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.
Jackie says
Hi
How do you measure your flour?
Olivia says
Hi Jackie! I spoon it into a measuring cup and level it off.
Jenn B says
Hello, I happen to have Heritage Bundtlette pans (6 mini bundts per pan), at what time would you start checking for doneness? Same as a cupcake – around 15mins? Thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Jenn! Yes, I think that would be good timing. I made mini’s before and they took about 15mins: https://livforcake.com/cinnamon-toast-bundts/
Jazzie says
How long do you cook the cupcakes for and at what temp?
Olivia says
Hi Jazzie! It depends on the size of the cupcakes but usually around 15mins or so. Temperature should be the same.