Please Note: The following post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you make an Amazon purchase as a result of clicking a link, I will get a small ad commission that will not affect your purchase price.
My paternal grandmother and her sister often fixed a lemon cake that was baked in a tube or Bundt pan for family gatherings. I am not sure if they both used the same recipe as Grandma would not usually write down her recipes. I think she did not want people to know how to make things she made because she liked being THE ONE who made them. However, I remember being surprised when my mom made a cake that tasted an awful lot like my grandma’s cake one day when I was very young. I remember asking my mom if Grandma had given her the recipe. She said no, but that she discovered the secret when she took Grandma to the grocery store: boxed cake mix and instant lemon pudding.
I was about 9 years old when Grandma began to teach me how she made her “signature” dishes. Unfortunately, she died just before I turned 11 so, I only learned some of her recipes. However, the dishes I learned how to make included her peach custard pie (my favorite) and her lemon cake.
She had apparently originally made the cake from scratch, but began making it using the mixes when they became available. (Grandma would have been 36 years old when instant pudding was first sold.) The only thing my mom’s version lacked was some lemon juice Grandma added to the cake’s liquid ingredients.
Although I made Grandma’s version without any changes over the years, I decided that it needed more of a lemon punch and made a few…um, enhancements.
I added zest to the cake and the glaze. I also made the glaze with lemon juice instead of milk like my grandmother did. Additionally, I made a soak of simple syrup and lemon juice for the bottom of the cake as soon as it came out of the oven. While the soak does make the bottom a little sticky, it adds moisture and more lemon flavor. It is definitely an optional step though.
To be honest, I would not have considered adding the zest and more juice to this or any other recipe several years ago. It would simply not have been worth the hassle of zesting and juicing more lemon. Today, I find it VERY easy to zest and juice citrus thanks to a few purchases that have been worth more than I ever imagined. Here are links to the tools that make this cake even easier and quicker for me than it used to be.
I currently have an obsession with mini-Bundt cakes. They are great to serve at parties, showers, luncheons, etc. They are great to pack for lunch and for portion control. Plus, they are cute. They require a little less than half of the bake time of a full sized cake. Prepping them (or a regular Bundt pan) is so much easier (and I think more effective) when I use Baker’s Joy spray. It has the flour and a non-stick spray in one can. I have tried the Pam brand version, but I will stick with Baker’s Joy. I can purchase it for about $3 a can in my local grocery store, but Amazon does carry it if you can’t find it.
Grandma’s Easy Lemon Bundt Cake (Enhanced Version)
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box lemon cake
- 1 pkg. instant lemon pudding
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 c. canola or similar oil
- 2 lemons (medium to large size) zest
- 1 c. lemon juice and water
Soak/Syrup (OPTIONAL)
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 1/2 c. water
- Juice of one lemon
Glaze
- 2 c. powdered sugar
- 3 - 4 Tbsp.+/- lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
Bake the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, and oil into a mixing bowl.
- Add the zest of two lemons.
- Juice the two lemons into a measuring cup.
- Add enough water to juice to make one cup of liquid.
- Add the juice and water mixture to the mixing bowl.
- Beat on medium (if using an electric/stand mixer) just until all ingredients are incorporated. DO NOT over beat.
- Fill 12 mini Bundt wells 2/3 to 3/4 full; do not exceed 3/4 full to avoid overflow. Or, fill one 10 or 12-cup Bundt/tube pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees F or about 15 to 25 minutes for mini cakes or 45-55 minutes for large cake or until light brown and a tester (toothpick, bamboo skewer, etc.) inserted in the middle/deepest part of the pan comes out clean. Do not over bake.
- Remove from oven and let stand in cake pan for a couple of minutes before turning out. Use a plastic, silicon, or other non-scratch knife to loosen cake around center and edge if needed.
IF YOU ARE USING A SOAK/SYRUP:
- While cake is baking, combine equal parts water and sugar with lemon juice in a saucepan or microwavable bowl. STOVETOP: Place saucepan over med to med.-high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. MICROWAVE: Stir ingredients and place in the microwave for 20 seconds on high. Remove and stir contents, return to microwave for another 15 to 20 seconds...until sugar is fully dissolved.
- Use toothpick, skewer, etc. to make holes in the cakes as soon as they are removed from the oven.
- Use a pastry brush to apply the soak/syrup mixture to the bottom of the hot cake.
- Once the bottom has mostly dried (only a couple of minutes), remove from pan to a cooling rack.
- You can make holes with the tester in the top of the cake and brush the top of the cake also or instead of the bottom. Caution: Using the syrup on the top of the cake in addition to the glaze may make the cake much sweeter than desired...especially the mini cakes.
Top with Glaze
- Allow cake to cool completely.
- Sift powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.
- Mix in 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice and 1/2 of the lemon zest.
- Add more lemon juice and water if needed to get the glaze to the desired consistency. Be sure to thoroughly mix the sugar and juice before adding any more liquid. A thicker glaze (just barely able to be spooned or poured over the cake) gives the most ascetically appealing result.
- Spoon glaze on top of cake so that it may drip down the sides of the cake.
- If desired, top with the zest of the other half of the lemon zest before serving. Larger cakes may also be decorated with lemon gel candy slices, candied lemon slices. or candied lemon peel.