High Altitude Lemon Bundt Cake
This high altitude lemon bundt cake is so incredibly soft, tender and fluffy. The cake is brushed with melted butter and then covered in lemon sugar.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Bundt Pan (12 cup capacity) ("Original" bundt pan design)
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon zest (from 2 large lemons or 4 small lemons)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 oz full fat cream cheese (block style), softened to room temperature
- 4-5 large eggs (Use 4 or 5 large eggs to equal 1 full cup of eggs, filled to the 8 ounce line in a liquid measuring cup.)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 cup whole milk
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
Lemon Sugar
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick baking spray (or use your favorite go to combination of butter/shortening and flour to grease and dust the pan, getting it in all the nooks and crannies.)
- Use a microplane zester to zest your lemons. You'll be using the lemon zest, as well as the juice from your lemons, and you'll need approximately 2 large lemons or 4 small lemons to get enough zest and juice.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar with the lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar until very fragrant.
- Add the butter and cream cheese, and beat on medium speed (#4-6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer) for 7 minutes. Scrape the bowl down several times while mixing.
- Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating in each egg on medium speed for 1 full minute before adding the next egg. Add the vanilla.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Separately, stir together the milk and lemon juice; the mixture will curdle. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the lemon milk, starting and ending with the flour. Increase speed to medium and beat for 15 seconds.
- Spread the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the cooling rack, remove the pan, and cool the cake for an hour or two, until the cake is just warm or room temperature.
Lemon Sugar
- Melt the butter, then use a pastry brush to brush the butter all over the top and sides of the cake. This will give the lemon sugar something to stick to.
- In a small bowl, rub the lemon zest into the sugar.Set the cake, still on the cooling rack, over a baking sheet to catch the lemon sugar. Sprinkle the lemon sugar over the cake, or use your hands or a pastry brush to gently press it against the cake. You won't be able to get all the sugar to stick; just save what's left, keeping it refrigerated for several weeks to use for another baking project.
- Carefully slide a spatula (or a large cake lifter) under the cake to loosen it from the cooling rack, then gently transfer the cake to a serving plate.
- Serve the cake slightly warm, or completely cooled to room temperature.
Notes
Store the leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
For a 10-cup bundt pan, scale the recipe down to 3/4. For a smaller 6 cup bundt pan, scale the recipe down to 1/2. You'll have to experiment with shorter bake times, testing the cake for doneness.
You can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. However, cake flour will make a lighter, fluffier, more tender cake, while all-purpose flour will make it a bit more dense, like a lemon pound cake.
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