Lemon Bundt Cake

My lemon bundt cake is deliciously moist and fluffy, and makes for a scrumptious dessert when sweet, bright, and tangy flavors sound enticing. Prepared with lots of lemon zest, fresh buttermilk plus sour cream, this lemony cake is finished with a creamy coconut glaze and sweetened, shredded coconut for flavorful flair!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Friends, one my most beloved flavors when it comes to sweet treats is lemon. I love lemon poppyseed muffins, lemon loaf, lemon bars, lemon curd....give me all things bright, tangy and lemony, and I'm a very happy gal!

So it's no wonder that one of my all-time favorite varieties of bundt cake is a lemon bundt cake, especially one that's prepared from scratch with a divinely moist, fluffy, and melt-in-your-mouth texture, and absolutely brimming with lots of fresh lemon flavor.

My easy lemon bundt cake recipe is a sweet treat that I like to prepare for us when the sun begins to make a bolder appearance in the sky and the weather begins to turn slightly warmer. Because in my mind, the bright fresh flavors of this tasty cake are the perfect accompaniment to spring and summer.

And to make things extra enticing, I like to add a slightly tropical note to this cake by finishing it off with a rich, creamy coconut glaze, plus a generous sprinkle of sweetened, shredded coconut. This adds just a little bit of a warm, sweet note, and gently balances the tart lemon.

So, when life gives you lemons, how about a rich, moist and delicious lemon bundt cake with a coconut twist? Heck, in my book, that'll beat lemonade any day!

My Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe

While some lemon bundt cake recipes call for oil in the batter, I prefer to use all butter in my cake for that wonderful texture and buttery flavor.

And to keep the texture moist and fluffy, I opt to use a good amount of fresh buttermilk in my cake batter as well as a touch of rich sour cream. These together add not only a terrific pop of natural tartness to this lemon cake, but also act as tenderizers helping to create that soft, tender crumb that melts on the tongue.

To create that super lemony flavor, I use the zest of two large lemons. This may seem like a lot, and it is quite generous; but it's in that zest that all of those deliciously aromatic natural oils are found, which gloriously permeate throughout the cake to create that lemon flavor as the batter is mixed.

Once the lemon bundt cake ingredients are mixed, all that's left is to bake and decorate!

Here's a glance at my lemon bundt cake recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe...)

1. To get started, I whisk together my dry ingredients. Then, using my stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, I cream together my butter and sugar, and slowly add in the other wet ingredients.
2. The dry ingredients are then added into the batter and mixed to incorporate, and then the bundt cake batter is poured into my prepared bundt cake pan, and baked for roughly 50 minutes. I allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning it out.
3. To finish the cake, I allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before drizzling the creamy coconut glaze over top, and then sprinkling with my shredded coconut for decorative flair.

Recipe

Lemon Bundt Cake

by Ingrid Beer

Print Recipe

This fluffy lemon bundt cake is bursting with the bright flavors of fresh lemon, topped with coconut glaze and shredded coconut!

Category: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Yield: Serves 10

Nutrition Info: 606 calories per serving

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Lemon Bundt Cake Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• ¼ cup (heaping) sour cream, room temperature
• 1 cup shredded coconut, for garnish (either unsweetened or sweetened is fine)

Coconut Glaze Ingredients:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup half and half (or milk, or cream)
• ½ teaspoon coconut flavoring
• ¼ teaspoon lemon zest

Preparation:

1. To begin, gather and prep all of your lemon bundt cake ingredients according to the ingredients list above to have ready and organized for use.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°, and mist a bundt pan with cooking spray.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl, and set aside these dry ingredients for a moment.
4. To the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the softened butter, the sugar, and the zest of the two lemons, and begin creaming these ingredients together until nice and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
6. Next, drizzle in the buttermilk and add in the sour cream, as well, and mix those in until smooth. Finish by slowly adding in the dry ingredients and mix those in just until well combined.
7. Pour the batter into your prepared bundt pan, and bake the cake for about 50 minutes, turning it half-way through baking to ensure even baking, or until skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. While the lemon bundt cake bakes, gather and prep all of your coconut glaze ingredients according to the ingredients list above to have ready and organized for use.
9. To prepare your glaze: add the powdered sugar to a medium size bowl, drizzle in the half and half, and whisk that together until smooth (if you need a touch more half and half because your glaze is slightly too thick, add in about 1 tablespoon more). Add in the coconut flavoring and the lemon zest, and whisk to blend. Keep in fridge until ready to drizzle over the cooled bundt cake.
10. Once the cake is bakes, allow it to cool in the bundt pan for 10 minutes before turning it out to completely cool on a wire rack. Then, drizzling the glaze over, and then garnishing with the shredded coconut. Allow to set before slicing and serving.

Tips & Tidbits for my Lemon Bundt Cake:

• Room temp ingredients are better than cold: Allow your butter, eggs, buttermilk and sour cream to come to room temperature, to ensure even mixing and baking.
• Substitute more sour cream for the buttermilk, if necessary: In case you're in a pinch and don't have any buttermilk, use a total of 1 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons of sour cream, instead.
• Turn your bundt pan half-way through baking: Give your bundt pan a turn about half-way through your baking time to help ensure even baking and browning.
• Cool it before glazing: Be sure your cake is completely cooled before glazing it. And if you can, use a wire rack with foil or plastic wrap beneath it when you glaze to catch the extra drips and make for a cleaner looking cake.

Craving more delectable cake recipes? Check out these Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, this Lemon Curd, this Raspberry Swirl & Greek Yogurt Cake, this Strawberry Cake, or these Strawberry Sundae Cupcakes!

Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2017, and has been updated with even more love!