Moist, lemony, floral and delicious are just some word that describe this lavender lemon Bundt cake! Lavender and lemon are a match made in heaven, and when combined together in a cake, it’s like a spring on a plate!
About This Recipe
If you’ve never tried the combination of lavender and lemon in a cake before, than your are definitely missing out! The zesty and citrus flavors of lemon combined with the floral flavors of lavender, come together to make magic in every bite!
I made this lavender lemon Bundt cake using my go-to vanilla cake recipe, (which I also use to make my vanilla cupcakes) and flavored it with lemon zest and juice and dried lavender. This cake is incredibly moist and fluffy, thanks to the buttermilk, and once it’s baked I topped with an aromatic lavender lemon glaze, but you could also top just top it off with a plain vanilla glaze.
How is this lavender lemon bundt cake flavored? For the lemon part, I used lemon zest and some lemon juice in the cake batter and lemon juice in the glaze. For the lavender flavoring, I used dried lavender, which I grinded to make a powder and then added that in with the dry ingredients. The flavors of both are not overpowering at all and each slice is a delight!
What You Need To Make This Recipe
Flour: you’ll need regular all-purpose flour, I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
Granulated Sugar: this is for sweeting the cake, I mean you can’t make cake without sugar.
Butter: you’ll need softened unsalted butter. Butter is what will give the Bundt cake a soft crumb.
Eggs: use room temperature eggs for the best results.
Corn Starch: make the cake super soft and tender.
Lemons: this is for the zest and juice, you’ll need 2 small lemons, or one large.
Vegetable oil: this recipe has a mix of both butter and vegetable oil instead of just one. The vegetable oil keeps the cake moist for days. Make sure to use a flavorless oil like sunflower or canola oil.
Baking powder and soda: these are the leavening agents, which means they cause the cake to rise making it nice and fluffy.
Vanilla extract: enhances the flavor of everything.
Dried lavender: I recommend you use culinary lavender for using in any recipe. (Most lavenders are edible though)
Buttermilk: the acid in the buttermilk reacts with the leavening agents causing the cake to rise and become moist and fluffy.
Powdered Sugar: this is for the glaze.
Heavy cream: this is also for the glaze, lavender is infused into the cream and then that cream is used to make the glaze. (if you want to make a plain vanilla glaze, you don’t need this)
How To Make Lavender Lemon Bundt Cake
Step 1: the first thing that your going to do is grind the dried lavender into a fine powder using a spice mixer or a food processor. Then combine the powdered lavender with the remaining dry ingredients and set that aside.
Step 2: Next crem the butter, vegetable oil, and granulated sugar until creamy. You can use an electric stand or hand mixer.
Step 3: Next add in 3 eggs one at a time beating well between each addition. Lastly add in the vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat it one last time. At this point the mixture will look curdled, but that is totally normal, everything will come together once the dry ingredients are added in. Switch to a spatula for the remaining steps. Add in half of the dry mixture and fold to combine.
Step 4: Then add in half of the buttermilk and fold until fully combined. Then add in the remaining dry mixture and fold to combine. Finally add in all of the remaining buttermilk and fold to combine. Yes this step does require a bit of patience so go slowly and do not overmix the batter, once everything is fully incorporated stop mixing.
Step 5: Transfer the batter to a greased and floured Bundt pan, smooth out the top and give the pan a few taps on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake at 160 °C / 320 °F for 40-45 min. If the top is browning too fast, cover it with some aluminum foil and continue to bake.
Once the cake is baked let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then flip onto a cooling wrack to cool completely.
Step 6: While the cake cools make the lavender lemon glaze. In a small saucepan combine heavy cream and some dries lavender. Cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes until the cream starts to bubble on the sides of the pan. Remove for the heat, strain into a bowl and let it cool completely.
Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice and some of the lavender infused cream to make a smooth glaze, you can make it as thick or as thin you’d like. Spread it on your cooled lavender lemon Bundt cake, slice and enjoy!
Storing/Freezing The Lavender Lemon Bundt Cake
Store any leftovers in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, then transfer to a refrigerator.
To freeze the cake: Freeze the lavender lemon Bundt cake without the glaze. Warp it in a layer of plastic wrap then in a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature, add on the lemon lavender glaze before serving.
Pro Tips
- Measure you flour correctly! Adding too much or too little flour will change the texture of the cake dramatically. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off using the back of the spoon.
- Bundt cakes do take a bit longer to cool than regular cakes because of their shape. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then flip it onto a wire rack and let it cool in the refrigerator. This will speed up the cooling process.
- If the top of your Bundt cake is browning too fast, cover it some aluminum foil and continue to bake until it’s done. This will prevent the top of the cake from burning while the inside is still raw.
- Baking time may vary: all ovens are different, your cake might take a longer to fully bake, or it might bake faster. So it’s best to start checking on the lemon loaf cake at 30 minutes.
- If you have a convection oven (oven with a fan setting) I recommend reducing the temperature by 20 degrees
- When zesting lemons, it’s important to be careful not to grate the white part of the lemon skin that’s beneath the yellow. This part is bitter and could ruin the taste of your cake.
- Zest your lemons before cutting and squeezing out the juice, it’s just way easier.
- You could also make a plain vanilla glaze instead of a lemon lavender glaze, if you don’t want too much lavender flavor. Just use the same amount of powdered sugar as mentioned in the recipe with 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and 2-3 tablespoon of milk to get it to the consistency you like.
- When buying dries lavender for baking/cooking always look for culinary lavender.
- Don’t have buttermilk? No problem, make it home with 2 simple ingredients!
FAQ’s
How can I make buttermilk at home?
It’s simple, for every one cup of milk add one tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Let it sit for 5 minutes before using it in your recipes!
Is the lavender flavor in the cake too overpowering?
Absolutely not! It’s perfect, in fact combined with the lemon, it has a subtle yet very noticeable flavor. But if it’s your first time trying lavender, I’d recommend pairing this cake with a vanilla glaze instead of a lavender lemon glaze, so even if you don’t like the taste, it’s not overpowering.
How do I prevent my cake from sticking to the Bundt pan?
Grease it very well! Use your fingers to slather softened butter all over the Bundt pan, make sure to get into those nooks and crannies. Then add a tablespoon or two of flour and tap the pan to get the flour to coat the entire pan. Throw out any excess flour and your pan i ready, you will be surprised how easily the cake comes out once it’s baked. Another important tip is to wait at least 15 minutes once the cake comes out of the oven, then flip it onto a cooling wrack.
Can I leave out the lavender and make a lemon Bundt cake?
Yes! This recipe will make you an amazingly moist and fluffy lemon Bundt Cake. In fact you could leave out the lemon zest and juice and make a lavender Bundt cake as well!
Check out my YouTube Channel for detailed recipe tutorials! Made one of my recipes? Tag me on Instagram, I would love to see your creations!
Recipe Card
Lavender Lemon Bundt Cake
Moist, lemony, floral and delicious are just some word that describe this lavender lemon Bundt cake! Lavender and lemon are a match made in heaven, and when combined together in a cake, it’s like a spring on a plate!
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 45 min
Total Time: 65 min
Course: Dessert
Servings: 14
Calories: 360kcal
— Print Recipe —
Ingredients
For the lavender lemon Bundt cake:
- 2 Tbsp dried lavender, culinary lavender
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (270g)
- 1/4 cup corn starch (30g)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (120ml)
- 1 2/3 cup granulated sugar (330g)
- zest of 2 small lemons
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature (180ml)
For the lavender lemon glaze:
- 3 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1 tsp dried lavender
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 °C / 320 °F. Grease and flour your Bundt pan very well, making sure to get into all the edges.
- Grind the dried lavender into a fine powder using a blender ( I used a spice blender, you could also se a mortar and pestle). In a medium sized bowl combine the all purpose flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and the ground dried lavender. Give it a mix and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl, combine the softened butter, vegetable oil, and granulated sugar. Beat on high speed until pale and creamy. 2-3 minutes. (You could also use an electric hand mixer.)
- Add in the lemon zest and beat for another minute until combined.
- Now add in the egg one at a time beating well between each addition. Lastly add in the vanilla extract and lemon juice, beat to combine. At this point the mixture will look curdled, but this is totally normal. The rest of the process will be done by hand, so grab a spatula and get ready to do a whole lot of folding!
- Add half of the dry ingredients mixture into the wet and fold to combine. Then add in half of the buttermilk and gently fold until fully incorporated.
- Add in the remaining dry mixture and fold to combine. Finally add in the remaining buttermilk and once again fold until fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, spread it out and give the pan a few taps on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Once baked let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then flip onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the Bundt cake cools prepare the lavender lemon glaze. In a small saucepan combine the heavy cream and dried lavender. Cook on medium flame for 1-2 min until small bubbled form on the sides of the saucepan. Remove from the heat, strain and set aside to cool completely.
- In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of the lavender infused cream. Whisk to form a smooth glaze. You can make the glaze any consistency you’d like: add more lemon juice/milk for a thinner glaze(accidently made your glaze to runny, add some more powdered sugar to thicken it up).
- Don’t wanna do all these extra steps? Make a quick vanilla glaze by mixing together the same amount of powdered sugar with 2-3 tbsp. of milk and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract!
- Spread the glaze on your cooled lavender lemon Bundt cake, let the glaze set for 5-10 minutes, slice and enjoy!
Nutrition (estimated per serving)
Calories: 360.54kcal
Total Fat: 17.2g
Carbs: 48.28g
Sugars: 31.09g
Protein: 3.78g
Sodium: 193.89mg
Fiber: 0.64g
** Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more. **
Watch Video Tutorial
Lavender lemon Bundt cake video tutorial
