Pucker up buttercup and get ready to dazzle your taste buds with this deliciously zesty Strawberry Lemonade Bundt Cake!! Made from scratch with sour cream, this tangy dessert is filled with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest for a refreshing pop of citrus, topped with a creamy strawberry glaze, and finished off with fresh strawberries. This moist and buttery cake is the perfect combination of tart, sweet, and tastes just like your favorite springtime drink....but on a plate!!
There's nothing better than a tart, decadent slice of homemade lemon bundt cake!! Growing up in Texas, I spent a lot of hot summer days in the kitchen with my grandmother juicing fresh lemons for Southern classics such as old fashioned lemon bars and whipping up batches of refreshing lemonade. Those memories served as inspiration for this buttery lemon pound cake but with a fruity twist!!
Perfect for Spring and Summer alike, this delicious cake features my grandmothers favorite traditional Southern sour cream lemon bundt cake!! With a vibrant lemon flavor and tender moist crumb, it pairs beautifully with the sweet, juicy macerated strawberries and lusciously thick strawberry cream cheese glaze. It's practically sunshine on a plate and tastes just like strawberry lemonade but in cake form!!
If you are new to baking bundt cakes, no need to worry. Below, I will share with you how to create a perfect strawberry lemon bundt cake using the tried and true creaming method, PLUS all of my favorite tips and tricks to create the perfect bundt cake every time!!
For more springtime bundt cake recipes, try Blood Orange Cardamom Bundt Cake, 7UP Cake Recipe!!
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Recipe Ingredients
- Substitutions and Variations
- How to Make Strawberry Lemonade Bundt Cake
- How to Make Strawberry Glaze
- Expert Baking Tips for Bundt Cake Success
- What pan should I use for this cake?
- Acidity in Cake
- Recipe FAQs
- Serving suggestions
- Storage, Freezing, and Make Ahead
- More Cake Recipes You'll Love
- 📖 Recipe
- Reviews
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Bright citrus flavor - If you are a lemon lover like me and are looking for a perfectly moist and tender cake with a bold pop of citrus flavor, this is it!! Filled with fresh lemon juice, zest, and lemon extract, this strawberry lemonade cake has lemon flavor in every bite!!
- Sweet and creamy strawberry glaze - This deliciously creamy strawberry glaze is the perfect topping. It takes no time to make, only uses five simple ingredients, and pairs perfectly with lemon.
- Perfect for any occasion - This classic lemon bundt cake recipe is a true family favorite and perfect for any time of year. From Mother's Day and Easter to backyard BBQ's and springtime picnics, this delicious bundt cake is sure to impress.
Recipe Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make this strawberry lemonade bundt cake recipe:
Ingredients for the Lemon Bundt Cake
Ingredients needed for the Strawberry Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredient Notes:
- Fresh strawberries - With their sweet flavor, juicy strawberries pair perfectly with this zesty lemon pound cake. I recommend using fresh berries rather than frozen. Frozen strawberries contain more water and do not hold up as well.
- Lemon extract - Fresh lemon juice provides great flavor but it is very subtle and will not yield the intense lemon flavor you are looking for in a lemon cake. Lemon extract enhances the bright lemon flavor without increasing the moisture content of the cake.
- Lemon Juice - For that fresh citrus pop I used two tablespoons of lemon juice. For the best lemon flavor, use fresh lemon juice not bottled. Bottled lemon juice does not have the same flavor as fresh.
- Fresh lemon zest - Lemon zest contains lemon oil which adds an intense lemon flavor that you wouldn't be able to get just by using lemon juice. When grating the lemon, be sure to only grate the yellow portion and not the white pith.
- Sour cream - Sour cream contains extra fat content which helps make this cake extra rich and moist. Use full fat, room temperature sour cream.
- Cream cheese - Cream cheese adds a slight tang to the strawberry glaze and balances the zesty, fruity flavor of the cake. Use full fat cream cheese softened to room temperature.
- Cake flour - Cake flour creates a soft cake with a light and tender crumb. Be sure to follow the recipe directions below and sift the flour 3 times!!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
- Swap out the strawberries for other fresh berries such as blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries.
- If you are out of sour cream or would rather not use it, replace it with full fat greek yogurt.
- To really amp up the lemon flavor, brush the warm cake with a lemon simple syrup as soon as it comes out of the oven.
- For an extra tangy dessert, drizzle the cooled cake with the lemon glaze from my Southern Lemon Pound Cake.
- Skip the glaze and top the lemon cake with confectioner's sugar and serve the diced strawberries on the side.
- To make a plain cream cheese glaze, replace the juice of the macerated strawberries with heavy cream.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you happen to try any from the list above or add your own spin with new ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below.
VC Top Tip: Be sure to check the expiration and of your baking soda prior to starting!
How to Make Strawberry Lemonade Bundt Cake
To make this strawberry lemon cake, we are using the creaming method. This method requires three simple steps: creaming the butter and sugar until light and aerated, adding the room temperature eggs, and lastly alternating between dry ingredients and wet ingredients until they are just combined. Here is how to make and bake this strawberry lemonade bundt cake:
Before you start, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Step 1: Shift the dry ingredients 3 times. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt three times.
Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping halfway to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Step 3: Add in the eggs. Add the first 3 eggs one a time mixing until each egg is incorporated. After adding the first 3 eggs, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the remaining 3 eggs, mixing until each egg is incorporated.
Step 4: Mix in the flour mixture alternately with the wet ingredients. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream beginning with the flour mixture and ending with the sour cream.
Step 5: Add in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Mix until all of the ingredients are just combined, being careful not to over mix.
Step 6: Bake!! Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Firmly tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles then bake for 55 to 65 minutes.
VC Top Tip: Tapping the pan helps to release any large air pockets created from whipping the batter and filling the pan. After adding all of the batter and tapping, use an offset spatula to smooth and even it out.
How to Make Strawberry Glaze
This strawberry glaze is simple and delicious, has only 6 ingredients, made with juicy berries, and takes only five minutes to whip up!!
Step 1: Macerate the strawberries. In a medium bowl, combine the chopped strawberries, lemon juice, and granulated sugar. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 2: Strain the berries. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the chopped berries reserving the strawberry juice for the glaze.
Step 3: Beat the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. With a hand mixer and a medium bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese on high speed for one minute. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Step 4: Add the strawberry juice. Add in 3 tablespoons of the strawberry juice and mix until thick and creamy. This is a thick glaze but still pourable.
Expert Baking Tips for Bundt Cake Success
- Triple sift the flour - I know this may seem like a lot but triple sifting really helps to aerate the flour and disperse the baking soda.
- Use a kitchen scale - I always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure dry ingredients, especially flour. Too much flour can result in a dry, dense cake.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Ensure the eggs, butter, and sour cream are at room temperature so they mix together smoothly and evenly.
- Grease your bundt pan right before adding the batter - If you grease the cake pan too soon, the oil will slide down and pool in the bottom of the pan causing the cake to stick. Be sure to use baking spray that contains flour like Baker's Joy and apply it to all of the nooks and crannies so that your cake pops out easily when ready to flip.
- Avoid over-mixing - Mix in the dry ingredients on the lowest speed and stop as soon as they are combined. This step prevents the formation of excess gluten in the cake batter which would lead to a tough and dense cake.
- Beat butter and sugar mixture for the full 5 minutes - Beating the butter and sugar for a longer length of time allows air to be introduced into the cake batter helping the cake to rise.
- Scrape the mixing bowl - Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl after adding each ingredient. Batter that is not properly mixed will lead to air bubbles and clumps of flour in the final bake.
- Check for doneness early - Because every oven is different, check your bundt cake 10 minutes before the suggested baking time. The cake should bounce back when lightly touched and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center should come out with a few moist crumbs.
What pan should I use for this cake?
Using a good quality non stick bundt pan is important to ensure even baking and removal of the cake from the pan after baking. For this recipe, you will want to use a bundt pan with a 12 cup capacity. Using anything smaller will result in the overflow of cake batter in the oven.
I love using classic bundt cake pans from Nordicware. I used their Anniversary Bundt Pan for this recipe and for the majority of my bundt cake recipes!!
Acidity in Cake
Did you know it matters when you add acid to your cake batter? You'll notice in this recipe that all of the acidic ingredients are added towards the end of the mixing process. This was done for a reason. Acidic ingredients, such as vinegar or lemon juice in this case, can affect the structure of your cake depending on when they are added to the cake batter.
If I were to add the lemon juice right after mixing the butter and sugar, the batter would curdle. The curdled batter would cause the cake to have a weakened structure and lead to changes in the cake's texture causing large holes or tunneling.
This is why it is important to add the flour mixture prior to the lemon juice. By adding the lemon juice and lemon zest at the end of the mixing process, the flour can be coated by the fat therefore maintaining the structure of the cake!!
Recipe FAQs
Plain lemon juice doesn't have a ton of lemon flavor and it adds a lot of liquid to the recipe. To ensure that tart, lemon flavor you need both the lemon zest and lemon extract.
For this recipe, I prefer to use fresh strawberries rather than frozen. Frozen berries are too soft and hold too much water. But if you are in a pinch and frozen is all you have, allow the frozen berries to thaw and come to room temperature. Next, strain any excess moisture using a fine mesh sieve. Then combine with the granulated sugar and lemon juice.
Before icing your cake, you should allow it to cool for approximately 2 hours. If you glaze the cake before it is completely cool, the glaze will melt off.
I prefer using cake flour in my bundt and pound cake recipes for 2 reasons:
1. Cake flour has a lower protein count than all purpose flour which makes for a tender cake with a lighter crumb.
2. Because of the lower protein content, over-mixing the cake batter is less of a problem because there are fewer gluten forming proteins.
If making this recipe the night before, store the cake in an airtight container on the counter at room temperature. You can also tightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap. Both will keep the cake moist overnight until you are ready to serve.
Bundt cakes have a thicker batter and are usually dense with a tight crumb. They are baked in a circular fluted pan that has a hole in the middle. Cakes have a thinner batter and fluffy crumb. Because of this, they do not posses the structure to be baked in a bundt pan.
Serving suggestions
This cake tastes delicious any way you serve it!! Here are a few serving ideas to get you started:
- For a delicious indulgent treat, top the slices of cake with lemon curd!!
- Or if whipped cream is more your style, make the whipped cream cheese filling from my Strawberries and Cream Bundt Cake and serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream.
- In addition to the strawberry glaze, slices of this cake would taste amazing with a couple of spoonfuls of the quick strawberry jam that I used in my Strawberry Crumb Cake.
- Ice cream and cake is always a great idea. This strawberry lemonade bundt cake would taste delicious with lemon, vanilla bean, or strawberry ice cream!!
Storage, Freezing, and Make Ahead
Storage: Bundt cakes start to dry out right after you cut into them so it is important to cover them if you have leftovers. Due to the cream cheese glaze, this cake is best stored in the fridge. Wrap the leftover strawberry lemon bundt cake with plastic wrap then aluminum foil. Store the cake in the refrigerator for up to a week. When ready to serve, allow the cake to come to room temperature. I love popping my slice in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds for that fresh out of the oven taste!!
Freezing: To freeze, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap then aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cake in a large heavy duty ziplock bag for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, allow the cake to sit in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
Make ahead: If you find yourself needing to make this cake the day before you definitely can. Pound cakes taste even better the next day after the flavors have had time to sit in. Simply prepare the cake following the recipe below and glaze the day of serving.
More Cake Recipes You'll Love
It brings me so much joy when you make one of my recipes!! If you try this recipe and love it much as I do, please give it a star rating in the recipe card below. And don't forget to tag me to share your creation with me!! You can find me on Instagram @vintage_confections.
📖 Recipe
Strawberry Lemonade Bundt Cake Recipe with Strawberry Glaze
Ingredients
For the Lemon Bundt Cake
- 3 (375 g) cups Cake flour sifted 3 times
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 (227 g) cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 ½ (500 g) cups Granulated sugar
- 6 large Eggs room temperature
- 1 (240 g) cup Sour cream room temperature
- 2 tablespoons Lemon zest from about 5 to 6 small lemons
- 2 tablespoons Lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 1 ½ teaspoon Lemon extract
For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1 (340 g) pint Fresh Strawberries cleaned, hulled, and cut into small diced pieces
- 2 tablespoons Granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
- 4 oz Cream cheese room temperature
- 4 tablespoons Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ (180 g) cup Powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
For the Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and kosher salt three times.3 (375 g) cups Cake flour, ½ teaspoon Baking soda, ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping halfway to scrape the sides of the bowl.1 (227 g) cup Unsalted butter, 2 ½ (500 g) cups Granulated sugar
- Add the first 3 eggs one a time on low speed then increase to medium mixing until each egg is incorporated. After adding the first 3 eggs, stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the remaining 3 eggs, one at a time mixing until each egg is incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl after adding the last egg.6 large Eggs
- With the mixer on low speed gradually add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture, beginning with flour mixture and ending with the sour cream. Beat until just combined after each addition, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl.1 (240 g) cup Sour cream
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Mix until all of the ingredients are just combined, being careful not to over mix2 tablespoons Lemon zest, 2 tablespoons Lemon juice, 1 ½ teaspoon Lemon extract
- Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with nonstick baking spray. Using a fine pastry brush, spread the baking spray to coat the pan making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Firmly tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles then bake for 55 to 65 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean with a few moist crumbs. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.
For the Strawberry Cream Cheese Glaze
- In a medium bowl, combine the chopped strawberries, lemon juice, and granulated sugar. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.1 (340 g) pint Fresh Strawberries, 2 tablespoons Granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
- Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the chopped berries reserving the strawberry juice for the glaze.
- With a hand mixer and a medium bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese on high speed for one minute. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.4 oz Cream cheese, 4 tablespoons Unsalted butter, 1 ½ (180 g) cup Powdered sugar
- Add in 3 tablespoons of the strawberry juice and mix until thick and creamy. This is a thick glaze but still pourable. Place cooled cake on cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath. Pour the strawberry cream cheese glaze over cake and top with freeze dried strawberries, fresh strawberries, and lemon slices if desired. Serve cake slices with the macerated strawberries. Enjoy!!
Valerie Muniz
looks delicious
Diana Morales
This recipe was absolutely delicious!!!
Anonymous
Absolutely delicious recipe - the perfect addition to my summer picnic!