Baked Sunday Mornings: Ultra-Lemony Lemon Bundt Cake with Almond Glaze

So. Many. Lemons. Calling all citrus lovers: this is the Bundt for you if you can’t get enough lemon in your desserts. Baked Occasions’ Ultra-Lemony Lemon Bundt Cake with Almond Glaze is our Baked Sunday Mornings recipe in celebration of Mother’s Day, and as you can see, the title does not mince words about the starring ingredient! You will zest ten – 10! — lemons for this delicious cake, but your mom is worth it. If you dig lemon and almond, you will be utterly over the moon! Me, I’m not so much a fan of almond extract. And by ‘not so much’, I kinda mean it’s like my least favorite baking ingredient ever. In the world. *shudder*

This is the very first recipe I tested for Baked Occasions two years ago, so I do have a special affinity for it. This is a very rich Bundt with nearly 3 cups of sugar and 2 sticks of butter. Despite a lot of prep work, the batter comes together quickly, and it’s a gorgeous cake with its white drizzled glaze and toasted almond garnish.

Most BAKED Bundt cakes call for greasing the pan, but not flouring. This one, however, must also be floured– I guess it’s extra clingy? However, it is awkward to grease and flour a grooved tube pan uniformly, let me tell you! Make sure to flour this pan well, but not too well. When I tested it, I sprayed my pan with cooking spray and dusted it with flour, but the spray pools at the bottom, so the flour got caked in the pan’s crevices, and my baked cake had unsightly pockets of white pastiness all over the crown. This time, I rubbed the spray evenly throughout the pan with a paper towel and dabbed away the little pools, then applied the flour right before pouring in the batter, which made it much easier to get a thin, even layer of flour. But perhaps I made this too complicated! At any rate, the exterior of my cake was all kinds of golden, and it popped right out of the pan.

To make the batter, you’ll start by rubbing lemon zest by hand into the sugar to make a light yellow, snowy-looking mixture. (Uhhh, not like the bad kind of yellow snow, I assure you…) This is, by the way, a lovely sensory experience, what with the soft texture and dreamy aroma. 🙂 Next add the melted butter and canola oil, followed all at once by all the eggs, the lemon extract, and the rum.

Finally, add the sifted dry ingredients and heavy cream in alternating additions—I love a cake with cream. The batter will be thick and shiny, with a lemony scent pervading your kitchen! My cake baked up just right in 50 minutes, the minimum suggested baking time. I sometimes end up overbaking Bundts just a touch while waiting for the middle to cook through, but not this time.

However, the exterior is pretty dry and crusty, so that’s where the lemon syrup comes in. The lemon syrup was a snap to make—simply boil together sugar, lemon juice, and rum, which you’ll brush onto the warm cake in a few layers. It’s important to poke several holes in the crown and sides of the cake, which allow the syrup to soak right in. Make sure to get the crusty bottom edge all the way around in addition to the top!

Now for that almond glaze. You simply whisk together lemon juice and almond extract, then whisk in sifted confectioners’ sugar to your desired thickness. When I tested the cake, I had to use the dreaded almond extract, because, well, I was testing it for a cookbook. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn’t hate it! The combination of lemon and almond works very well. (By the by, my disdain for almond flavor extends to almond extract and paste, but not actual almonds.) However, just for good measure, I cut the amount of extract by half this time. I wish I could say I liked it, but it was still too almond-y for me. (Not sure why it was tolerable the first time…) I’ll just substitute vanilla in the future, which is always a sound life choice in any situation. A crown of toasted almonds on top is a beautiful way to finish it off.

Besides the almond ickiness, this is a very lovely lemon cake. Thanks to the syrup soak, the cake texture is very moist and fluffy, and the lemon flavor bursts with brightness—not too sweet, not too tart. This is a wonderful cake to show yo mama how much you love her, and really, it would be perfect for any springtime Bundt-friendly occasion.

When you have your citrus zester ready, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings for the recipe for Ultra-Lemony Lemon Bundt Cake with Almond Glaze, and check out my baking buddies’ beautiful lemon cakes as well. Also—go call yuh muthah! 🙂

© Dafna Adler & Stellina Sweets, 2015.