Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake | Olive & Mango

Indulge in the brightness of citrus with a lemon poppy seed bundt cake, perfect for springtime or anytime you need a burst of sunshine. This moist and flavorful cake combines the sweetness of sugar, the bright flavors of lemon, and the delightful crunch of poppy seeds. This cake is perfect for brunch, dessert, or as a thoughtful gift.

To make this cake, you’ll need simple basic ingredients like all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, eggs, lemon juice, and zest! The recipe involves beating together butter and sugar, mixing in eggs and wet ingredients, and alternating between flour mixture and buttermilk. Pour the batter into a greased 10-inch bundt pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Finish off this delicious bundt cake with a lemon syrup and simple lemon cream cheese glaze or keep it simple plain or with a dusting of powdered sugar – whatever you decide will be delicious.

Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake Recipe Ingredients

• UNSALTED BUTTER: Make sure it’s room temperature so it’s easy to mix with the sugar
• SUGAR: Granulated sugar is used and there is a good amount of it – it adds sweetness but also adds moisture to the bundt cake
• LEMON ZEST & LEMON JUICE: Freshly grated lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice is always best. Both enhance the lemon flavor in this cake.
• EGGS: You will need 4 eggs room temperature – no need to separate them
• VANILLA EXTRACT: I always recommend Pure vanilla extract for best flavor. If you want even more intense lemon flavor you can also add a tiny splash of lemon oil or pure lemon extract
• ALL PURPOSE FLOUR: Plain all purpose flour is what I always use and have on hand but for more tenderness of crumb you could use cake flour.
• SALT: Just a pinch is all you need
• BAKING SODA & BAKING POWDER: They help give this cake it’s lift and very important that they are still active and not expired so definitely check your boxes
• POPPY SEEDS: You will need 3 tablespoons of poppy seeds. No need to soak poppyseeds before adding them to this recipe.
• BUTTERMILK: Adds moisture to the cake. It must also be room temperature.

How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake (detailed instructions recipe card below)

1. WHISK together flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
2. RUB sugar with lemon zest to infuse it
3. CREAM butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy followed by eggs one at a time then add the and lemon juice.
4. MIX IN flour mixture and buttermilk alternating between each, mix just until incorporated (alternating dry with wet ingredients helps batter combine well without over mixing the it)
5. POUR batter into prepared pan
6. BAKE then cool in pan 10 mins
7. INVERT cake onto a wire rack remove the bundt pan.
8. FINISH cake by either brushing with the lemon syrup then cooling and adding the glaze – (those are optional ) or serving as is or with a simple dusting of powder sugar.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake Storage & Freezing

• STORAGE: Store unglazed cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days on the counter. Then refrigerate for up to 4-5 days more. If you are glazing the cake it should be stored in the fridge because of the cream cheese in the glaze.
• FREEZING: Wrap unglazed baked and cooled cake in a couple of layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the plastic wrap & foil overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before glazing, slicing, and serving.

Bundt Cake Tips

• Don’t over mix your batter. This can cause the cake to be dry and hard.
• I don’t recommend using a silicone mold, I’ve never been successful with them and always have a hard time getting my bundt cake out of it. Use nonstick metal pans if possible, they conduct heat well.
• Make sure your bundt pan is properly sprayed with proper baking spray or greased with butter. Even if it’s a nonstick bundt pan. You might even want to use a pastry brush to grease the pan, it makes it a lot easier.
• A good bundt cake recipe should only fill about ⅔ of the pan. Any more and you’ll end up with rounded tops, which might not be a bad thing, but your bundt cake won’t sit flat on the serving platter.
• Give your cake sufficient time to cool before getting it out of the pan. Keep in mind that as the cake cools, it will slowly release itself from the sides of the pan. Wait 10 minutes before trying to get it out of the pan. Flip it over onto your cake platter, and let it sit like that, it will slowly start to pull away from the pan and down onto the platter. Cooling a cake in its pan before inverting helps it firm up and release from the pan more easily, preventing it from sticking.

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