost of lemon.
Lemon Bundt Cake on foil wrapped cake board

Lemon Simple Syrup

For an additional boost of lemon flavor, we also prepared a lemon simple syrup. This optional step is a combination of lemon juice and sugar.

We heated ours in the microwave until the sugar crystals had dissolved. You can also heat in a saucepan if you prefer.

We used a silicone pastry brush to brush the syrup over the top of the cake (which will eventually become the bottom) while still in the pan.

After turning the cake out onto a cake plate or pedestal, brush the top and sides of the cake with a light coating of the syrup.

Lemon Glaze

We often top our pound cakes with a simple sugar glaze. Our lemony version of this is a combination of powdered sugar, lemon extract (or fresh lemon juice), and a pinch of salt.

You can adjust the consistency to your liking by either increasing the powdered sugar or the lemon juice.

Mixing Lemon Glaze in Bowl

Decorating the Lemon Bundt Cake

The glaze can be spooned over the cooled cake if you'd like, but for more control, you can pipe it on with a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away. (This is what we did.)

*This is a sweet glaze and while it will taste way too sweet if you eat it by the spoonful, a drizzle over the bundt cake is perfect. It looks so pretty too!

Top with a dusting of lemon zest.

Lemon Bundt Cake on white Pedestal

Recipe FAQs

Yes, just as with our chocolate bundt cake, strawberry bundt cake or blueberry bundt cake, you can easily freeze this lemon bundt cake.

When baking in advance, allow the cake to cool a bit before wrapping in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. (We often wrap the cake while still slightly warm.)Then, place in the freezer. I find it easiest to place the bundt cake on a foil wrapped cardboard cake circle, then wrap.

If you will only be freezing the cake for a couple of days, the foil is not necessary as long as you have double wrapped the cake tightly in plastic wrap.

To thaw, place the cake in the refrigerator overnight, still wrapped. Then, remove the next morning and place on the kitchen counter. Remove the plastic wrap as condensation collects, and continue to bring to room temperature.

When properly wrapped, frozen cakes (and cake slices) will stay fresh for three months!

People often ask why we need to rely on lemon extracts for additional flavor. It is because the flavor of fresh lemon juice (as well as other types of fruit juices) bakes out almost entirely.

Lemon zest, which refers to the outermost part of the peel (above the white rind) contains the most flavor, thanks to its natural oils. It is fragrant, flavorful, and the flavor does not bake out in the recipes in the way that lemon juice does.

While a fine grater can be used to effectively zest a lemon, we find that using a microplane is the most helpful (and fastest) method.

Although this lemon bundt cake has a very fine crumb, we don't consider it to be a pound cake as it is not quite as dense.

Our pound cakes most often have 3 cups of flour, 3 cups of sugar, 3 sticks of butter, etc. (as in our Lemon Pound Cake Recipe). Today's bundt cake contains less butter and sugar, but is still very moist and flavorful!

Many of our cake recipes call for cake flour. This is because it has a lower protein content which results in less gluten formation. The result is a softer, more tender cake.

Just a few our our favorite cake recipes that call for cake flour are our almond cake, marble cake, orange cake, and more!

More Lemon Cakes to Try

In addition to Lemon Pound Cakes (like our Lemon Whipping Cream Pound Cake and Lemon Blueberry Sour Cream Pound Cake), we have so many more lemon desserts for you to try!

We'll link to a few favorites below, but don't miss our full listing here: The Best Lemon Cakes, Fillings, and Frostings!

Some of our most popular are our Lemon Cake from Scratch, Lemon Velvet Cake, and Lemon Doctored Cake Mix Recipe!

Make sure to also check out our Cake Recipes section including our cake recipes from scratch as well as cake mix recipes!

Enjoy the Recipe

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Keep this Lemon Bundt Cake in mind when you need a birthday cake recipe, a dessert for a spring and summer gathering, or just because! You can serve it just as it is, or with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Sliced Lemon Bundt Cake on white Pedestal

Lemon Bundt Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist, soft, and flavorful Lemon Bundt Cake is sure to please the lemon lovers in your life! It has a fine crumb but is not as dense as a pound cake. Wonderful flavor and texture!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15 servings
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Equipment

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups (400g) sugar
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 3 cups (342g) cake flour (see notes for substitution)
  • 3 teaspoons (12g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt (omit if you are using salted butter)
  • Zest of 2-3 Lemons
  • 1 cup (242g) milk (We use whole milk)
  • ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil- we use canola oil
  • 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon 13g Lemon Extract (We used McCormick) *See notes

Lemon Simple Syrup

  • ⅓ cup (75g) Lemon Juice from two large lemons
  • ½ cup (100g) sugar

Lemon Glaze

  • 2 cups Confectioners Sugar see notes
  • 3 to 4 Tablespoons (45 to 60g) milk, more if needed for the consistency you like
  • Pinch of salt Approximately ¼ teaspoon
  • Lemon Extract- Start with 1 teaspoon and add additional until you reach desired amount of lemon flavor You can substitute lemon juice for this also

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
  • In a medium sized bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Whisk for 30 seconds to blend and set aside.
  • In another bowl or measuring cup, add the milk, vegetable oil, and lemon extract. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your mixer, add the softened butter, and mix until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 3-5 minutes, until lightened in color and fluffy.
  • Next, add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until the yolk has blended in.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture- beginning and ending with dry ingredients. That will be three additions of dry ingredients, two additions of wet ingredients. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed. After last addition, mix just until blended and smooth. Mix on low speed.
  • Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. It should spring back when lightly touched. At about 20 minutes check on the cake, if the top is becoming too dark, loosely lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the cake.
  • Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
  • This recipe makes 7 cups of batter

Lemon Simple Syrup

  • Stir together the lemon juice and sugar.
  • Microwave for one minute. The mixture should be hot enough to dissove the sugar. If you see sugar crystals on the spoon after stirring the heated mixture, microwave for a few more seconds. (You can heat and dissolve the mixture on the stovetop if you would rather).
  • This syrup will be brushed on the top, bottom, and sides of the cake for an added boost of lemon flavor.
  • When the cake is fresh out of the oven and still in the pan, brush the syrup over the top (which will eventually become the bottom) of the cake.
  • After cake has been turned out, brush additional lemon simple syrup on the top and sides while the cake is still hot. Once that sinks in, brush more syrup over the cake. You can use all of the syrup if you like.

For the Lemon Glaze

  • Combine confectioners sugar, milk, lemon extract (or fresh lemon juice), and a pinch of salt in a small bowl and stir until smooth.
  • Drizzle over the cooled pound cake. (I spooned mine into a piping bag with the tip snipped away for more control.) If the glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a bit more juice or a touch of milk.
  • Optional: Add lemon zest over the top of the finished cake if you'd like!
  • This cake can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container.

Notes

Substitution for Cake Flour:

(Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour) For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend

Lemon Extract

Before using Lemon Extract in your cakes or frostings, etc. make sure that it doesn't have an "off" smell. Sometimes, lemon extract (as well as other extracts) can go bad- it will smell and taste rancid. Even if the date hasn't expired, check it anyway.)

Bundt Pan

As a general rule the cake batter should not fill the bundt can pan more than approximately ¾ full, leaving room for the cake to rise without overflowing.
4.73 from 11 votes (11 ratings without comment)

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4 Comments

  2. I made this today and it was out of this world. The only thing I had to change was use fresh lemon juice because my lemon extract went bad. But other then that I did not change a thing. This is the best recipe that I have found so far. Can’t wait to try your other ones.

    Reply

    1. Hi Jo! I'm sorry that we missed your review. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for your feedback ;0)

      Reply

  3. Why don't I have access to "My Cake School" anymore? I keep getting the message
    "Unlock Print Button". I have been subscribed to "Cake School" for several years now and would hate not to have access to your recipes. I submitted my email address and checked the "I consent" box and still was not allowed to printing the recipes. Help!

    Reply