This Easter cake is for the birds! Well sort of. A subtle lemon bundt cake is covered in frosting, toasted coconut and filled with little candy eggs!

I was talking to a friend of mine about Easter. She was telling me how she is in possession of the very cake mold her mother used as she was growing up. She said that every Easter her mom would serve a bunny shaped cake.

At that moment I felt a mixture of tenderness and jealousy. I thought it was so sweet that her mother insisted on making a bunny cake every year regardless of the age of her children. I was jealous because I always wanted a bunny cake when I was a kid.

Now that I am an adult and I make my own desserts, I find I a less about the shape and more about the flavor. And this lemon bundt cake recipe has LOTS of flavor!

How To Make Lemon Bundt Cake From Scratch

This recipe starts with a basic flavored bundt cake. I’m a huge fan of bundt cakes. Bundt cakes look deceptively impressive.

This Mimosa Bundt Cake and this Frosted Sugar Cookie Bundt Cake are excellent examples. The truth is they are rather simple to prepare.

This recipe starts like any other cake recipe, by creaming together butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. You want your butter base to be pale yellow and ultra creamy.

 

Beat your eggs in one at a time. Why one at a time? Eggs have quite a bit of moisture, adding them one at a time to the butter will allow them to emulsify into the fat ( in this case the butter). This way, each egg will get a chance to become fully incorporated.

In a bowl combine flour and baking powder and add the flour mixture next along with buttermilk. You will begin and end with the flour. You do not want to add all the flour at once as the batter will become very thick and that lends itself to overmixing.

Conversely, adding in all the liquid at once can lead to separation. Adding the flour last will help the dough come together.

 

While I used buttermilk in this recipe (for texture and flavor), any fattier milk like whole milk or even half and half will do

I flavored my cake with fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract although lemon extract would be fabulous!

Pour the batter into a greased 10- inch bundt pan and bake until golden brown (about 60 minutes-bake time may vary from oven to oven) and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a baking rack for 5 minutes, then grab the rack and flip the baked cake so that it falls out onto the wire rack.

How To Make Lemon Bundt Cake Glaze

The glaze for this cake is a lemon simple syrup. To make the syrup, boil together equal parts water and sugar along with lemon slice. Boil the syrup for about 15 minutes or until thick. Remove the syrup from the heat and cool it completely.

When both the cake and the syrup of cooled, use a skewer to poke holes in the entire cake. Brush the lemon glaze over the cooled cake for more lemon flavor and to give you a very moist cake.

 

How To Decorate Lemon Bundt Cake

I dressed this cake up with a homemade white chocolate buttercream made with butter, melted white chocolate, powdered sugar, and cream. Spread the frosting over the entire cake.

I took handfuls of toasted coconut and gently pressed the coconut onto the frosting to create a “birds nest” look. Egg shaped candies are placed in the center.

How To Store Lemon Bundt Cake

This cake is best when consumed within a day or two, as cakes can easily dry out once they are cut.

Store the cake covered in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Once the cake is cut, however, cover the cut ends with plastic wrap and then keep the whole cake covered. This will help with dryness. A cut cake can last 3-4 days when kept covered.

Can I Freeze Bundt Cakes?

Wrap an unfrosted (and cooled)  bundt cake in plastic wrap then cover the cake in foil. Allow the cake to thaw before frosting.

This is such a great recipe for Easter, however, by removing or replacing the candies in the center, this cake can be used any time of year. This recipe does take some time, but the method is simple. Everyone loves this cake for its look and its bright flavors!