This easy lemonade bundt cake recipe is the best lemon bundt cake with cream cheese frosting. An incredibly moist buttermilk batter with a tangy lemon cream cheese frosting. Luscious, lemony, and light, this is one moist cake using fresh lemon juice; the perfect summer cake!
1-2 tablespoonslemon juicefresh squeezed (about ½ large lemon)
1largelemon zest
Instructions
With your oven rack placed in the center rack, preheat to 350 degrees (375 for high altitude). Lightly spray a 12 cup bundt pan and set aside — I recommend using Tourangelle non-stick baking spray!
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Stir together buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream butter 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Next add sugar and lemon zest and beat on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping sides occasionally. If using all natural cane sugar, beat on the longer side.
Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed for 1 minute after each addition, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
With mixer on low, add one cup of flour mixture, alternating with half of the liquid ingredients, ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Pour cake batter into prepared bundt pan, smoothing with spatula. Place pan on cutting board or oven mitt and tap the pan firmly a couple of times to smooth batter and settle.
Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a skewer or cake tester comes out clean, covering the top loosely with foil if browning too quickly.
Remove from oven, cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto wire rack keeping hot bundt pan on top until ready to brush with lemon syrup.
Lemon Syrup
Make the lemon syrup by adding sugar and lemon juice to small saucepan, stirring over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Brush lemon syrup over the warm cake over the bottom, sides, center of cake, allow to cool completely.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat butter and cream cheese in stand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrap down sides of bowl and then add vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste), pinch of salt and lemon zest.
With mixer on low speed, slowly add the powdered sugar along with a little lemon juice at a time. Start with 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, if needed add more of each until desired consistency and tartness.
Once cake is cooled, spoon frosting into piping bag fit with a large round tip and starting from the inside of the bundt cake, pipe a large finger to the outside and then back in if thick fingers of frosting desired. Smooth inside of bundt cake using off set spatula. Serve alone, with whipped cream or make it crazy and serve with vanilla ice cream or lemon ice cream.
Notes
High Altitude Lemon Bundt Cake
Reduce sugar to 1 ¾ cups
Increase Flour by 2-3 tablespoons
Reduce baking powder to ¾ teaspoon
Bake cake in 375 degree oven
StorageStore the cake in a bundt cake keeper on the counter if eating within a few hours of baking. If not, store in the fridge up to 7 days, or flash freeze the lemon cake for one hour in the freezer (if frosted) and then wrap well in plastic wrap and freeze up to 3 months.Lemon cream cheese icing may also be frozen up to 3 months, bring to room temperature and whip well with whisk or with mixer, then frost as planned.TIPS
For gorgeous “fingers” of frosting you see on Nothing Bundt Cakes lemon bundt cake with cream cheese frosting. Begin frosting from the inside or outside of the cake and work your way up, over, and into the center, but be consistent, you can double back for a thicker finger of frosting. I use an offset spatula to smooth the inside of the delicious lemon cream cheese frosting.
Frosting too thin? You can add small amounts of powdered sugar, ¼ cup at a time, until it thickens up.
If the top looks like it’s browning too quickly, cover the pan loosely with a bit of tinfoil.
Variations
Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake | Add 1-2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries into your batter for a delicious lemon blueberry cake! Before folding gently into the batter, toss blueberries with a few tablespoons of the flour mixture, this will help keep the blueberries from bleeding and sinking.
Lemonade Cupcakes or Bundtettes | Bundtlettes or cupcakes | scoop batter into prepared pans (not quite ⅔ full, makes about 14 bundtlets, probably closer to 18 cupcakes. Bake as directed above; 20-25 minutes bundtlets, 18-22 minutes cupcakes. Done when cake springs back when lightly touched and no longer jiggly, don't over bake. Cool 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake | Add ¼ cup poppy seeds into batter when adding the dry and wet ingredients.