Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
Indulge in the brightness of citrus with a lemon poppy seed bundt cake, perfect for springtime or anytime you need a burst of sunshine. This moist and flavorful cake combines the sweetness of sugar, the bright flavors of lemon, and the delightful crunch of poppy seeds. This cake is perfect for brunch, dessert, or as a thoughtful gift.
To make this cake, you’ll need simple basic ingredients like all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, eggs, lemon juice, and zest! The recipe involves beating together butter and sugar, mixing in eggs and wet ingredients, and alternating between flour mixture and buttermilk. Pour the batter into a greased 10-inch bundt pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Finish off this delicious bundt cake with a lemon syrup and simple lemon cream cheese glaze or keep it simple plain or with a dusting of powdered sugar - whatever you decide will be delicious.
Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe Ingredients
- UNSALTED BUTTER: Make sure it’s room temperature so it’s easy to mix with the sugar
- SUGAR: Granulated sugar is used and there is a good amount of it - it adds sweetness but also adds moisture to the bundt cake
- LEMON ZEST & LEMON JUICE: Freshly grated lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice is always best. Both enhance the lemon flavor in this cake.
- EGGS: You will need 4 eggs room temperature - no need to separate them
- VANILLA EXTRACT: I always recommend Pure vanilla extract for best flavor. If you want even more intense lemon flavor you can also add a tiny splash of lemon oil or pure lemon extract
- ALL PURPOSE FLOUR: Plain all purpose flour is what I always use and have on hand but for more tenderness of crumb you could use cake flour.
- SALT: Just a pinch is all you need
- BAKING SODA & BAKING POWDER: They help give this cake it’s lift and very important that they are still active and not expired so definitely check your boxes
- POPPY SEEDS: You will need 3 tablespoons of poppy seeds. No need to soak poppyseeds before adding them to this recipe.
- BUTTERMILK: Adds moisture to the cake. It must also be room temperature.
How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake (detailed instructions recipe card below)
- WHISK together flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- RUB sugar with lemon zest to infuse it
- CREAM butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy followed by eggs one at a time then add the and lemon juice.
- MIX IN flour mixture and buttermilk alternating between each, mix just until incorporated (alternating dry with wet ingredients helps batter combine well without over mixing the it)
- POUR batter into prepared pan
- BAKE then cool in pan 10 mins
- INVERT cake onto a wire rack remove the bundt pan.
- FINISH cake by either brushing with the lemon syrup then cooling and adding the glaze - (those are optional ) or serving as is or with a simple dusting of powder sugar.
Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake Storage & Freezing
- STORAGE: Store unglazed cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days on the counter. Then refrigerate for up to 4-5 days more. If you are glazing the cake it should be stored in the fridge because of the cream cheese in the glaze.
- FREEZING: Wrap unglazed baked and cooled cake in a couple of layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the plastic wrap & foil overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before glazing, slicing, and serving.
Bundt Cake Tips
- Don’t over mix your batter. This can cause the cake to be dry and hard.
- I don’t recommend using a silicone mold, I’ve never been successful with them and always have a hard time getting my bundt cake out of it. Use nonstick metal pans if possible, they conduct heat well.
- Make sure your bundt pan is properly sprayed with proper baking spray or greased with butter. Even if it’s a nonstick bundt pan. You might even want to use a pastry brush to grease the pan, it makes it a lot easier.
- A good bundt cake recipe should only fill about ⅔ of the pan. Any more and you’ll end up with rounded tops, which might not be a bad thing, but your bundt cake won’t sit flat on the serving platter.
- Give your cake sufficient time to cool before getting it out of the pan. Keep in mind that as the cake cools, it will slowly release itself from the sides of the pan. Wait 10 minutes before trying to get it out of the pan. Flip it over onto your cake platter, and let it sit like that, it will slowly start to pull away from the pan and down onto the platter. Cooling a cake in its pan before inverting helps it firm up and release from the pan more easily, preventing it from sticking.
More Lemon Desserts You Will Love
Recipe
Yields: One 12-cup Bundt or Two 9x5 loaves
Servings: 8-10
Prep Time: 15-20 mins
Bake Time: 50-60 mins
Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Zest of 3 lemons
- 1 cup/2 sticks butter (unsalted, room temperature)
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the Lemon Syrup (optional)
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup sugar
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze (optional)
- 113g cream cheese (4 oz)
- 1cup powdered sugar, plus more if needed
- 1 tablespoon milk, cream more if needed
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Directions
- At least 30 minutes before mixing the batter, take the butter (1 cup), eggs (4 large), and buttermilk (1 cup) out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature. Measure out the rest of the ingredients.
- Prepare oven and bundt cake pan: Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt cake pan generously with baking spray* and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds together. Set aside.
- Rub sugar and lemon zest together to infuse
- In the bowl of stand mixer using paddle attachment or using a hand mixer add the sugar and lemon zest mixture, softened butter and vanilla, beat until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 -6 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the side and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Add the eggs in one at a time beating on low speed until smooth
- Add the lemon juice and mix until incorporated
- With mixer on low, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternating between each, mix just until incorporated (do not over-mix)
- Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Firmly tap pan on a work surface several times to level batter.
- Bake for 50 to 65 minutes or until an inserted toothpick in the center of the loaf comes out clean and if you nice that the cake browns too quickly, tent loosely with aluminum foil.
- Take the cake out of the oven once done and let it sit in the bundt pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the sides of the cake if necessary, then flip the cake over onto a cake tray or cooling rack. (if serving plain let the cake cool and set for 20-30 minutes before slicing and serving- but if you are making it with the syrup and glaze see directions below)
For the Lemon Syrup (optional)
- While the cake is baking, make the lemon glaze. In a small microwave-safe bowl (or saucepan) whisk together the sugar and lemon juice. Microwave (or on the stovetop- cook until dissolved) for 20-30 seconds, whisking halfway through, until the sugar is completely dissolved and then set aside.
- After the cake is done baking, let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, cut away any uneven pieces if needed, then invert onto a wire rack set over a baking sheet and remove the bundt pan.
- Brush the cake lightly with the lemon glaze. Let cool completely, at least 1 hour.
For The Cream Cheese Glaze (optional)
- Add cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk to a medium sized mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth.
- Add lemon juice and beat again until smooth. Add more liquid (we recommend more milk) if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Add more powdered sugar to make it thicker.
- Fold in lemon zest.
- When the cake is cool, pour over or spoon over the cake. Top with more lemon zest
Recipe Notes
- Baking spray is different from cooking spray - the flour particles in baking spray create an extra gap between the metal and the cake, so everything releases easily. This little gap also insulates the batter from the metal of the tin, so it doesn’t cook as fast.
- When it comes to the lemon syrup - I have seen recipes that call for poking holes in to the cake while it is still cooling in the pan then pouring in the syrup - I have tried that and if you are not careful it could moisten the outer edges of the cake and cause them to stick to your pan when inverted so I personally do not recommend doing this - if you would like to poke the cake and soak it with the syrup please wait until you have inverted the pan and removed the cake from it.
- This lemon poppy seed bundt cake is more of a pound cake with a tender soft buttery more dense crumb - if you would like a smaller version of this cake with a softer lighter crumb - check out my lemon poppyseed loaf cake.
