There is a lemon tree just off my back steps, and by the end of summer it is heavy enough that I go looking for reasons to use them. This glazed lemon bundt cake is my favorite reason. A tender sour cream crumb, ribbons of lemon curd swirled through the middle, and a tangy curd-spiked glaze poured right over the top.
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If you read my post on Meyer lemon curd with salted honey, you might have wondered what I was actually planning to do with all these jars of curd. Here’s the answer. This cake is the reason I made the curd in the first place, and honestly, it’s the reason I like to have a jar in the fridge year-round.
I went back and forth on whether to make this a layer cake. Layer cakes photograph beautifully, sure, but they’re a project. Three pans, frosting, crumb coats, the whole production. And the truth is, when I want lemon cake, I want it that afternoon, not after a two-hour assembly window. So a bundt it is. One pan, one bowl-ish, and the bundt’s grooves do all the visual work for you. The glaze pools into them like it was designed to.
What makes this one different from every other glazed lemon bundt on the internet is the curd. Three quarters of a cup of salted honey lemon curd gets dolloped between layers of batter and swirled through, leaving these gorgeous golden ribbons running through every slice. The glaze gets a little curd whisked in too, so the whole thing tastes layered without actually being layered.
On my blog WM Design House, I may sometimes use affiliate links, which means a small commission is earned if you purchase via the link. The price will be the same whether you use the affiliate link or go directly to the vendor’s website using a non-affiliate link.
Why This Lemon Curd Cake Works
- Sour cream is doing the heavy lifting. It tenderizes the crumb and adds a subtle tang that plays beautifully with the lemon. Yogurt works in a pinch, but sour cream gives you that plush, almost pound-cake texture.
- The zest gets rubbed into the sugar. Two minutes with your fingertips releases the citrus oils into the sugar. It takes nothing and it moves the lemon flavor from present to unmistakable.
- The curd swirl is hidden, not surface-level. Spooning it between layers of batter rather than just on top means the ribbons stay tucked inside the cake, where they bake into soft, jammy pockets instead of burning on the surface.
Ingredients for Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake
For the cake:
- 2½ cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1¾ cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (about 3 lemons)
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup salted honey lemon curd, for swirling
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons salted honey lemon curd
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Equipment Needed
- 10-cup bundt pan. The classic Nordic Ware pan is the gold standard, but any 10-cup capacity bundt works. If yours is 12-cup, the cake will be a bit shorter and bake faster, so check around 45 minutes.
- Stand mixer or hand mixer. Either works. A stand mixer with the paddle attachment is easiest for the four-minute creaming step, but a hand mixer gets the job done.
- Mixing bowls. One medium for the dry ingredients, one large for the batter, one small for the glaze.
- Microplane or fine zester. Worth investing in if you bake with citrus often. A box grater works in a pinch but you’ll get more pith.
- Citrus juicer or reamer. Optional but speeds things up. You need a quarter cup plus a tablespoon of juice total.
- Measuring cups and spoons. Or a kitchen scale if you prefer weighing, which I always recommend for baking accuracy.
- Pastry brush. For greasing the bundt pan thoroughly. A silicone one works, but natural bristles get into the crevices better.
- Rubber spatula. For scraping down the bowl and folding the batter into the pan.
- Butter knife or skewer. For the figure-8 swirl through the batter.
- Wire cooling rack. Essential for the bundt to cool evenly without getting soggy on the bottom.
- Whisk. For the dry ingredients and the glaze.
How to Make Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake
- Prep the pan thoroughly. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-cup bundt pan with softened butter, getting into every crevice with a pastry brush, then dust with flour and tap out the excess. This is the single biggest predictor of a clean release.
- Whisk the dry ingredients. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- Use your fingertips to work the lemon zest into the granulated sugar for about two minutes, until the sugar is damp and smells strongly of lemon. Then cream it with the butter for about four minutes, until pale and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla. One egg at a time, beating well after each, then the vanilla. In a separate cup, stir together the sour cream and lemon juice. It’ll thicken slightly.
- Mix the batter. Turn the mixer on low. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, switching off with the sour cream mixture in two parts. Start and end with the dry ingredients. Mix just until everything’s combined. Over mixing makes the cake tough.
- Layer the batter and curd. Spoon about a third of the batter into the pan and spread it out. Drop half the curd in small spoonfuls over the batter, keeping it away from the edges of the pan so it does not stick. Add another third of the batter, then the rest of the curd, then the last third of batter on top.
- Swirl it. Run a butter knife or skewer through the batter in a figure eight, once or twice. You want streaks of curd, not curd mixed all the way through.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Test it by sticking a toothpick into the thickest part of the cake (avoid the curd spots). It should come out with just a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
- Cool the cake. Let the cake sit in the pan for exactly 15 minutes. Not less, not more. Then flip it out onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
How to Make the Lemon Glaze
- While the cake cools, make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of salted honey lemon curd, and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Whisk until smooth and pourable.
If the glaze is too thick to drizzle, add a few drops of lemon juice at a time until it loosens up. If it’s too runny, whisk in another spoonful of powdered sugar.
Once the cake is completely cool, slowly pour or spoon the glaze over the top. Let it run down into the grooves of the bundt and drip down the sides. Let it set for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Tips for the Best Lemon Bundt Cake
- If your toothpick comes out wet, do not panic yet. The curd pockets stay soft and gooey even when the cake is fully baked, so a wet toothpick from a curd spot can fool you. Test in two or three different places before deciding it needs more time.
- Do not skip the 15-minute pan rest. Flip it out too early and it falls apart. Wait too long and it sticks. Set a timer.
- Use room-temperature ingredients. Cold butter, eggs or sour cream make the batter lumpy and the cake bakes unevenly. Pull everything out about an hour before you start.
- Weigh your flour if you can. The amount of flour in a cup varies a lot depending on how you scoop it, and too much flour makes a dry cake.
- Make extra curd. When you make the curd, double the recipe. You will want some for the cake, some for the glaze, and a spoonful straight from the jar while the cake bakes.
How to Store Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake
- On the counter: The cake keeps well wrapped or under a cake dome for 3 days. The glaze sets into a soft shell that helps keep it from drying out.
- In the fridge: Up to 5 days. It tastes better at room temperature, so let slices sit out for about 20 minutes before serving.
- In the freezer: The unglazed cake freezes well for up to a month. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then foil. Thaw overnight on the counter and glaze the day you plan to serve it.
- Single slices: Wrap each one separately and put them in a zip-top bag. Perfect for those afternoons when you want one slice with coffee.
Variations on This Lemon Bundt Cake
- Lemon poppyseed bundt. Add 2 tablespoons of poppyseeds to the dry ingredients.
- Lemon blueberry bundt. Toss 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries in a tablespoon of flour and fold them in at the end. The flour keeps them from sinking to the bottom.
- Lemon loaf. Use a 9×5 loaf pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes. The curd swirl actually shows up even better in loaf slices.
- Lemon thyme bundt. Add 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh thyme to the batter. A little herby, perfect for spring.
- Lemon olive oil bundt. Swap the butter for ¾ cup of good olive oil. The cake comes out a little more rustic and even more soft.
More bundt cakes from my kitchen
Once you own the pan, you may as well keep it busy. My sherry cake is the one I reach for when I want something a little old-fashioned, and come fall I switch over to the Cinderella pumpkin bundt cake. Both follow the same rhythm as this one. One pan, one glaze, and nothing to assemble.
Lemon Bundt Cake FAQ
Yes, in a pinch. Whisk in a pinch of flaky salt and a teaspoon of honey to get closer to the homemade flavor, since jarred curd tends to be sweeter and flatter. But if you are already baking the cake, the curd is only about twenty extra minutes and it is worth it.
Yes, and it is worth doing if you are feeding a crowd. Bake the two cakes in separate pans on the same rack with a few inches between them, and add about five minutes to the bake time since the oven will be working harder. Do not try to fit a double batch into one larger pan. The curd swirl needs the shallower depth to stay put.
Yes, though the swirl gets trickier at that scale. Fill each mini pan about two thirds full, use roughly a teaspoon of curd per cake, and skip the figure eight. A single pass with a toothpick is plenty. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Usually because the curd was too warm and thin when it went in. Cold curd holds its shape in the batter. If yours is loose, chill it for twenty minutes before you start layering, and use smaller spoonfuls than feel right.
You can, but really, please do not. Fresh lemon juice has a brightness that bottled just does not. You are already zesting the lemons, so squeeze them while you have them in your hand.
It is not a trade I would make. Extract gives you lemon flavor but none of the oils, and the oils are what make this cake smell like a lemon tree when it comes out of the oven. If you have no lemons at all, use a teaspoon of extract and accept that it will be a quieter cake.
The glaze runs down into the grooves of the bundt and shows off the shape. Frosting would cover the whole thing up, which rather defeats the point of using a pretty pan.
Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Curd Swirl
Equipment
- 1 Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
- 1 Citrus zester or microplane
- 1 Citrus juicer
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 1 Fine mesh strainer
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 8 4 oz. Ball jars
- 1 Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
- 2½ cups 300 g all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 1 cup 226 g unsalted butter, softened
- 1¾ cups 350 g granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest about 3 lemons
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup 240 g sour cream, room temperature
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup lemon curd for swirling
Glaze
- 1 cup 120 g powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 Tbsp lemon curd
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-cup bundt pan generously with softened butter using a pastry brush, then dust with flour and tap out the excess.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar with your fingertips for about 2 minutes, until the sugar is damp and fragrant.
- Cream the butter and lemon sugar together on medium speed for 4 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then the vanilla. In a separate cup, stir the sour cream and lemon juice together.
- On low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the sour cream mixture in two. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.
- Spoon a third of the batter into the pan and spread it level. Dollop half the lemon curd over the batter in small spoonfuls, keeping it away from the pan edges. Add another third of batter, the remaining curd, then the last of the batter.
- Run a butter knife through the batter in a figure eight once or twice to swirl. Leave visible streaks.
- Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake (not a curd pocket) comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan for exactly 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Glaze
- Whisk the powdered sugar, lemon curd and lemon juice together until smooth and pourable. Adjust with a few drops of juice or a spoonful of sugar as needed.
- Pour the glaze over the cooled cake, letting it settle into the grooves. Let it set 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Use homemade Meyer lemon curd with salted honey if you have it. Double the curd recipe so you have enough for the swirl, the glaze and the jar.
- Weigh the flour. Too much flour is the most common cause of a dry bundt.
- A 12-cup pan works. The cake will be shorter, so start checking at 45 minutes.
- Room temperature butter, eggs and sour cream are not optional. Cold ingredients curdle the batter.
More Lemon Posts You’ll Love
START WITH THE CURD
Salted Honey Lemon Curd
This is the curd that gets swirled through the batter and whisked into the glaze. Silky, tart, and finished with honey and flaky salt. Double the batch so you have enough for the cake, the glaze, and a spoonful straight from the jar while it bakes.
MORE LEMON WORTH BAKING
Lemon Ricotta Cookies
The Nordstrom Cafe copycat, and one of the most requested recipes on this blog. Ricotta makes them soft and almost cake-like in the center, and the sweet-tart glaze melts right into the top. They disappear off the plate before the coffee is poured.
WHEN YOU HAVE TOO MANY lemons
Grandmother’s Lemon Sponges
My grandmother’s recipe, and the thing I make when I have too many lemons and no plan for them. It has been in the family longer than I have, and it is tucked into a post full of other ways to use up a bowl of lemons.
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Don’t forget to make the salted honey lemon curd first. This cake is just one of many reasons to keep a jar in your fridge.
Hello, I’m Wendy – a dedicated homemaker with a deep passion for decorating, gardening, cooking, and crafting. I find joy in harmonizing beautiful elements to fashion a space that is both comfortable and inspiring. I will help you create a beautiful home, one project at a time.