Lemonade Bundt cake (VIDEO)

Lemonade Bundt cake bursting with lemon flavor is one of the bests cakes of all with a melt-in-your-mouth velvety texture and a simple yet very lemonade-like decoration! Crazy moist yogurt bundt cake packed with citrus zest (lemon, lime, and orange zest) and loaded with a simple citrusy lemonade syrup for the maximum taste! A must-make lemon cake over summer but might just become your favorite Bundt cake all year round!

Jump to:

• What is Lemonade cake
• Why this is the best recipe
• Ingredient notes
• 4 Expert tips regarding the technique
• Equipment notes
• Recipe FAQs
• More Bundt cake recipes
• Lemonade Bundt cake (VIDEO)

What is Lemonade cake

Lemonade cake is not an exact cake definition, there are many different variations available just as many different lemonades. I personally like to use a combination of citrusy flavors; lemon, orange, and lime for the perfect balance. Lemonade cake can be enhanced with other fruits such as raspberry, or herbs like mint, or even alcohol eg. rum, just like my mojito cake!

Either way, a good Lemon cake must have a rather tangy, not too-sweet flavor profile with a moist texture and velvety crumb. This easy Lemon Bundt cake is one of the most flavorful cakes that you will ever make!

Why this is the best recipe

1. It is extremely easy – You won´t need any fancy ingredients to make this Lemon Bundt cake. The recipe comes together really easily, totally doable from scratch. Both the mixing process of the batter as well as the baking process are very simple, even for beginners
2. It is super quick – I do not overcomplicate anything in this recipe! My Lemonade cake is not just easy, but quick as well, all you need to do is mix the ingredients, bake, and enjoy. The recipe is a perfect choice if you want something quick and impressive that is literally ready in an hour
3. It is super delicious – I never compromise on taste! This cake is a super moist yogurt-based pound cake with deep citrusy notes, the perfect refreshing cake.
4. No special equipment is needed – All you need is a Bundt tin that you probably already have at home and you are good to go! Having said that, if you do not own a Bundt cake tin, this cake can be made in a loaf tin or any cake tin
5. It is super versatile – The Lemonade cake can be made using different spices eg. ginger, you can use different fruits eg. raspberry, or syrup even alcohol eg. rum. Feel free to experiment!

Ingredient notes

For the Lemon Bundt cake

1. Butter: Use always unsalted butter as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content European-style butter in all my recipes. The butter needs to be at room temperature which technically means soft enough to be able to cream but not too soft or runny so avoid last-minute microwaving
2. Granulated sugar: I use simple white granulated sugar, nothing fancy or expensive, you might want to experiment with using half granulated half brown sugar.
3. Egg: Room temperature as always so the ingredients can properly emulsify
4. Vanilla bean paste: Please avoid using artificial vanilla! There are several great brands for fine, pure vanilla, I use Nielsen massey which I love and really recommend. I use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract which has lovely vanilla bits in there too
5. Flour: If you have self-raising flour available in your country, feel free to use that. I am using pasty flour but AP (all-purpose flour) can work too. They are so-called “soft flour” which is low in protein resulting in a delicate, tender texture.
6. Baking powder: If you are using self-raising flour, then no baking powder is needed. I will state the amount of baking powder in the recipes for those who use all-purpose flour
7. Salt: You always need to add salt to your desserts, it wonderfully balanced the flavors
8. Milk: Whole milk is the best, pay attention to using room-temperature milk
9. Yogurt: Use thick full-fat Greek or Turkish-style yogurt for the best texture. A good substitution can be sour cream. Again, very important that you bring the yogurt to room temperature as cold yogurt won´t properly mix in with the rest of the ingredients
10. Lemon zest: Citrus zest is a wonderful flavoring, in lemon desserts, I use a combination of lemon-orange-lime zest combination. Another citrus version can be this Key Lime Pound Cake recipe from Paula.

For the citrusy syrup

1. Fresh Lemon juice: Simply squeeze the juice out of the lemons you previously took the zest off. I also suggest using some lime and orange juice too, they all together bring wonderful citrusy tangy flavors to this Lemonade cake
2. Granulated sugar: White granulated sugar is completely fine for this recipe. When you heat the syrup, make sure that sugar fully dissolves and the mixture thickens into a syrup consistency
3. Mint (optional): I really like my lemonade with mint so as my Lemonade Bundt cake! You will need a few mints leaves to flavor the syrup, the more the better but depends on your personal preference
4. You can totally use one or two tablespoons of elderflower cordial along with the above ingredients for a lovely floral note!

For the lemon glaze

1. Lemon juice: Same as above, use freshly squeezed lemon juice
2. Powdered sugar: Classic bundt glaze is made with powdered sugar (icing) sugar mixed with

4 Expert tips regarding the technique

1. Step-by-step process of making moist Lemon Bundt cake

This wonderfully moist Bundt cake is a type of cake that is definitely worth mastering for every home baker and with one base recipe, you can make several variations later. It has a light texture with velvety crumbs, incredibly delicious.

• Ingredients must be all measured with a Digital scale
• Start preheating your oven - see tips below at "How to bake"
• Prepare your Bundt tin - see tips below at "How to prevent Bundt cake from sticking"
• Eggs, as well as butter, must be at room temperature. Make sure that butter is soft but not runny so avoid last-minute microwaving
• Beat butter and sugar with an Electric hand mixer for a good 3-5 minutes until fluffy
• Beat in vanilla bean paste or the vanilla you are using. You can add the citrus zest at this stage, or at the end
• Add room temp eggs into the mixture very slowly while your Electric hand mixer is still on. If you add the eggs too quickly or if the eggs are cold, you might find that the mixture curdles. It can be saved by adding the dry ingredients, but not ideal for the final texture
• Sift dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) together before adding them to the mixture
• Mix the wet ingredients; room temperature yogurt and room temperature milk together for a few seconds. Again, it is very important that all the ingredients are at room temperature so the Lemonade cake batter can properly emulsify
• Switch to a Rubber spatula and fold the dry ingredients and wet ingredients into the butter mixture in 4 steps: wet, dry, wet, dry. Make sure that you finish with the dry ingredients
• Pour cake batter into your Bundt pan.

2. How to bake

First of all, never bake any cake without properly pre-heating your oven first, so start with that before even preparing the cake batter. The Lemonade cake will be baked at 175 C / 347 F. Preheat the oven +20C / 68F as the oven temperature drops when you open the door. Always use Digital oven thermometer to avoid over-baked crumbly or under-baked cakes.

Each oven is different so you might need to adjust the time slightly but in my oven, I bake the Lemonade Bundt cake for 1 hour. It is ready when the cake has a nice rise and when a toothpick is inserted, it comes out clean. Since it is a rather large cake, I suggest to rather overbake it, than underbake as we need to make sure that the middle part is not raw.

Towards the end of the baking time prepare the syrup by simply boiling all the ingredients together until it reaches a syrupy consistency. It will take about 2-5 minutes depending on your stove. Make sure that you don't over-cook it to a stage where the sugar would crystalize, stop when you have a nice, slightly thick syrup.

What important is that you use the syrup immediately: pour warm syrup of the warm cake, then syrup will sink in. Make sure you prick the cake all over on the top, it will help the syrup to sink in. While applying the syrup, be mindful of the amount of syrup not to make the cake soggy. Pour a small amount at first, then wait until it sinks in

Let the cake cool in the Pan for 5 minutes then using a cooling rack and parchment paper quickly turn the Bundt tin upside down and carefully remove the tin.

Experienced issues before in regards to not being able to remove the Bundt cake in one piece? Never again! Continue reading!

3. How to prevent Bundt cake from sticking

There are many tricks on the internet on the topic of how to prevent Bundt cake from sticking to the tin. First and foremost, check out my article about How to get Cake out of Bundt pan that will explain all the information you need!

The easiest option is to use a Silicone Bundt Cake tin, with that you don't have to worry about this question at all. It gives the perfect definition to the Bundt cake and super way to remove the cake from the tin.

If you decide to use a classic Steel Bundt cake pan, the process of preparing your Bundt tin is the following

• Use soft butter (again soft, but not melted, just like you used for the cake batter) and patiently cover the entire bundt tin using a pastry brush or your fingers. You must pay attention to cover every single corner of your tin
• Lightly dust with flour
• Freeze it while preparing the cake batter! This is a super important step and will take your Bundt cake preparation to a solid level

With the steps above you have super high changes to get the Lemonade Bundt cake out of the pan in one wonderful piece!

4. How to make the citrusy glaze

The Lemonade cake is really super flavourful on its own however making an easy glaze and decoration really takes it to a whole new level!

This is a 2 ingredients lemon glaze recipe, you will need to whisk sifted powdered sugar with freshly squeezed lemon juice. It is super easy, the only thing you will have to be careful of is finding the right consistency that is not too runny and not too thick.

What if my glaze is too thin and runny? Add more powdered sugar into the mixture

What if my glaze is too thick? Add more lemon juice

Please make sure that your Lemonade cake is at room temperature or even chilled before pouring the glaze on top! The glaze will set in a few minutes and you can move on to decoration.

For the decoration, you can go all-in with plenty of lemon and orange slices, mint, raspberries, etc., or keep it minimal. I suggest to pre-cook the lemon and orange slices in hot syrup a bit, or at least drying them on the kitchen counter for a few hours so they won´t be too moist and watery (that can cause slight damage to the glaze).

If you love lemon desserts, try also this Small Batch Lemon Bars from Carla.

Equipment notes

First and foremost make sure you measure the ingredients with the help of a Digital scale. Cup measurement in this recipe is an indicative figure only. Baking cups are not just inaccurate but also makes way too many dirty dishes, it is just not worth it.

If you are baking regularly and often struggle with your oven, also recommend purchasing an inexpensive Digital oven thermometer. Most home ovens are over or under run and inaccurate oven temperature can cause several issues during baking and waste time and ingredients.

For whipping the wet ingredients you won´t need a stand mixer however an Electric hand mixer is super handy. Then, once you proceed with the dry ingredients, make sure to don´t use your mixer but a Rubber spatula instead, as we do not want to over-mix this cake batter.

As for the bundt tin itself, Silicone Bundt Cake tin or Steel Bundt cake pan both work fine.

Recipe FAQs

More Bundt cake recipes