Learn how to make the best Easy Lemon Bundt Cake! A moist lemon bundt cake from scratch that is quick to make and delicious!
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This Lemon Bundt Cake is the best easy dessert! It's filled with zesty lemon flavor and is SO moist. Use simple, easy-to-find ingredients you already have at home.
Bring this beautifully bright lemon dessert to a summer family outing or enjoy at home with a cup of coffee. This Bundt Cake is quick to make and the perfect snack!
If you love lemon desserts, you have to try our Lemon Brownies, Lemon Olive Oil Cake, or Easy Lemon Bars!
Why this is the Best Lemon Bundt Cake
- Delicious: Some of the best recipes are simple and still have a ton of flavor. Even though this recipe is made with only a few ingredients it’s loaded with flavor.
- Cheap: With grocery store costs on the rise, this is a delicious, budget friendly meal!
- Total Comfort Food: When you need something comforting, this is the ultimate recipe!
Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake Ingredients
To make this cake you'll need:
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- baking powder & baking soda
- salted butter
- eggs
- sour cream
- milk
- lemon extract
- lemon zest
Lemon Bundt Cake Glaze Ingredients:
- powdered sugar
- Lemon juice & lemon zest
- butter
You'll also need a bundt pan! Here are some of our favorite bundt cake pans:
- nonstick bundt pan- highly recommend this one! It's affordable and works great.
- fancier bundt pan
- fleur de lis bundt pan
We do not recommend silicone bundt pans!
How to make Lemon Bundt Cake with Sour Cream
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter until creamy.
- Once creamy, add the eggs and continue to mix until combined. Add the sour cream, milk, lemon extract, and lemon zest. Mix again to combine.
- Once combined, slowly add your dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan.
- Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 1 hour before removing it from the pan.
How to Make Lemon Glaze for Bundt Cake
- In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter and beat until combined.
- Once the cake has cooled, drizzle your glaze over the cake.
Storing Moist Lemon Bundt Cake
Storing: Store this bundt cake in an airtight container either at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezing: If freezing your lemon bundt cake unfrosted or iced, double wrap the entire cake in plastic wrap before placing it in the freezer.
If freezing a frosting bundt cake, let the cake chill in the fridge until the frosting or icing has set just enough. Double wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.
Thaw bundt cake at room temperature for 6-8 hours before unwrapping.
Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe Substitutions
All Purpose Flour: We don't recommend substituting the flour, but you can check out this article on Cake Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour or Substitutions for All-Purpose Flour
Baking Powder: Baking powder is essential for this recipe. Do NOT substitute with baking soda.
Baking Soda: Baking soda is essential for this recipe. Do not substitute with baking powder.
Salted Butter: Butter is essential to this recipe. We haven't tried it with dairy free butter but it might work!
Sugar: We don't recommend substituting white sugar unless you have to, but White sugar can be used interchangeably with brown sugar. You can add 1 teaspoon of molasses to white sugar to make brown sugar. Check out this post on Sugar Substitutes for Baking for other ideas.
Eggs: We don't recommend substituting eggs, but you can read this article on Egg Substitutions for Baking if you need to substitute. Try it at your own risk!
Sour Cream: This is essential in creating a beautifully moist cake, we don't recommend omitting it. If you need to substitute sour cream, unflavored greek yogurt is a perfect option.
Milk: You can substitute milk with half and half, low fat milk or non dairy milk.
Lemon Extract: Is essential for the lemon flavor in this recipe. We don't recommend substituting it!
Powdered Sugar: We don't recommend substituting as we use this to create the lemon glaze for the top.
Lemon Juice & Zest: If you don't have access to fresh lemon, using bottled lemon juice will work just fine. The lemon flavor won't be as pronounced since lemon zest is very bold.
Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe Tips
- Try Fruit: You can always add some fresh or frozen blueberries to a lemon bundt cake. The combination of flavors really works well together. Check out this Raspberry Lemon Bundt Cake
- Use Orange juice & Orange zest: For a different flavor altogether, swap out the Lemon for Orange or lime
- More Flavor! Save some Lemon zest to add to the drizzle and on top of the finished bundt cake.
- Try something different: If lemon isn't your thing, this Matcha Bundt Cake is amazing!
- Poppy Seeds: If you are looking for a lemon and poppy seed recipe, try this Poppy Seed Lemon Cake.
Is there a trick to getting a bundt cake out of the pan?
Make sure to grease and flour the bundt pan before pouring in the batter. Once baked, allow the cake to cool in the pan for one hour, and then flip over and tap on the bottom of the bundt pan to release the cake from the pan.
Serving Moist Lemon Bundt Cake
This bundt cake is best served at room temperature and topped with lemon glaze.
This fresh bundt cake would be perfect alongside a hot cup of tea, coffee, or a cold glass of lemonade.
Sour Cream Lemon Bundt Cake FAQs
The main ingredient that makes a cake a "Bundt" cake is the pan. A doughnut-like shaped pan with a hole in the middle.
Any cake can be a Bundt cake if it's baked in a Bundt pan. A pound cake is traditionally called pound cake because it's made up of a pound of each butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. You can, however, make a pound cake in a bundt pan, making it a Bundt pound cake.
Lemon juice or zest will help cut the sweetness of the cake. Lemon juice, being highly acidic in nature will help baked goods rise when they react to baking soda or baking powder.
A bundt cake pan is designed to not allow for much expansion which leads to a thick and moist cake!
You probably could, but I much prefer to use butter and flour.
Wait for your bundt cake to cool before adding the glaze or it will likely slide right off or melt into the cake.
Other Bundt Cake Recipes:
Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 3 cups white flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup salted butter melted
- 1 ½ cup white sugar
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Lemon Glaze Ingredients:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon salted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 10-inch Bundt pan with butter and flour.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter until creamy. This should take 2-4 minutes. Once creamy, add the eggs and continue to mix until combined. Add the sour cream, milk, lemon extract and lemon zest. Mix again to combine
- Once combined, slowly add your dry mix and stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick without any batter sticking to it.
- Allow the cake to cool for 1 hour before removing from the pan. When ready to enjoy, assemble your glaze.
- In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter and beat until combined.
- Once the cake has cooled, drizzle your glaze over the cake.
Notes
- Storage - You can store this cake in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. I like to use a cake plate with a cover. This works really well. You can also freeze this cake for up to three months. I would remove any lemon slices used as garnish before doing so.
- Garnish ideas - To garnish the cake, you can sprinkle it with a dusting of powdered sugar, lemon zest, whipped cream, slices of lemon, etc. You can even skip all garnishes as they’re not necessary.
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