Cake

Lemon and Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

6/16/2019 12:10:00 AM

This lemon and sour cream bundt cake with lemon glaze is an absolute dream of a cake. It has delightfully crunchy edges, and a dense, plush crumb with the wonderful zing of lemon zest. The sharp crackly lemon glaze puts it right over the top!

Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze


I am still super obsessed with my new fancy-pants NordicWare bundt pans. (Not sponsored; they were simply a gift from my wife). Just look at those beautiful sharp edges! Aaaah, amazing. 

When I got the tins, I wanted to start by baking classic bundt cakes, like my marble cake (Marmorkuchen), and a good old lemon bundt. Of course, once I had the idea for a lemon bundt cake, I had to find the perfect recipe to make my cake dreams come true. I knew I wanted a lemon cake, but I also knew that I wanted it to be something like a pound cake - moist, a little dense and slightly sturdy, with an even crumb. A simple cake for afternoon teas or a Kaffeeklatsch

Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

I quickly took to Pinterest, Google, and my collection of recipe books trying to find the perfect recipe. I kid you not, there was one day where I literally thought of little else than lemon bundt cakes! I nearly went cross-eyed from reading so many different recipes with lots of slightly different variations! Butter? Olive oil? Refined coconut oil? Blueberries? A packet of lemon pudding mixture? (For reasons I don't understand). Sour cream? Greek yogurt? Glaze? Icing? 

In the end, I went with the simplest recipe I could find, which was from Spruce Eats. In addition to being simple, another key factor in its favour is that it uses a whole cup of sour cream, one of my favourite baking ingredients. I'm pleased to say it fit the bill perfectly.

Let's take a look. It's a simple butter cake, with lemon zest and sour cream added to the batter. I love how light and fluffy it gets.

Lemon Bundt Batter

I followed the cake recipe pretty much to the letter - I added metric measurements and rewrote the recipe in my own words, and very much expanded the tin-preparation instructions, but the cake recipe itself is essentially as per the original. However, I eschewed their butter-based glaze for my usual lemon glaze of two cups icing sugar to four tablespoons lemon juice, which forms a nice crackly glaze. It needs to be a bit thicker than you'd expect so that it doesn't just run off the cake - rather than a fast river of glaze, you want a slow-moving glacier (a glaze-ier?).

Glaze consistency

Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

I cannot tell you how much I absolutely LOVE this cake! Yes, I've already gone on about the bright lemon flavour, the slightly dense and moist crumb and the crunchy edges, but what really takes it over the edge for me is the really great dairy-forward flavour, which I believe comes from the high proportion of sour cream in the batter. (According to Stella Parks, the boost in lactose content from the sour cream promotes a flavourful browning in the crust. The more you know!) This particular dairy / milky flavour reminds me a lot of another favourite cake, my banana buttermilk cake, which contains a whole cup of lactose-rich buttermilk. Bake that one too, it's great. (You may also like "The Jimbo Cake", a banana choc chip cake with sour cream in the batter).

The Ultimate Kaffeeklatsch

Whenever I bake a bundt and pop a picture on Instagram, especially one of these bundts with intricate patterns, I get heaps of questions on how I prepare the tin. Here's how I do it! (Please note that I learned most of these techniques from pastry wizard Stella Parks; however I always use melted butter and not a cooking spray).


Tips for preparing a bundt tin:
  • Brush the tin with a thin even layer of melted butter, ensuring no gaps and no big pockets of butter
  • Sieve some flour into the tin and rotate the tin to coat the tin in a thin even layer of flour
  • Tap any excess flour out (into the sink or the bin)
  • Fill the tin with batter and bake as per the recipe
  • Important: allow the cake to cool for approximately 10 minutes before attempting to remove the cake (do it too soon and it will break, leave it too long and it will stick)
  • Gently ease the cake away from the borders with your fingers
  • Place a cooling rack on top and, wearing oven mitts, flip the tin and rack over
  • Give the tin a few sharp raps, then slowly lift it away, giving a little shake to help loosen it from the tin
These tips have always worked for me, and I hope they're successful for you too!

Bundt Bonanza!

But back to the cake at hand. This lemon and sour cream bundt cake is great fresh, but it lasts really well over a few days, not drying out or going stale. This has absolutely become my favourite cake - I baked it twice in one week, and had to be stopped from baking it yet again. I hope you love this cake as much as I do!

Lemon and Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze
Cake recipe adapted from Spruce Eats, Glaze recipe by Sarah

Ingredients
For the cake
2 cups (360 grams) plain flour, plus extra for preparing the tin
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup (225 grams) softened unsalted butter, plus extra for preparing the tin
2 cups (450 grams) caster sugar
3 large eggs
Zest of 1 large lemon
1 cup (290 grams) sour cream
For the glaze
2 cups icing sugar (approx. 225 grams)
3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Sift the plain flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat on medium-high speed for approx. 5 minutes, or until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides as necessary.
Add the lemon zest and mix in.
Stir in one third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the sour cream. Follow with one third of the flour, the remaining sour cream, and finally the remaining flour.
Prepare a 10-cup non-stick bundt pan. Brush the inside of the tin all over with melted butter to form a thin and even layer. Sift in some plain flour, rotating the tin to cover the insides with a thin and even layer of flour. (You want to try and avoid any gaps). Tap the tin over the sink to dislodge any excess flour.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
Place the bundt pan onto a baking tray and place in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour, or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cover with foil during baking if it is browning too quickly.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Gently pull the cake from the edges of the pan with your fingers. Place a cake rack on top, then (wearing oven mitts), flip the cake and rack over. Tap the tin firmly to help dislodge the cake, then gently pull the cake pan away.
Allow to cool completely before glazing.
To make the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. You don't want the glaze to be too thin, more like a slow moving glacier than a waterfall, so start with the smaller amount of lemon juice and only add the extra tablespoon if you think it's necessary.
Place a tray under the cake rack to catch any drips, and pour the glaze over the cake. Allow it to set before serving.
Makes 1 bundt, serves 12-16

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

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16 comments

  1. I love bundt tins but with a really small kitchen find them hard to store as I don't like to stack them within each other and wear out the finish. And I also prepare the tins the same way. Never cooking spray and always butter.

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  2. Made this yesterday and it was a huge hit, the first thing gone at a summer potluck. I even used whole milk Greek yogurt instead of sour cream as that is what I had on hand, otherwise no other changes to the recipe. Such a nice crumb! Your marble cake is in the oven now, I'll update on that page when we eat it :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh yay, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And thank-you for the tip on the Greek yogurt too!

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  3. I love your recipes, but I hate bundt pans. Nothing I do stops sticking. I use your batter in my own trusted round springform or square non stick pans and the eating is just as yummy! And these days I wouldn't bake without lining cake tin with oven baking parchment. It's miraculous, but how does one line a bundt?
    Cheers from Oz

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    1. Glad the batter works in a regular pan and you can enjoy the deliciousness!

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  4. Omg! Perfect dismount! I am very smug :) looking forward to eating it :) thanks for the recipe.

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  5. Was delicious. Making again for different people today.

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  6. I made this cake yesterday. It met all expectations. Thank you for the recipe.
    Would love to know where the honeycomb bundt pans came from.

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  7. Made this yesterday for a birthday celebration. It was gorgeous and a great success. Thank you.
    Could you also let me know where the honeycomb pans came from.

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    1. Thanks so much! So glad to hear it was a success. :) :)

      The honeycomb pan (and all three Bundt pans actually) are all from NordicWare. :)

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  8. I made this cake a few times and each time it was perfect. I made it in a silicone bundt and it came out beautifully. I have also made it in a loaf pan. Instead of real sugar I use Monkfruit sweetener and it is devinely delicious. Thanks for posting this recipe Sarah!

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    1. That's so great to read! Thank-you for sharing your experience - and great to hear it works with an alternative sweetener!

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  9. Anonymous7:32 PM

    Is the 170 for fan forced ovens?

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    Replies
    1. Regular oven! So I'd suggest 150 for fan forced

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