Brighten your day with this rich and moist Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake. It feels like springtime and tastes amazing under a layer of luscious lemon glaze.
This is Susan’s favorite lemon pound cake and one that I’ve been making for years. I’ve never been disappointed by it. Neither will you!
Ingredients: Here’s What You’ll Need For This Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
I used the following ingredients for this delicious cake: Unsalted butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, salt, eggs, and cake flour.
Here’s How I Made the Batter
- First, I creamed the butter until it was light and fluffy. This took about 5 minutes. Then, I added the cream cheese and continued beating the mixture for another 2 minutes or so.
Then I added the cream cheese and continued beating the mixture for another 2 minutes or so.
- Next, I added the sugar and continued beating the mixture until it was light and fluffy. This took another 3 minutes.
- I added the lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and salt, and beat the mixture until everything was well incorporated.
- After that, I added the eggs, 2 at a time, and continued beating the mixture.
- Finally, I added the flour and beat the mixture on low just until the flour started to be incorporated. At that point, I switched to a silicon spatula and carefully continued folding the flour into the batter.
Finishing the Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake:
Once the flour was incorporated, I transferred the batter to a Bundt pan which I had sprayed with a non-stick baking spray.
I leveled out the batter in the pan and gave the pan several taps on the countertop to release any air bubbles. Then, I popped it into a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
After 1 hour and 20 minutes, the cake was golden brown. Also, the cake had started to pull away from the sides of the pan, indicating that it was done.
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.
Once the cake had cooled completely, I drizzled on a lemon glaze made with confectioners’ sugar and fresh lemon juice.
The Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake was delicious. It was rich, moist, and had the perfect combination of sweet and tart. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
Cake flour is made from softer wheat that is ground extra fine compared to all-purpose flour which tends to have a denser and tougher texture. In addition, the protein content of cake flour is lower than that of all-purpose flour. Therefore, cakes made with cake flour will have a tender texture.
Even though the two types of flour are different, you can substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour. When substituting a cup of all-purpose flour for a cup of cake flour, remove two tablespoons of the all-purpose flour and replace it with two tablespoons of cornstarch.
Brushing the cake with simple lemon syrup allows the liquid to soak into the cake. This adds extra moisture to the cake and provides an added lemony sweetness.
Other Bundt Cakes That You’ll Love
If you’re a fan of Bundt cakes, you should check out these amazing Bundt cake recipes.
I first posted this amazing recipe on December 11, 2017. Since then, I’ve made this cake a number of times. This update contains improved text and photographs, but the same great recipe.
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Recipe
Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Bundt Cake
- 1-½ cups (12-ounces, 340 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 cups (21-ounces, 595 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (2-ounces, 57 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 1-½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups (15-ounces, 425 grams) cake flour
Simple Lemon Syrup
- ¼ cup (2-ounces, 57 ml) fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup (3.5-ounces, 99 grams) granulated sugar
Lemon Glaze
- 2 cups (8-ounces, 227 grams) confectioners' sugar
- 3 to 4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Bundt Cake
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray 10-inch Bundt pan with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.
- Using electric mixer, cream butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract and salt; beat until well combined. Add eggs, 2 at a time; beat until combined. Add flour; beat on low just until flour starts to be incorporated. Continue folding in flour with silicon spatula just until all flour is incorporated.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan; smooth top and tap on counter several times.
- Bake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and invert onto a wire rack set in foil lined baking sheet.
Simple Lemon Syrup
- Combine sugar and lemon juice in small bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds to a minute, until sugar has dissolved. Brush syrup over hot cake. Allow to cool completely.
Lemon Glaze
- Mix confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cake, allowing glaze to drip down sides. Let stand until glaze sets, about 30 minutes.
- Yield: 8 to 10 servings.
This cake looks so good! I love combining cream cheese and citrus – it looks ans sounds delicious ♥
Thanks! It tastes incredible.
No baking soda or powder??? Afraid to make it.
Believe it or not – there is neither baking soda nor baking powder!
Chula
Can’t wait to try it
Could I freeze 1/2 of this for a few days after baking (& applying the simple syrup)?
Great cake. Everyone loved it. Just one comment regarding the weight of the sugar in the cake recipe. 3 cups of sugar is indeed 21 oz but the metric weight, 879 grams, is incorrect. 879 grams is 31 oz, not 21.
Thanks so much for letting me know Mark. I’ve made the correction!
Chula
Kate,
Freezing half of the cake shouldn’t be a problem at all.
Chula
Your recipe was in our local paper and I just put it in the oven. However my paper’s recipe called for 2 cups of sugar and your website had 3 cups of sugar.
Which is it? I hope the 2 cups are enough as I would hate to waste all those ingredients.
Your recipe was in our local paper and I just put it in the oven. However my paper’s recipe called for 1cup less of sugar than your recipe on the website calls for. Which is it?
Carol,
The correct amount of sugar is three cups.
Chula
Just baked your cake from recipe in local newspaper. Used 2 cups sugar. The cake got really brown on sides and pulled away from pan; however, top was only lightly brown and when tested, my toothpick came out clean! I removed it from oven, afraid the sides would burn. When I removed from pan, it looked great when I sliced it. There is a small area around the bottom of the cake (bottom of pan) that looked as though not cooked well. Thoughts? In any event the cake is delish!! I plan to make it again next weekend!
Jackie,
I’m so glad that the cake turned out for you. Actually, the recipe in the paper had a misprint. It should have indicated 3 cups of sugar, not 2 cups of sugar. My guess is that with 2 cups of sugar, the lemon taste is more pronounced. Even with 2 cups of sugar, I don’t know why there would be an area around the bottom of the pan that didn’t look as though it was cooked well, especially if the rest of the cake was well cooked.
At any rate, I’m glad that the recipe worked with 2 cups of sugar!
Chula
I recently made this cake and poured it into a 12 cup bundt pan. While cooking it flowed over the top of the pan and there was smoke everywhere. It tasted wonderful, even though it came out in pieces. Wonder what could have caused the overflow.
Oh my gosh, Marcy – I’m so sorry.
The only thing that I can think of that might cause the batter to overflow is beating the eggs too much. I’ve made this cake a number of times and never had a problem with the batter overflowing.
Chula
I have Meyer lemons from a friend’s tree. These are very juicy, but they are not as tart as other lemons, like the ones in the grocery. I would like to use the Meyer lemon juice in your recipe. Have you had any experience using juice from Meyer lemons with this recipe?
Rita,
I think that the Meyer lemons would work well in this recipe!
Chula