The Best Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Recipe! This poppy seed lemon cake is made in a bundt pan for an easy, delicious dessert!
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Whether you're lemon dessert lover or simply want a treat to brighten your day, this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake recipe is bound to become a favorite!
Simple ingredients get baked together in a cake thats fresh with a slight crunch from the poppy seeds and topped with a lemon glaze that is simply to die for!
If you love lemon desserts, you have to try our Lemon Brownies, Lemon Olive Oil Cake, or Easy Lemon Bars!
The Best Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Here are some reasons we absolutely love this lemon cake:
- Bright Flavors: This cake is just loaded with lemon flavor making it so fresh and delicious!
- Beautiful: Bundt cakes are so pretty! You can use a detailed fluted pan to make your cake stand out!
- Great for sharing: Bundt cakes are perfect for sharing. Bring one to a tea party, bridal shower, or mothers day gathering.
Poppy Seed Lemon Cake Ingredients
For the cake you'll need:
- white flour
- baking powder, baking soda
- salted butter
- white sugar
- eggs
- sour cream
- milk
- lemon extract
- lemon zest
- poppy seeds
For the Lemon Glaze:
- powdered sugar
- lemon juice, lemon zest
- salted 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 Poppy Seed Cake
- Combine flour and baking powder. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter until creamy. Add the eggs and mix until combined. Mix in the sour cream, milk, lemon extract, and lemon zest. Slowly add your dry mix and stir until combined. Stir in poppy seeds.
- Pour the batter into a WELL greased bundt pan.
- Bake at 350° 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.
- 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.
How to serve Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
This lemon 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.
How to store leftover Lemon Poppy Seed 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.
Substitutions for this Recipe:
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!
Poppy Seeds: If you don't like poppy seeds, try this Lemon Bundt Cake recipe.
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.
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 and Poppy Seed Cake 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 or Lime: For a different flavor altogether, swap out the Lemon for Orange or lime.
- More Flavor! Add some extra Lemon zest to the drizzle and on top of the finished bundt cake.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake FAQs
No, they don't need to be soaked before baking.
We love a simple lemon glaze as opposed to a frosting.
The cake uses lemon extract and zest for the lemon flavor which is essential, but the glaze uses lemon juice and we highly recommend freshly squeezed for the most flavor.
Other Bundt Cake recipes:
Lemon and Poppy Seed 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
- 1.5 tablespoons poppy seeds
Lemon Glaze Ingredients:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ 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.
- Stir in poppy seeds.
- Pour the batter into a WELL 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.
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