About a year and a half ago, when I was heavily pregnant with my third baby, I got the strangest craving for cake. To most of you, that probably doesn’t really seem like a strange craving, but for me it was. I’m not generally a cake person. If I’m asked what I want for my birthday dessert, I’m always going to answer with “pie, please!”
Anyway, I was talking with some of my girlfriends about cake for one of their upcoming weddings, and the cake shop Nothing Bundt Cakes came up. These girls were raving about this cake shop. I had never heard of it, but for some reason this discussion about cake really got me wanting cake. Like really wanting it. Like wanting it so dangerously that I was sure that going to Nothing Bundt Cakes would set into motion a tragic error that would result in at least another 20lbs.
Confession: One night I actually cried real tears because my husband was not able to go to the Olive Garden and get me a piece of their lemon cake. I could have gone and got my own lemon cake from the Olive Garden, but I was feeling very unreasonable.
But for some reason, my unborn daughter Phoebe really wanted cake. And so I obliged her a bit. I made some chocolate bundt cakes. But then something terrible and wonderful happened at the same time. My friend Katie, who had heard about my new love of cake stopped by the elusive Nothing Bundt Cakes and dropped off one of their mini bundt cakes on my door. Everybody should have a friend like Katie who brings you cake for no reason other than that you are pregnant and you want it. I opened up the beautiful little cake… took a bite…
And I fell deeply in love.
This was without a doubt the best cake I’d ever eaten. Rich, most, perfectly light and dense at the exact same time, just the right amount of lemon and topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting.
These cakes are quite expensive, but if you have the budget, search for Nothing Bundt Cakes in your area and go in and try it. If it’s not in your budget, I have made one here that is very, very close. It’s not perfect, but it’s very, very delicious. Make sure you err on the side of underbaking. You want it to be just barely finished when you pull it from the oven, with moist crumbs sticking to the tester toothpick. Mine was delicious and moist, but I wish I had baked it for about 5 minutes less than I did.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups whole milk yogurt
10 tablespoons melted butter
Frosting:
4 oz room temperature cream cheese
1/4 cup room temperature butter
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a stand mixer, beat your eggs for about two minutes on medium speed until they are thick and pale yellow in color. Keeping the mixer on, add your sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and with the mixer on low speed, add to your mixture until just combined. Add the whole milk yogurt and melted butter last, mixing until just combined.
Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You want it to be just barely finished when you pull it from the oven, with moist crumbs sticking to the tester toothpick. Do not over-bake this.
Cool cake completely and mix your frosting ingredients together in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Pipe over the sides of your completely cool cake and enjoy!
Rumbly in my Tumbly 
Yummy!! xx
Thanks for stopping by!
This looks like a deliciously moist and yummy cake! 🙂
Thank you, Nancy! It was very good!
such a cute name for a gorgeous cake! I adore bundts and yours is perfection on a plate.
i cracked up reading your post …being a mother of three as well..i have had some weird cravings …when i was pregnant with Desirae i can tell ya… ..hold your tummies people!!..i literally wanted this lovely cuisine all on one plate.. boiled pig feet! scrambled eggs with scribbles of ketchup over that …and ONE BANANA cream pie!!! …all this during Sunday School while reading the minutes…i woulda never thot that Desirae was craving all that from the inside my mother held on to some of the cravings for over thirty years after her first born! a Banana and Mayo sandwich ..however i love lemon desserts that wud be anyday! thanks for the recipe
WOW, that IS a plateful!! Hope you enjoy the recipe. 🙂
Hi Shannon,
I just wanted to thank you for such a fabulous recipe. I often make a lot of fiffrent desserts using recipes I find from the internet and came across this recipe just 2 days ago. I was hestitant to make it right away because most of the ingredients I didn’t have on hand in my fridge or pantry and didn’t really want to make a trip to the market just to make this cake. But the cake looked delicious and my family loves all the cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, the lemon one being their favorite. I wanted to experiment with a new recipes for my thanksgiving dinner party and so I made myself leave the house to pick up yogurt and a few extra lemons. I baked it earlier this evening and oh my, I am so glad I did because it is absolutely fabulous. Even my husband commented on how it tastes very much like the Nothing Bundt Cakes version. I do have to admit that I made some slight changes to the recipe. I used 4 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of just 3. I also used 1 1/4 cup of cake flour with 1 cup of of all purpose flour. I bake a lot of cakes and prefer the texture of cake flour more. Doing so in this recipe, the texture turned out similar to the texture of a pound cake. As for the icing, I omitted the vanilla from the cream cheese frosting and added 1 Tbsp of the lemon zest instead. I really don’t like the vanilla flavor in my cream cheese frostings…just my preference. Anyways, this cake is moist, flavorful, and absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much for sharing it with us. I will be making this cake quite often and including it into my Thanksgiving dinner menu.
Kim
I’m so glad! Thank you for the comment.
How long should I bake the cake if I used mini bundt cake pan? Also, if I double the recipe, how long should I bake it?
How long should I bake the cake if I used mini bundt cake pan? Also, if I double the recipe, how long should I bake it? Thank you
One question, the whole milk yogurt, what flavor, plain? Lemon? Vanilla?
Just made these in mini bundt pan. The only change I made was using Noosa lemon yogurt instead of plain. It was fantastic 🙂 Baked them for 25 minutes. Thank you for a great recipe!
What can I use to replace the yogurt if I don’t have any on hand.
Sour cream or pudding would work.
Made it with sour cream in place of yogurt. Husband said it was the best thing I’ve ever made (in nearly 20 yrs of marriage) and insisted I make it at least once a month if I truly love him! LOL! 😉 Seriously, though, it was amazing and so easy! Thanks!!
How long do you let it cool before removing it from the pan?
I can’t wait to try this! I’ve just made the icing (which I think tastes EXACTLY like the one at NBC by the way…!) and I am waiting for the cake to cool. My friend and I are huge fans of Nothing Bundt Cakes and I know if this recipe comes close she’ll be dying for a red velvet version. Have you considered posting one? I’m sure we could adjust by taking out the lemon and adding some cocoa powder + food coloring… but who knows if my proportions will be correct? Anyway, just curious, as I’m sure this is going to be great!
Hi Brittany- that’s a great idea, I love their red velvet. I have a red velvet cake on my blog but it’s not dense enough to be a NBC. I’ll have to work on one! Thanks for reading!
The cake recipe sounds good and I will try it soon, but the nothing bundt cake lemon cakes have a delicious lemon buttercream frosting.
This cake was delicious! It was dense and moist with a great fresh lemon tatste. Thank you for the recipe!
Is this a 12-cup bundt pan?
SO delicious!!! Thanks so much for sharing!
The cake was really good. Except mine came out really dense. It might be because I stores it in the refrigerator overnight before serving it. Or I might have over baked it. I will try this again and probably use sour cream in place of the yogurt.
Holy s**t, that was so good! Thank you for sharing this recipe. My husband and I don’t ever have to go to Nothing Bundt Cakes again. 🙂
I made this exactly as the directions stated and it was delicious! Absolute hit in our house! So much better than that famous bundt cake place!
Could greek yogurt be used in place of regular yogurt?
Absolutely
Hi thank you for this recipe! I love the lemon but my kids prefer the plain vanilla. Would the recipe for the vanilla be the same but omitting the lemon?
Thanks!
Hi Ana, I think you were just want to add a bit more vanilla. Maybe 2 teaspoons? I think they use a vanilla Bean at the actual bakery, so if you can find one of those, even better.
Followed the recipe exactly but my cake, although tasty, looked like bread pudding inside.
I did bake until the toothpick came out with crumbs.
You might get an oven thermometer to double check oven temp. Since like it could be running cool
Really had a great texture and taste…however, the lemon rind was a little bitter. Also, I substituted sour cream in place of the yogurt…actually made the cake even moister!
I’d make this again but would omit or at least cut the lemon peel in half.