A moist and delicious lemon bundt cake with the sweetness of Meyer lemons. Perfect for afternoon tea or even breakfast!
How stunning is this Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake?? Seriously, I love this new bundt pan. I can’t remember where I first saw it, likely on Pinterest somewhere. I had no idea what it was called, but a quick search for “spiral bundt” led me to the Nordic Ware site and the Heritage Bundt Pan.
Not cheap, right? Especially with the Canadian dollar being what it is. I am currently jobless, so there was no way I was going to spend this much on one cake pan. Except that I scored a wicked deal and I’m going to tell you all about it.
The lowest price I found online was at Bed Bath & Beyond, so off I went to my local store to see if they had it. Unfortunately, they didn’t. The salesperson told me I could order it online or drive 30mins to the North Vancouver store. Neither of these was appealing.
I didn’t want to pay for shipping and I was too lazy to drive that far to get one, so I asked if they could order it for me and get it transferred to their store. Well they could, and they did. Except even better, I had it shipped to my house for free AND was able to use my 20% off coupon to get it (which you can’t use if you order online). So, all in it cost me a total of $30. Awesome, right??
Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake recipe
I already knew what I wanted to make with my fancy new bundt pan. I’d come across a bunch of recipes lately using Meyer lemons. I had no idea what these were, but people were raving about them.
Naturally I had to see what all the fuss was about and this Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake was born.
What are Meyer Lemons?
Meyer lemons are sort of a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. Sweeter than normal lemons, with a unique flavour. AKA, delicious. I was both surprised and excited when I actually saw some at my local fruit and veggie shop!
How to make this Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake
I did a bunch of research on recipes and found one to use as a baseline but changed a few of the ingredients/amounts. I had some leftover sour cream sitting in my fridge that I wanted to use up, so I added that in place of the heavy cream.
Sour cream is a great addition to any cake — it adds a ton of moisture and I try to use it often. I also increased the amount of lemon juice in the cake, as I wanted to it have a strong flavour.
I wanted the edges of the cake to be nice and clean, so I put a bit of batter into the pan and nudged it into all the nooks and crannies with a spatula. I didn’t want any air pockets!
One thing to note is that this recipe made a LOT of batter – too much for the 10 cup Heritage bundt pan, in my opinion. So if you’re using this bundt pan and this recipe, plan to make 6 cupcakes as well, which is what I did….after I poured all the batter into the pan. I noticed that it was too full, so I scooped some out and made cupcakes with the extra. A 12 cup bundt pan would work perfectly.
While the cake is still hot, you poke it with a skewer and brush it with a Meyer lemon syrup, then once it’s cooled it gets glazed and topped with some lemon zest. I used a total of 3 lemons for this cake.
It came out perfectly moist and delicious. For me personally, it could have been a bit sweeter, so next time I’ll either add more sugar, or more glaze, or both!
Looking for more lemon cake recipes?
- Lemon Elderflower Cake (Copycat Royal Wedding Cake)
- Lemon Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Mini Meyer Lemon Loaves
- Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Almond Loaf
Tips for making this Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake:
- I used the Heritage Bundt pan from Nordic Ware, but it was a little small for the amount of batter. You can make cupcakes with any extra or use a 12-cup Bundt pan instead.
- If you don’t have meyer lemons you can make this with regular lemons or even oranges instead.
- Be sure to brush the syrup on the cake while it’s still hot so it can absorb it better.
Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/8 cup meyer lemon zest approx. 3 lemons
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup milk room temperature
- 1/2 cup sour cream room temperature
- 2 Tbsp meyer lemon juice approx. 1 lemon
Syrup
- 1/4 cup meyer lemon juice approx. 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease & flour a 12 cup bundt pan.* I use homemade cake release. Be sure to get in all the cracks of the bundt pan.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and lemon zest and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition.
- Add vanilla.
- Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition.
- Add sour cream and lemon juice and mix until combined.
- Add some batter into your prepared pan and press it into the cracks of the bundt pan with a small spatula. Add remaining batter until pan is no more than 3/4 full. Smooth the top with a spatula and whack the pan against the counter to evenly distribute.
- Bake for 50mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cake on wire rack to cool for 10mins. Whack the pan on the counter to loosen the cake and turn out onto wire rack.
- While the cake is still hot, poke it will a toothpick or skewer and immediately brush with syrup. Allow cake to cool completely.
- Once cake has cooled, drizzle glaze over top.
Syrup:
- Place lemon juice and sugar into a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until simmering and all sugar has dissolved. Set aside until cake is ready.
Glaze:
- Place powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla into a 2 cup measuring cup. Stir with a fork until fully combined. Drizzle over cake.
Shannon Jarvis says
Delicious and moist! Highly recommend
Olivia says
Hi Shannon! So happy to hear you loved it.
Paula says
I just realized you are from NV! I found Meyer lemons at Foxy Market on 1st, so I’m making this cake this weekend! Thank you for the recipe!
Olivia says
Hi Paula! Thanks for the tip! I hope you love it 🙂
Stef Elliott says
Made this today the house smells so good ! Made exactly what she said it would. This was actually my first bunt cake n it looks like a pro made it no kidding!!
Olivia says
Hi Stef! Yay! I’m so happy to hear that. I hope you love it as much as I do 🙂
Tia Maxwell says
I’m planning to make this very soon and would love to try browning the butter first and then cooling it, before creaming in the sugar. Do you think this would work? I already know I’d have to add back a little water or liquid to account for the evaporation in the browning process.
I think it would give it a really wonderful warm depth of flavor
Olivia says
Hi Tia! I think that will work fine. Just be sure the total amount of butter is the same after browning 🙂
Pamela says
Hi Liv,
I have made this delicious Bundt cake several times as my husband keeps asking for it. It always comes out amazing; however, this time it wasn’t fluffy, it was dense (definitely not fluffy). I know it’s because I over-mixed the butter, sugar, and egg.
I have a question or two and since I can’t seem to find the answer I’m looking for on the internet, I thought who best to ask but the Cake Pro. So here goes: How much time exactly do you beat the butter, then butter and sugar, then butter, sugar, and egg for? (Hope this makes sense.) What’s better, using the beater or wire whip? Using my stand-mixer, what speed do I use? Last one, does it matter if I use sour cream that’s full fat or light? I used full fat this time and it was very thick.
Since I over-mixed the batter this time, I really don’t want to under-mix the next time. Thank you and yes, I bought your ebook “How to Bake the Perfect Cake”.
Thank you,
Pamela
Olivia says
Hi Pamela! So glad you both love this one 🙂 In terms of overmixing and dense cakes, that’s usually after the flour is added. You want to only mix until it is just incorporated. Mixing too much at that point can develop too much gluten which leads to dense cakes. There are other factors though such as not using room temperature ingredients, too much flour, and baking powder/soda not being fresh.
In terms of mixing times, I generally beat the butter and sugar for about 2-3 mins on med-high. You want this to get pale and fluffy (I use the paddle attachment on my stand mixer). For the eggs, add one at a time (on low but crank it to med-high to whip in each egg – it’s probably less than 10 seconds). Then once you add the flour I generally mix on low to incorporate it. I don’t think the sour cream would have made it more dense — I recommend to use a full-fat one in general. If that’s the only thing you changed though I would try it again with a low fat one and see if the texture is better.
I hope that helps! 🙂
Pamela says
Hi Liv,
Thank you for responding to my inquiry so quickly and thank you for the instructions. And yes, your reply has been a big help and is very much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Pamela 🙂
Pamela says
OMG! This time it was me moaning with every bite. This is the best lemon bundt cake I’ve ever made. It’s so soft and moist and so lemony. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Olivia says
Hi Pamela! So glad you loved it. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
Pamela says
Liv, is it possible to make cupcakes from this recipe?
Thanks
Pamela
Olivia says
Hi Pamela! Yes, for sure. You just need to reduce the baking time.
Bonnie says
This is my new favorite Bundt cake. It was moist and delicious. I reduced the amount of glaze since there is great flavor and sweetness without it.
Olivia says
Hi Bonnie! So happy you liked it 🙂
K says
Hi! I didn’t use your recipe, but just made a lemon bundt. My glaze just rolled right off the cake and didn’t stick. It was powdered sugar, milk and a bit of lemon. Your icing looks nice and thick! Is it the heavy whipping cream that does the trick?
Olivia says
Hi K! Whipping cream will help because it is thicker than milk, but really you can make any glaze thick by just using more sugar/less liquid. You want it to be very thick in the bowl.
Tony says
Simply delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Tony, I’m glad you loved it!
Steluta says
Sooooo delicious 😋 😋
Perfectly moist and savoury!
If I could send a picture to see the beauty 👍👍
Thanks for the recipe.
Olivia says
So happy you liked it Steluta! I would love to see a picture — you can email it to me at livforcakeblog@gmail.com 🙂
Rhonda says
FABULOUS!!! This is seriously a fantastic cake and does not need more sugar as she says. I did make a bit extra glaze to go on top. So moist and wonderful 🙂
Olivia says
Hi Rhonda! Thanks for the awesome feedback, I’m so happy you like it! 🙂
Cerian says
This cake looks fab, but i’ve been asked to make cupcakes not a large cake, I want 24 cupcakes so wondering how I need to adjust the quantity of the recipe to achieve this (or to know how many cupcakes one quantity would make) please?
Olivia says
Hi Cerian! This recipe should make about 18-24 cupcakes, or more depending on the size. I think you’d be fine to leave it as-is.
Monnie says
This was fantastic when I made it in a bundt pan. My question is how would I adjust the recipe if I want to use loaf size pans? I’d like to give as gifts. hank you
Olivia says
Hi Monnie! All you’d need to do is reduce the baking time — it will depend on the size of the loaves. I’m so glad you liked it!
Shraddha says
Could you tell me how did you store the cake once you applied the glaze ? I want to retain its freshness and I’m afraid if I store it in the fridge I will lose it.
Olivia says
Hi Shraddha! I have a covered cake carrier that I use, but any covered cake stand will work.
Kristin says
This cake was an enormous hit with my family! Unfortunately I am gluten-free so couldn’t try it, but everybody from the youngest to oldest (Mother-in-law) loved it. Thanks
Olivia says
Hi Kristin! Thanks for the great feedback. Bummer you didn’t get to try it! It should work fine to replace the AP flour with an GF AP flour blend 🙂
Jessica says
Can you make this recipe into a sheet cake? I love this cake and would like to serve it to my guests at my weeding.
Olivia says
Hi Jessica! I think that would work fine! You’d just need to reduce the baking time.
Laurie Gardiner says
Olivia,
I purchase the Heritage Bundt pan after reading your post about it. I priced it out and found getting it from BB&B using the 20% coupon was the best deal. I also used your cake release recipe and both times I made the cake it came out beautiful! I don’t remember ever hearing so many “that’s a beautiful cake” comments for a bundt cake!
So, my first cake was for the ladies at work, we had a make-up & wine party. I couldn’t find Meyers lemons here in MD so I used a combo of lemons and tangelos. I made it again for our camping trip over Easter weekend. I had an issue with the glaze on the 1st cake, it was thick (even after adding extra milk) and didn’t drizzle very well but it was still amazing. For my Easter cake I added some juice from the lemons & tangelos to the glaze…….WOW it was awesome!!
Thank you for the recipes!! -Laurie
Olivia says
Hi Laurie! So glad you found the pan for a steal and that the cake release helped make it come out perfectly! So happy you loved the recipe 🙂
Ky says
This cake looks beautiful! I have a lemonade pound cake in the oven right now, but I wish I had seen this recipe sooner! Oh well, I’ll use it as an excuse to bake again! But that pan!! It’s beautiful! I must get me one! I am in the Southern United States, and Walmart carries a silicone version for under 10$. Not sure if it being silicone would effect any recipes or not. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Large-Bundt-Swirl-Silicone-Baking-Mold-Mould-Butter-Cake-Pan-Bread-Cupcake-Bakeware-Baking-Supplies/480562359
Olivia says
Hi Ky! Thanks for the tip. I’ve never tried a silicone one myself so let me know how it turns out!
Vicky says
Hi,
Love the recipe, especially as it matched the type I was looking to make in my new swirl bundt tin, jackpot.
I’m struggling a bit with the glaze. Here in the UK heavy whipping cream is “double cream” so used it in liquid form with icing sugar and vanilla extract mixed gently with a fork but it just made a semi solid paste more like cookie topping. Is the cream meant to be whipped? Though that’s hard with such a small amount. Appreciate any advice.
Cheers.
Olivia says
Hi Vicky! I would just add a bit more liquid until it becomes a glaze consistency. You can also use water or lemon juice instead of the cream or in addition to to thin it out.
Alison says
Double cream contains more milk fat than whipping cream. I would use milk in UK, as UK milk also contains more milk fat than in the US. Yum!
nadia says
hi ,did u use cale release in this recipe ?
Olivia says
Hi Nadia! I believe I did, yes. These days I use Pam for Baking spray instead.