Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake

Sarabeth's lemon yogurt bundt cake won this week's recipe vote, making this the second popular vote it has won. One of my co-workers requested glazed lemon cake "like the kind sold at Starbucks" for his birthday. I made this cake and the "Better than Starbucks Lemon Loaf" I found online. Although the birthday boy preferred (only slightly) the lemon loaf cake because it was more of an exact replica, Sarabeth's lemon yogurt bundt cake was the fan favorite by a huge percentage.

Of all the cakes I've brought into work (and at this point, that's a pretty high number), this lemon yogurt bundt cake had people talking about it for days. Sarabeth managed to develop an easy, simple-to-follow recipe that yields a tender and airy, yet also creamy and buttery, cake.

The lemon flavor is subtle in the cake itself. It works perfectly in combination with the frosting, but this is not an ultralemon-y bundt cake. You must use real lemons for this cake. This is not the place for lemon juice from a squeeze bottle or dried zest from a jar. I tried both, the flavor is way too artificially lemon-y.

The glaze is good and adds to the lemon flavor, but Sarabeth instructs you to paint it onto your cake while the cake cools on a wire rack. What's great about that advice is it gives your cake more time to cool. What's problematic is you (or at least I) wind up with sticky, nearly invisible, lemon glaze all over your kitchen, with maximally half sticking to the cake itself. I opted to invert my cake onto the plate I served it from (rimmed, to catch the icing), which helped me trap the icing and kept my kitchen clean. On the other hand, it does mean your cake needs to be a little cooler when you turn it out so you don't trap moisture between the hot cake and the cool plate.

Ultimately, my taste testers were happiest with an added lemon dimension -- a tiny amount of frosting from the Starbucks copycat recipe used on the top of this bundt cake after it was fully cooled. The small amount of frosting didn't make the lemon yogurt bundt cake too sweet, but augmented the lemon flavor and added a little creaminess to the surface of the cake. It's not strictly necessary, but it isn't a bad addition either. If you love frosting, add it, otherwise don't bother.

Take care to completely coat your bundt pan. This cake batter is one of those sticky cake batters, so I lost several pieces of my cake to the bundt pan because I hadn't done as perfect a job buttering every nook and cranny as I thought.

There is one issue with the recipe: the cups and grams amounts of flour don't match. I've tested both, and the cups amount was much better. I updated the grams to match. Be sure to use the scoop and level method to measure your flour so you don't wind up with too much.

This cake is easy to make, keeps well, and won rave reviews for taste. Even Caleb was a fan, and he's not a huge cake fanatic like me.

Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake

This cake tastes decadent, like a rich buttery lemon pound cake, but it manages to be light and airy at the same time. Intrigued by the instructions order? Prepare your sugar and lemon zest and your yogurt-milk-lemon juice before preparing the bundt pan, because that gives them the most time for the flavors to marry. Adapted from Sarabeth's Good Morning Cookbook, by altering the process somewhat, fixing the flour amounts, and adding some of the frosting from Lil Luna's Better than Starbucks Lemon Loaf.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 -12 slices

Ingredients

Cake

• Flour and softened unsalted butter for the pan
• 3 scant cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest from 2 lemons
• 2 ½ cups (500 g) sugar, preferably superfine*
• ⅔ cup (174 g) plain (or Greek) yogurt
• ⅓ cup (90 g) whole milk
• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50 g) fresh lemon juice from 1-2 lemons
• 1 cup (227 g, 2 stick)s unsalted butter diced into ½-inch cubes, chilled
• 5 large eggs at room temperature, beaten

Lemon Glaze

• 6 tablespoons (84 g) fresh lemon juice from 2-3 lemons
• ½ cup (98 g) superfine* sugar or 60g confectioner's sugar

Lemon Frosting

• 1 tablespoon butter
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ⅓ teaspoon lemon extract

Instructions

Cake

• In a medium bowl, stir or sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate medium bowl, use your fingertips to rub the fresh lemon zest and sugar together until quite fragrant. In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, whole milk, and lemon juice.
• Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat to 350 F. Generously coat the inside of a 10-cup (9-inch) bundt pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap out the excess (or use a nonstick spray). Be very thorough, or you will regret it when you turn out your cake.
• Beat the butter at high speed for 1 minute, until it is smooth. Add the lemon zest-sugar, then continue beating on high for another 5 minutes, scraping occasionally, until the sugared butter is almost white in color and light in texture (fluffy).
• Gradually beat in the eggs at low speed, scraping down the bowl several times to ensure full incorporation.
• Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternated with the liquids in two additions (flour-milk-flour-milk-flour), mixing at low speed until just barely combined each time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
• Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan, smooth the top.
• Bake until the top of the cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, about 45-60 minutes (mine took 55). A toothpick should come out clean from the center of the cake.

Lemon Glaze

• While the cake bakes, prepare the glaze. Dissolve the lemon juice and superfine sugar together in a small bowl. Let it stand, so sugar fully dissolves into the lemon juice. [If using powdered sugar instead, whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together.]

Lemon Frosting

• Beat the butter until smooth. Add the lemon juice and extract, mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar gradually, then beat until smooth and creamy.

Assembly

• Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack for 10-20 minutes. Invert the cake onto the platter you will serve it from, one with raised edges. Gently brush the glaze all over the surface of the warm cake, making several coats of glaze on the cake and letting each coat soak in before adding the next.
• Once the cake is fully cool, coat with the frosting in a thin layer. Refrigerate to let the frosting set completely.
• This cake can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.

Notes

*I didn't find it necessary to use superfine sugar for the cake batter itself, although it does contribute towards additionally airiness, but superfine sugar for the icing is important.
If you don't have superfine sugar for the cake, use regular sugar.
If you don't have superfine sugar for the icing, use confectioner's sugar.

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