This Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake is the softest, lemon-packed cake you'll ever eat! While this cake is a delicious treat all year-round, it’s the perfect citrusy dessert to enjoy during the spring and summer months.
Craving more lemon? Try my insanely delicious copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf Recipe or Lemon Blueberry Scones.
There's just something about the tart and sweet combination of lemon desserts that's just so delicious and this lemon bundt cake recipe is no exception. The texture is sort of dense. Think: pound cake. But it is SO ridiculously soft, moist and packed with lemony flavor! This cake is delicious on its own but the simple lemon glaze for bundt cakes on top really brings this dessert over the top and really packs a big punch of lemony flavor - just like my Triple Lemon Gooey Bars. The lemon sugar sprinkled on top makes it look even prettier while adding an extra dose of lemon.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Simple recipe: Easy-to-follow recipe and instructions!
- Loved by all: This homemade chicken pot pie recipe is one of the most comforting meals! It's my go-to meal to bring to family members when they have babies or are sick. I always receive RAVE reviews and requests for the recipe!
Ingredients
- Lemon zest: Used in the cake and lemon sugar topping to elevate the lemon flavor even more. Zest the lemons before you cut them in half for juice.
- Lemon juice: Fresh lemons are a must for the best flavor! I use the juice in the cake and lemon glaze for bundt cake for a strong and fresh lemon flavor.
- Choose lemons that have a good squeeze to them . This = more juice!
- Milk: Whole milk is used in this recipe. I have substituted 2% when needed with no issues.
- Butter: Unsalted butter is used in this recipe to control sodium. If only salted butter is available to you, omit the salt in the recipe.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions.
Substitutions & Variations
There are so many delicious ways to change up this lemon bundt cake with lemon icing to make it your own!
- Lime: Substitute lemons with limes for a lime bundt cake.
- Poppy seeds: For a lemon poppy seed cake, add 2 tbs of poppy seeds to the batter. An Easter lemon poppy seed bundt cake would be such a delicious addition to your holiday spread!
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake: For a lemon blueberry bundt cake, fold berries into the batter just before baking. You can also add raspberries for a lemon raspberry cake or even chopped strawberries for a lemon strawberry cake. Such yummy alternatives!!
How to make Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake
Step 1: Beat eggs on low until they are thickened, foamy and very pale yellow in color.
Step 2: Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Slowly pour in dry ingredients on low speed until combined. Stir in heated milk.
Step 3: Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake for 27-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Step 4: Thoroughly mix the lemon zest and sugar together and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you don’t want the lemon zest on top of the cake, push the sugar through a fine mesh strainer, separating the two and discard the zest.
- Make the glaze by whisking powdered sugar and lemon juice, using more or less lemon juice as needed to get a thick consistency. (I like to keep mine slightly thick so it won’t thin out too much when I serve it over warm cake.)
- Drizzle glaze over warm cake. Sprinkle lemon sugar on top of glazed lemon pound cake.
If you love lemon, you absolutely need to make this.. like now.
Jessica's Recipe Tips
- Be sure not to over-bake your crescent cinnamon rolls! That is the one cardinal rule for making these. You want them to be gooey and soft in the center.
Storage instructions
Room temperature
Store cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezing
Cover lemon bundt cake without glaze very well in a layer of plastic wrap and then a layer of foil. Place wrapped cake in a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight and allow to come to room temperature before serving. Drizzle with glaze and top with lemon sugar just before serving.
Recipe FAQs
The biggest difference is the shape of the pan. A regular 8-inch round cake pan holds up to 6 cups of batter and a standard bundt cake pan holds 10-12 cups of batter.
Grease your pan HEAVILY making sure to get all nooks and crannies. After greasing, flour your pan lightly and shake out excess. This method will ensure no sticking.
More bundt cake recipes you'll love:
Did you make this recipe?
Please leave a ⭐️ review below and tag @sprinkle_some_sugar on Instagram!
📋 Recipe
Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tbs lemon zest
- 3 tbs lemon juice
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk
- 10 tbs unsalted butter, cubed
Lemon Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3-5 tbs lemon juice
Lemon Sugar Topping
- 1 tbs lemon zest
- 1 tbs granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a bundt pan very well, making sure to really get into all crevices. Then, lightly flour the pan. Set aside.
For the cake:
- Lightly whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you're using one) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs on low until they are thickened and very pale yellow in color.
- Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar to running mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Slowly pour in dry ingredients on low speed until combined.
- In a small saucepan, heat milk until very hot and butter is just melted. Do not boil and whisk the mixture to help the butter along. Pour into batter and mix until smooth. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Once done, remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in pan. Release the sides of the cake with a butter knife to ensure it isn’t going to stick. Turn cake onto a large round platter or cake stand. (If using a 9x13 pan, do not remove cake, just place entire pan onto wire rack so underneath the pan can cool also.) Allow cake to finish cooling until warm to the touch.
For the lemon sugar:
- Thoroughly mix the lemon zest and sugar together and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you don’t want the lemon zest on top of the cake, push the sugar through a fine mesh strainer, separating the two and discard the zest. If you don’t mind the zest on top of your cake (it will give it a nice pop of color!), then just set the mixture aside.
For the lemon glaze:
- Whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice, using more or less lemon juice as needed to get desired consistency. (I like to keep mine slightly thick so it won’t thin out too much when I serve it over warm cake.) Once cake is cooled down slightly, drizzle glaze over warm cake. Alternately, you can drizzle the glaze over each individual piece being served. Sprinkle lemon sugar on top.
Notes
Nutrition
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amir says
Jessica... simply amazing.. i made this tonight and it blew everyone's mind 🙂 LOVE YOUR WORK! keep it up <3
Jessica says
That's so amazing, Amir!! You made my day. 🙂 Thank you, I'm so happy everyone loved it!
Nic says
Help, how much is a Cup ?
Yhudis says
I've made this twice now...and WOW. YUM! I got so many compliments 🙂 I needed this to be dairy free, so I used coconut milk, and it worked perfectly.
Thank you!
Rachel says
I made this cake yesterday for my husband. It is amazing! I added 3Tbsp of poppy seeds and was worried they would all sink or float because of how runny the batter was. They stayed distributed evenly! My oven needed an extra 15 minutes or so as many others have commented. I will be making this again!
Jessica says
That sounds like a great addition! Good to know that they don't sink! 🙂
Diana Pineda says
Hi i made this recipe today for a food party at school but the cake came out dense 🙁 any idea as to why this might have happened?
Jessica says
Hi Diana, this cake isn't meant to be a fluffy cake, it's more of pound cake-like texture which is dense but very soft and moist. I hope your party still enjoyed it!
Diana Pineda says
It wasnt even like a pound cake though, i dont even kniw how to describe the texture! The milk was probably still too hot when i put it in the batter but i will try this again till i get it right because it still tasted amazing!
Jessica says
Hmm, that's very odd! I'm not sure what happened. That could be possible. If you decide to give it another go, let me know how it turns out! I'm glad it still tasted great, though!
Tonya says
This cake looks delicious, however, can you please tell me if this is dense. I am looking for a like and fluffy, not too dense cake. Thank you
Jessica says
If you are looking for fluffy, this probably isn't the cake for you because while it is SUPER soft, it is quite dense. Think of the texture of a really good pound cake, very soft but dense. Hope this helps, Tonya!
Sabrina says
My 10yrs old baked this cake all by herself. The cake very moist and very delicious. She will be making it again for friends soon. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Dev says
i made this cake and it came out of oven fluffy then within the hour as it was cooling the whole cake fell flat. It was heavy and extremely dense. Any suggestions?
Jessica says
This bundt cake does rise up and then as you said, it will come down a bit but it definitely should not have been flat. Hmm. As for the heavy and dense part it should be partially dense because it is sort of like a pound cake-like texture which is naturally dense. I fear you may have over-mixed your batter because that could absolutely cause the cake to be overly dense and heavy.
Barbara says
I just made this after finding it on Pinterest. Other than some holiday cookies I am NOT a baker so I was really worried about this but it was great! It did need more time as others stated. I also probably had a little too much lemon in the glaze for me. I did about 4 TBL. I also applied it a little too soon (it sort of melted into the cake) but these are little adjustments and I can't wait to make it again. I LOVED the lemon sugar too. I grated the zest very fine and left it mixed in with the sugar. Thanks!!!
Jenn says
I can't wait to make thits recipe, sounds fantastic. I don't have a bundt cake pan though, and I want to make this today. Has anyone tried using other pans for this like a rectangular, springform or loaf pan? Did it work??
Jessica says
Hi Jenn, you can make this recipe in a 9x13 (rectangular) pan!