Super Moist Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe (Made From Scratch)

Let me first start off by saying I love EVERYTHING lemon. I have to squirt a little in my soda; I have to have it in my tea; I love to squirt it over baked chicken and salmon; and I even squeeze a little over certain vegetables! I just love the flavor of lemon.

This love for lemon juice started when I was just a little kid. Lemon was always my choice of flavor for water ice during those hot summer boycamps I attended.

When I was thirsty, I’d always buy a bottle of lemonade from the papi store. A sweet tooth? Oh, I had a pack of Lemonheads for that. Lol! Get the point now?

So it should be no surprise that I’m a big fan of moist lemon cake. After making my Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake, it wouldn’t be me if a lemon cake recipe wasn’t in the works! Lol!

This is officially the 2nd cake recipe I’ve posted to my blog. So I’m excited to share this delicious lemon bundt cake recipe with you all because I just know y’all are going to love it.

Childhood memories of Dad’s lemon bundt cake

Everybody knows I come from a cooking family, and my father was no exception to the rule. When I say EVERYBODY KNEW HOW TO THROW DOWN IN THE KITCHEN, that’s what I mean!

My dad, however, was known for making desserts, like homemade cookies, cakes, and pies. Besides how delicious they were, what I remember most about Pop’s cakes was how often he made them!! Haha!

Baking cakes was like his specialty, and he was so amazingly good at it. And as I said in my Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe…

I would always sit in the kitchen watching him combine all the ingredients. I always looked forward to finger-licking the leftover cake batter out of the mixing bowls. Pops was cool with that; my mom, however, was not.

Anyway, I have tried to duplicate his cake recipes more times than I like to admit. And while they just don’t have that same special something his cakes had, I’ve gotten close enough, which I’m very pleased with. Haha!

Recipe Ingredients:

Here are all the ingredients you’ll need for this delicious lemon bundt cake recipe.

Dry Ingredients

• Sugar: Sugar is for sweetness. Make sure you use a good brand like Domino’s.
• Cake Flour: This is the base ingredient and gives a more moist result than all-purpose flour.
• Baking powder: Baking powder is the leavening ingredient that makes the cake rise. Make sure the baking powder isn’t outdated, or else the cake won’t rise.
• Salt: Salt is needed for many things, but its main purpose is to enhance the flavor.

Wet Ingredients

• Vegetable oil: We use vegetable oil to get the cake nice and moist.
• Sour Cream: Sour cream provides moisture, a hint of tanginess, balances the overall flavor, and adds richness to the cake.
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk affects the texture and moistness and adds a rich flavor to the cake. It also helps to thin out the batter.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter to add richness and flavor. Make sure to use a good brand like Land O’ Lakes. That’s my favorite and what I like to use.
• Eggs: Eggs provide structure and help the cake rise, but they also add flavor and give the cake a nice color. Make sure you use large eggs.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract is solely for flavor. We only use a little, but it’s one of the most important ingredients in baking for flavor. Use a good-quality vanilla extract like McCormick.

Baking Pan Ingredients

• Pam Cooking Spray: Pam cooking spray is just extra protection to ensure the cake doesn’t stick to the pan.
• Vegetable Oil: We’ll also use a small amount of vegetable oil to help keep the cake from sticking.
• All-Purpose Flour: We’ll be adding a little flour to the pan after removing the excess oil to create a lightly dusted pan.

Lemon Frosting Ingredients

• Confectioners’ Sugar: Confectioners’ sugar is the base ingredient for the frosting, and its obvious purpose is to add sweetness.
• Simple Syrup: Syrup gives the frosting a silky texture, a looser consistency, and adds sweetness as well.
• Butter: The unsalted butter gives the frosting flavor and helps to solidify it.
• Lemon Juice: The lemon juice is what gives the frosting its lemon flavor.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds a flavor to every frosting that is necessary for it to taste like a true frosting.

Cookware you’ll need:

• First off, you’re going to need a Bundt Cake Pan since we’re making a bundt lemon cake. So make sure you have one on hand.
• You’re going to need 2 Large Mixing Bowls. We’re making a pretty big cake, so you’ll need a big mixing bowl to blend everything in.
• Have a Small Mixing Bowl on hand as well to make the frosting.
• You’re also going to need some tools for mixing the ingredients. I always use a Whisk to whisk the dry ingredients first, and a Hand Mixer to blend everything in.
• Make sure you also have a Spatula on hand. You need one to scrape all the cake mix from the sides of the bowl into the center to ensure everything is being incorporated into the mixture.
• Make sure you have Measuring Cups and Spoons to accurately measure each ingredient.
• Make sure you have a Strainer as well to pour the dry ingredients through to remove lumps or foreign pieces from sugar and flour.

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What it TAKES to make a Moist CAKE

The moistness of a cake is the most important thing to making a great cake. But making a moist cake is what people have trouble with the most.

Well, I was no exception; it took me a while to get this cake perfectly moist. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I tested this recipe.

As much as I love lemon cake, I can go 3 years without tasting another one. Lol! I easily bought $200 worth of flour, oil, milk, and lemon. Smh!

But I finally got it right; let me tell you how I got here. So obviously oil moistens cake like no other, so I thought the more I used, the better.

Nope! It left my cake so greasy it looked like I dipped my hands in baby oil. Lol! If you use too much oil, the cake gets heavy and greasy.

Excessive oil can also prevent the cake from fully rising as well. This is why you can’t just use oil for moisture, and that was my dilemma.

How can I get this cake really moist without using too much oil? I did a lil research and learned that sour cream and buttermilk provide moisture as well.

I was skeptical because I thought these ingredients would alter the flavor of the cake. When I tested it the first time, my fear became a reality. Lol! The cake turned out good, but a bit too much tang.

The key was balance, finding that perfect amount of the 3 ingredients to use. I ended up reducing the amounts of sour cream and buttermilk and added more sugar to offset that tang.

And finally, finally, finally… I got a perfectly moist cake. One that wasn’t greasy or tangy, but tender with the perfect flavor. What sour cream and buttermilk do for cake just can’t be put into words.

It’s just so necessary and takes a cake to new heights; I won’t even make one without using one or the other. It’s just amazing what it does for the consistency of the batter, the flavor, richness, and the texture of the crumb.

So yes, it was a journey to get here, folks, so let’s get to the recipe now. Lol!

How to make Lemon Bundt Cake

1. Sift the dry ingredients as you add them to a big mixing bowl, then whisk well.
2. Melt the butter in a skillet or microwave, then set it aside for a few minutes.
3. After it cools down, add it to a large mixing bowl with the buttermilk, oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.
4. Blend well with a hand mixer on low speed.
5.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
7. Blend well with a hand mixer on low speed just until everything is well incorporated.
8.  Wipe some oil around all parts of the cake pan and lightly spray all parts with Pam spray.
9. Add the flour, shake the pan to ensure all parts are well-coated, then flip it upside down to remove excess flour.
10. Pour the cake mix into the cake pan.
11. Lift the pan an inch above the table or counter and drop it; do this 3x.
12. Place the pan on the lower rack in the oven.
13. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, then remove it and give it 30 minutes to chill.
14. FROSTING: Meanwhile, split a lemon and squeeze out 2-3 tbs of lemon juice.
15. Add the lemon juice and all the frosting ingredients to a medium mixing bowl.
16. Stir well with a fork until nice and smooth.
17. Place a baking rack over the cake pan, then flip it upside down to remove the cake.
18. Place parchment paper under the baking rack to catch any dripping frosting.
19. Scoop half of the frosting with a spoon and slowly drizzle it over the cake.
20. Let it settle for 15-20 minutes.
21. Once the frosting settles a little, add the remaining frosting to the cake.
22. Grate the lemon peelings with a grater to create lemon zest.
23. Garnish the cake with the lemon zest.
24. Lift the cake with a cake lifter, set it on the cake holder, and cover with a lid.

Baking Tips for success:

• Use fresh, high-quality ingredients: To optimize the deliciousness of your cake, use fresh ingredients rather than old ones that might be expired. Stick to good, trusted brands for a higher quality of taste.
• Bring ingredients to room temperature: Make sure everything is at room temperature before you start combining all the ingredients so they blend together smoothly.
• Measure your flour right: Don’t scoop flour straight from the bag with your measuring cup! That packs it down, which can easily cause you to use way more flour than the recipe calls for, leaving you with a heavy, dry cake. Instead, use a spoon to scoop the flour into your cup and level it off flat with a knife.
• Don’t skip the spatula: A hand mixer won’t catch everything, and dry flour loves to hide right at the bottom of the bowl. Always grab a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom so dry pockets of flour aren’t left behind and everything is well combined and blended in.
• Tap out the air bubbles: Once you’ve poured the batter into the pan, lift it an inch above the counter and drop it down three times. It sounds simple, but it forces out trapped air pockets, which causes holes throughout the cake.
• Keep your mixer on low: Make sure that when you combine the wet and dry ingredients, your hand mixer is on low speed. This ensures that you don’t overwork the batter, which will ruin the texture of the cake.

Storage

• How to store a lemon bundt cake? I keep it under a lid on a cake holder so that it stays nice and moist for days.
• Can you freeze lemon bundt cake? Yes, slice it into individual pieces, and seal it in a Ziploc bag. This will prevent freezer burn and keep it fresh for months.
• How to defrost it? Just let it stand at room temperature for 3-4 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you add extra lemon juice to the cake batter? Yes, but just make sure you don’t overdo it. Remember, balance is key, and lemon juice has a very strong flavor. There’s already lemon in the frosting, so adding lemon to the batter can make the cake too sour. Just add a little at a time to make sure you don’t add too much.
• What if I don’t have buttermilk? You don’t have to worry about a thing! You can create homemade buttermilk by combining whole milk with a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar. Let it set for 5-10 minutes until it thickens. It makes an easy homemade buttermilk substitute that gives you that exact same rich moisture and tang!
• Can I use another type of cake pan to make a layered cake? Most definitely! Layered cakes are probably even more popular than bundt cakes here in the States. We’re using 3 cups of flour for this recipe, which makes a pretty big batch of batter. That amount of ingredients is more than enough to fill 2 to 3 round pans for a stacked layer cake.
• How do I remove my cake if it won’t slide out of the pan? If your cake gets stuck and won’t slide out, don’t panic! Head over to my Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe for foolproof steps on how to release the cake without ruining it.
• Why does my cake have a gummy texture or streaks? This usually happens when the cake is slightly underbaked or when you overmix the batter. Too much moisture can result in a gummy cake, as it prevents the flour from developing a drier, cake-like texture. When you overmix the batter, the gluten can become too strong and overdeveloped, also resulting in a tough, gummy texture. To prevent this, use the right liquid-to-flour ratio, and mix on low speed or with a big spoon just until everything is combined.
• Why was my cake wet or mushy on top? If the top of the cake is damp and mushy, it typically means it needs a few more minutes to bake. The surface can’t bake into a proper crumb if it’s holding onto extra moisture or hasn’t baked all the way through. Just let it bake a little longer, and don’t add so much liquid to your batter next time.
• Why do I see mushy patches of flour on my cake? This usually happens when you coat the pan with too much oil and spray. The excess liquid and flour create a thick, wet layer that leaves mushy patches on the cake when it’s done. To prevent this, coat the pan with oil using a paper towel and make sure to lightly spray the pan. Also use a small amount of flour, and shake out any excess flour before adding the cake batter.
• Why did my cake sink in the middle? Usually, this comes down to a few common culprits: overmixing can beat too much air into the batter, which ultimately weakens the structure. Opening the oven door too early lets a rush of cool air in. This causes a drop in temperature and shocks the batter, causing it to collapse. Old, outdated baking powder or soda can prevent your cake from rising. So mix just until combined, make sure your leaveners are new, and keep that oven door closed until it’s done!
• How to keep the cake moist? I always store my cakes on a cake stand under a lid at room temperature. I skip the fridge completely because that dries it out. You can even stash it in the microwave. Just make sure you keep it covered so it stays nicely moist and fresh!

Alright, that’s all for now, folks! After you try this recipe and fall in love with it, give me a 5-star rating and share the recipe. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to receive email notifications every time I post a new recipe.

Enjoy, later!

PBJ~

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