Lemon Bundt Cake

I made this cake for a birthday at work, and wanted to find a cake that was special but not something super sugary, with lots of frosting or anything like that. Another challenge was that I had little more than an hour to bake the cake, and I had to stop and get any needed ingredients at the store on the way home. Usually I like to go through recipes I have bookmarked, look through my cookbooks and decide what the best cake is for the occasion. This time, I used my search skills (I’m a librarian!) to quickly find something great.

I thought that I wanted to make something with lemon, so went and searched for lemon cake. I figured that a Bundt would be the best option, given my time constraint. I had wanted to make cupcakes, but by the time I made those and made frosting and frosted them, it would take too long. I found many lemon cake recipes and settled on this one from the Barefoot Contessa. I like her show, and the recipes of hers that I have made always turn out. I was also intrigued that this called for the zest of 6-8 lemons. Wow!

This cake is really lemony, and I’m still debating whether it is too lemony. It has just a touch of bitterness/sourness from the lemons. The lemon zest, the lemon syrup, and the lemon glaze are a lot. I ended up using 8 lemons total to make this cake, which I am sure is a record for me. I thought it was good and it was a big hit at work. You can’t eat a very big slice of these, since the flavor is so strong, so you could consider this health food!

Lemon Bundt Cake

2 sticks butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
About 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

In a large mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing at medium speed after each addition. Mix in lemon zest being careful to break up any clumps.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large liquid measuring cup, combine the lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, and eggs. Then add 1/2 the liquid, another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the liquid, and the rest of the flour, mixing after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Just as the cake comes out of the oven, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Turn the cake out of the pan onto a wire rack set over a tray. Use a skewer to poke holes in the top of the cake. Slowly pour/spoon the warm lemon syrup over the top of the cake. Let cake cool completely.

Make the glaze: sift the powdered sugar into a bowl and add lemon juice, stirring until the desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over cake, allowing it to run down the sides.

Recipe from Barefoot Contessa Parties! via Little Blue Hen