Brighten your Easter season with this rich and moist Easter Surprise Lemon Bundt Cake. It feels like springtime, and tastes amazing under a layer of lemon glaze. Every piece is a surprise. The actual cake is adapted from King Arthur’s Lemon Bliss Cake recipe of the year. If it looks somewhat familiar, it’s because of the resemblance to the Mardi Gras Lemon Bliss Bundt Cake that I made earlier this year. That cake was such fun that I thought I would use Easter’s pastel colors for the surprise inside!
With Easter just around the corner, I’ve reposted this delicious recipe from March 26, 2017 with very minor changes.
Making the Easter Surprise Lemon Bundt Cake:
I used the following ingredients: Unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, salt, baking powder, all-purpose flour, milk, lemon oil (I could have used lemon zest instead of lemon oil), lemons, and confectioners’ sugar. I used the Easter colors of pink, green, and yellow to color the cake batter.
To make the cake, I pretty much followed the King Arthur directions. I started with creaming the sugar and butter. Then, I added the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Next, I added the salt and baking powder, and beat the mixture to combine. I alternated the addition of the flour and the milk, beating the batter until it was smooth. Finally, I added the lemon oil, and beat the mixture until the lemon oil was well combined.
Marbling The Mardi Gras Lemon Bliss Bundt Cake:
I used Susan’s technique to produce the marbling. First, I divided the batter into thirds by weight. I had about 48 ounces of batter, so each third was 16 ounces. Yes, I’m a geek when it comes to baking. I weigh everything! Next, I sprayed the bundt pan with nonstick baking spray.
I used ice cream scoops to scoop a layer of different colors of the batter into the bundt pan. Then, I used a butter knife to swirl or marble the colors together. I gave the pan a couple of taps on the counter to make sure that the batter was fully distributed.
Next, I formed a second layer of the batter, making sure that I added the different colors of the batter in the middle of where two colors of the first layer came together. Because I wanted a more subtle swirl, I used a tooth pick to marble the second layer. I repeated the process for the third and final layer.
I popped the cake into a preheated 350° F oven for about 55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center came out clean.
Finishing The Mardi Gras Lemon Bliss Bundt Cake:
After I took the cake out of the oven, I inverted it onto a wire cooking rack that I had set over a rimmed baking sheet. It came right out of the pan. While the cake was still hot, I brushed it all over with a simple lemon syrup that I made by heating together lemon juice and sugar.
I let the cake cool completely before I spooned on the lemon glaze which was a mixture of confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice.
When I cut into the cake, I saw the amazing pastel swirled designs. Every piece is a bit different. On top of that, the Easter Surprise Lemon Bundt Cake tastes incredible. Yum!
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- 1 cup (16 Tablespoons, 8 ounces, 227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (14 ounces, 397 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 cups (12.75 ounces, 361 grams) unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 cup (8 ounces, 227 grams) whole milk
- 3/4 teaspoon lemon oil may use lemon zest from 2 medium lemons in place of the lemon oil
- Pink lime green, and yellow gel food coloring.
- Simple Lemon Syrup
- 1/3 cup (2-5/8 ounces, 149 grams) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3/4 cup (5-1/4 ounces, 74 grams) granulated sugar
- 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces, 170 grams) confectioners' sugar
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice I used 2 Tablespoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy and lightened in color.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once all the eggs have been added, and beat briefly to re-combine any residue.
- Add salt and baking powder; beat to combine.
- Add the flour to the batter in three parts alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until everything is well combined. Stir in the lemon oil or lemon zest.
- Divide the batter into thirds, roughly 16 ounces each. Color one pink, one green, and one yellow with gel food coloring.
- Thoroughly grease a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan, or spray with nonstick baking spray. Spoon a layer of pink, green, yellow, pink, green, and yellow batter into bottom of bundt pan. Carefully swirl with butter knife. Tap pan several times on counter to evenly distribute.
- Repeat the first layer, but beginning where the pink and green meet on the bottom layer. Swirl with a toothpick. Tap to evenly distribute. Repeat again for the third layer.
- Bake at 350° F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the simple lemon syrup by stirring together the lemon juice and sugar. Microwave for about a minute, or heat over a burner briefly, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.
- Remove the cake from the oven, and carefully run a knife between cake and pan all around the edge. Place the pan upside down on a cooling rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. If the cake drops out of the pan onto the rack, remove the pan. If the cake doesn’t drop onto the rack, let it rest for 5 minutes, then carefully lift the pan off the cake. If the cake still feels like it's sticking, give it another 5 minutes upside down, then very gently shake the pan back and forth to loosen and remove it.
- Brush the lemon syrup all over the hot cake, both top and sides. Let it sink in, then brush on more syrup, continuing until all the lemon syrup is used up.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing and serving.
- To glaze the cake: Mix the confectioners' sugar and salt, then mix in 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, adding just enough additional juice to create a thick glaze, one that's just barely pourable. Drizzle glaze artfully over the completely cooled cake.
- Yield: One bundt cake.
Store the cake, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
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