Italian Lemon Bundt Cake

Beautiful on the inside and outside. This cake is really the whole package.

An Italian lemon cake usually has two distinguishing features:

1. The interior, both in taste and texture, is similar to a pound cake
2. It’s presented as a bundt or doughnut in shape

The reason this cake stands out so much to me though is because it has the perfect amount of lemon. Too much, I won’t eat it. Too little, it’s flat. This cake delivers the lemon without making your mouth pucker. It also doesn’t leave you feeling underwhelmed. Each bite promises moisture, thanks to the butter, buttermilk, and sour cream. Dryness is not an option when those three ingredients are involved. Instead you’re met with an undeniable moisture and richness that reminds you of pound cake. Yet, it’s lighter than pound cake because there’s a bit of a spring in the sponge and the lemon lightens everything.

You can play around with the glaze here. I simply added lemon juice to powdered sugar and this created a thin glaze that ultimately disappears into the cake, moistening it even further. (If you look closely at the picture though, you’ll notice I didn’t sift the powdered sugar, so little lumps remained which was not attractive but good to know if your powdered sugar is lumpy too!) You can also try adding heavy whipping cream or increasing the sugar content to create a drizzle that’s thicker and stays put on top of the cake. Others have created a real frosting with cream cheese. Or omit the glaze/frosting and simply dust it with a bit of powdered sugar. The choice is yours! You can’t go wrong.

Enjoy using up the current bounty of lemons (and perhaps the last of the season)!