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This amazing Lemon Bundt Cake uses two secret ingredients (cake mix and instant pudding!) to make it the easiest, most delicious lemon cake you’ve ever had.
I love from-scratch baking, but when it comes to lemon cake, I reach for a boxed mix every time. Why? Because the bright yellow color and lemony flavor are hard to match with actual lemons, no matter how ripe and juicy they are. I learned this trick in my pastry classes at culinary school, and your favorite restaurants, bakeries, and wedding cake makers are all doing the exact same thing. It’s one of those “industry secrets” that no one talks about, and now you can get on the fun.
Table of Contents
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Lemon Pudding Cake Recipe ingredients
- Lemon cake mix: This gives you a head-start on the cake and is the secret to ultra-lemony flavor. Yes, even restaurants use boxed lemon cake mixes. Since package sizes vary, look for a box that makes 13×9 or two 8-inch rounds.
- Instant lemon pudding: Can’t find lemon pudding? Vanilla tastes great too! Most of the lemon flavor comes from the cake mix, so you don’t lose too much flavor with vanilla pudding. I tested this to make sure.
- Vegetable oil: Readers have reported that substituting ½ cup applesauce for the ½ cup oil works perfectly. To quote Karen from the comments, “[I] saved over 800 calories per whole cake without any noticeable difference in taste or texture.”
- Lemon zest: Zest the lemons before you cut them in half for juice. To zest a lemon, hold a grater in one hand and the lemon in the other over a cutting board or clean work surface. Going in one direction, push the lemon away from you across the rough side of the grater, removing the colorful part of the fruit, exposing the pith. Gently rotate the lemon as you go.
How to make Lemon Bundt Cake with Cake Mix
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat a large Bundt pan with shortening or nonstick spray (if you don’t grease the pan enough, the top of the cake pay stick and tear when you flip the pan to remove the cooled cake). In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and pudding mix.
- Add water, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and eggs and whisk to combine. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 40 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Invert on to cooling rack set over a baking sheet and cool completely.
- To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Drizzle over cooled cake and let glaze harden for at least 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a serving platter and serve with fresh strawberries if desired.
Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe Variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 12 slices (or fewer bigger slices, depending on how you cut them).
- Bundt pan size: Any 12-cup bundt pan will work.
- Greasing the pan: Be very generous with your nonstick spray or shortening. Nothing ruins a bundt like a stuck cake!
- Blueberries: Fold 6 ounces fresh blueberries into the batter at the end of Step 2 (do not use more than 6 ounces). Bake as directed.
Storing Lemon Bundt Cake
Store leftovers covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Lemon Pudding Cake Recipe FAQs
Yes! A lot of readers have had success with this substitution. Just use ½ cup applesauce instead of the ½ cup oil in the recipe.
Vanilla pudding tastes great too! Most of the lemon flavor comes from the cake mix, so you don’t lose too much flavor with vanilla pudding. I tested this to make sure.
No, unfortunately not. There are other cakes in the world that use lemon Jello instead of lemon pudding. The amount of eggs, water, oil, etc. is different for cakes made with Jello. This recipe has only been tested with pudding.
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Lemon Bundt Cake
Equipment
- Bundt Pan (I only use the Nordic Ware ones)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 package lemon cake mix (see note 1)
- 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix (see note 2)
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (see note 3)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (see note 4)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 4 eggs
For the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Fresh strawberries for serving, optional
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat large Bundt pan with shortening or nonstick spray (if you don't grease the pan enough, the top of the cake pay stick and tear when you flip the pan to remove the cooled cake).
- In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and pudding mix. Add water, oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and eggs and whisk to combine.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 40 minutes.
- Cool 15 minutes in pan. Invert on to cooling rack set over a baking sheet and cool completely.
To make the glaze:
- Whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. Drizzle over cooled cake and let glaze harden for at least 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a serving platter and serve with fresh strawberries if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Lemon cake mix: This gives you a head-start on the cake and is the secret to ultra-lemony flavor. Yes, even restaurants use boxed lemon cake mixes. Since package sizes vary, look for a box that makes 13×9 or two 8-inch rounds.
- Instant lemon pudding: Can’t find lemon pudding? Vanilla tastes great too! Most of the lemon flavor comes from the cake mix, so you don’t lose too much flavor with vanilla pudding. I tested this to make sure.
- Vegetable oil: Readers have reported that substituting ½ cup applesauce for the ½ cup oil works perfectly. To quote Karen from the comments, “[I] saved over 800 calories per whole cake without any noticeable difference in taste or texture.”
- Lemon zest: Zest the lemons before you cut them in half for juice. To zest a lemon, hold a grater in one hand and the lemon in the other over a cutting board or clean work surface. Going in one direction, push the lemon away from you across the rough side of the grater, removing the colorful part of the fruit, exposing the pith. Gently rotate the lemon as you go.
- Yield: This recipe makes 12 slices (or fewer bigger slices, depending on how you cut them).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
The intro to recipe mentions milk as ingredient for glaze but it’s not listed in the actual recipe. My cake is cooling now and I don’t know how much milk to use in the glaze! Please help
Hi Kathy, I’m so sorry I didn’t see this yesterday. I changed the glaze from one using milk to the one shown in the recipe, but I forgot to update the instructions. I did this for food safety reasons – I feel like glazes containing milk require that the dessert be refrigerated. So I changed it! I’m so sorry. I hope you were able to proceed. I’ll fix the recipe now. Sorry again. I feel terrible. -Meggan
What size/brand cake mix and pudding mix do you use?
Hi Brenda, for the cake mix, I always go for the cheapest one out of Betty Crocker or Pillsbury (it seems like one is always on sale), and I get the 15.25 ounce box. I don’t notice a difference between them. For the pudding, I use the JELLO brand instant pudding, 3.4 ounce box. Let me know if you have any other questions! 😀 -Meggan
can i replace the veg. oil with real butter, if so how much should i use
Hi Ken, I am not sure. It’s a cake mix, so they make the rules. You could definitely try it, if you wanted to try it I’d use an equal part butter to the oil listed (1/2 butter, or 1 stick). I’m not sure what will happen. I can’t imagine it would taste bad… it just might change the baking time. I’m not sure. I tried making a cake once with margarine instead of butter, and it took WAY longer to bake. So I don’t know if that means a cake with butter would be done sooner, not necessarily. I would just be prepared for anything! Thanks. -Meggan
Love this recipe, I add poppy seeds. Always a hit.
Have you ever made this in 9 inch rounds or in a 9×13. Our daughter has requested a (butterfly-shaped) lemon cake for her birthday, and given all of the great reviews of this bundt cake, I wonder if it can be adapted for a more traditional birthday cake shape. Thank you!
Can I make this and omit the pudding? That’s the only thing I don’t have. Will it still turn out yummy?
Hi Jessica, NO! You can’t omit the pudding! It will be disgusting. I just tried it. I had a cake mix with “pudding in the mix” and I made the recipe exactly as written except I omitted the pudding. The cake was flatter (makes sense because the pudding added volume), not nearly sweet enough (the pudding obviously has a lot of sugar and other ingredients here, like extra eggs and oil, etc. diluted the sweetness). It was also really dry. Nearly inedible. I was able to eat some, but it was bad. I don’t recommend it. You could try making the cake as written on the box, just in a bundt pan, if they have baking instructions for bundt pans. I think that would probably work a lot better. Good luck! I hope I responded in time and saved you from making a disappointing cake. -Meggan
Hi Meggan,
I am planning on making this cake in a few days for a party and am thinking of using a tube pan (with a cream cheese icing). I just wanted to make sure the baking time would be the same.
Thanks.
Hi Bunny, thank you for the question. We haven’t tested this recipe in a tube pan, so we don’t know for sure. I suggest checking the cake five minutes earlier just in case, and then every five minutes after until it’s done. I’m sure it will be a huge hit at the party! 🙂 -Meggan
I’ve made at least two of these cakes every month for the past two years for work and my residents love it still. They always ask when I’m making more lemon cake. It’s my bartering tool to get people who don’t attend activities to actually come out. Everyone loves this cake.
Hi Julia, your comment makes my life so much better. This is great, it makes me so happy. thank you for trying the cake and sharing your experience! Bartering tool, heh heh! Thanks again. 😉 -Meggan
I’ve made this several times. It’s soooo easy, and it tastes fabulous. Thank you!
I made this as directed but the glaze turned out way too runny and soaked in. I had to add more powdered sugar to thicken. Also the vanilla extract made it kind of brown, so I put a couple drops of yellow food coloring in to make it look nicer. Next time I will use closer to 1 3/4 cups sugar, skip the vanilla and maybe skip the milk as well. I like things really tart and lemony.