Best Lemon Bundt Cake
"This was adapted form an episode of "America's Test Kitchen". I watched them make this cake and went right out and bought the stuff I didn't already have and made this cake. This was by the far the BEST lemon bundt cake I've ever made. The problem alot of times is when we make something with lemons it usually cooks out the flavor of the lemon by the end of the baking time. They tested several ways of making lemon bundt cakes and this recipe is it! The buttermilk is the secret to this great cake, and not to mention this is really easy to make. (*note: you will need 5-6 tablespoons of lemon juice total for this recipe.)"
photo by janineb01
- Ready In:
- 1hr 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 14
- Serves:
-
12-14
ingredients
-
Cake ingredients
- 3 lemons, juice and zest of, grated and saved, then juiced for 3 tablespoons
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3⁄4 cup low-fat buttermilk (preferably)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 18 tablespoons butter, at room temperature (2 1/4 sticks)
- 2 cups sugar
-
Glaze ingredients
- 2 -3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon buttermilk
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
directions
- For the cake: Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray with flour or brush pan with mixture of 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Mince lemon zest to fine paste (you should have about 2 tablespoons). Combine zest and juice in small bowl; set aside to soften, 10-15 minutes.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Combine lemon juice mixture, vanilla, and buttermilk in medium bowl. In a small bowl, gently whisk eggs and yolk to combine. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, cream butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes;scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add half of eggs, mixing until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining eggs;scrape down bowl again. Reduce to low speed;add about 1/3 of flour mixture,followed by 1/2 of buttermilk mixture, mixing until just incorporated after each addition (about 5 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all the remaining buttermilk. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture;mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incoprorate any remaining flour. Scrape into prepared pan.
- Bake until top is golden brown and wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into center comes out with no crumbs attached, 45-50 minutes.
- For the glaze: While cake is baking, whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice, buttermilk, and confectioners sugar until smooth, adding more lemon juice gradually as needed until glaze is thick but still pourable (mixture should leave faint trail across bottom of mixing bowl when drizzled from whisk). Cool cake in pan on wire rack set over baking sheet for 10 minutes, then invert cake directly onto rack. Pour 1/2 glaze over warm cake and let cool for 1 hour; pour remaining glaze over top of cake and continue to cool room temperature at least 2 hours. Cut into slices and serve.
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
Reviews
-
This was amazing but I have to admit I doubled and tripled the lemon called for. -
Anything from America's Test Kitchen has already been tested every which way to perfection. This was wonderful!! The lemon glaze provides has a sweet-sour zing and then the cake has a buttery warm flavor. The only complaint is that I used all my mixing bowls; there have to be a couple steps that can be consolidated. Thanks for posting! -
I'm sad to say that I was not happy with this cake recipe. I found it very bland and uninteresting. I am known for my baking and everyone was disappointed when I served this cake. People look forward to dessert after dinner at my house and this one didn't reach the bar. I would not make this one again. It's too bad. -
Similar to the Bfansher review, I contest that everyone usually raves about my baking... I TRUSTEd the Cooks Illustrated recipe but this one failed to leave my family and friends saying nothing more than an unenthusiastic: "It's good". In my opinion, the lemon taste was great but the texture was not great. It was moist but a little floury tasting. I was not able to get a clean skewer when poking the cake after 45 or even 50 minutes -- Meanwhile, my cake was getting overbaked on the outside (mind you, I have a brand new high end oven). --- I have a couple big issues with this recipe which could have been the problem: 1. LEMONS COME IN VARIOUS SIZES - Why doesn't the recipe just tell me how much lemon juice in volume, please?? My lemons might have been larger or I may have spun out more juice on my citrus juicer -- So, my batter may have had too much liquid and the outside of my cake came out dry and crunchy - YUCK! 2. The 4th egg (just the egg yolk) is listed on a separate line in the recipe -- This doesn't make sense to me. I missed it when I read through the ingredients for the egss! My fault but all of the eggs used should have been listed together with special instructions for the 4th yolk. With that said, I don't think it made a ton of difference. MY ADVICE: LOOK FOR ANOTHER RECIPE. THIS ONE -
This is one of my signature cakes. The details of the recipe must be followed as written with the addition of lemon extract and zest to the batter for more "zing." Enjoy this one for sure
see 4 more reviews
Tweaks
-
Additional home made lemon extract and zest to batter
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p><span style=color: #800080;><em>I am a 37 year old married, mother of 2 boys Trent (18) & Brett(14). I have been out of my mom's house since I was 18 and wanted to become a great cook for my family. I love trying new recipes and love to share my favorite recipes with others. I think I've done pretty well, my husband & kids love just about everything I cook.</em> </span><br /><br /></p>
