This rich lemon honey bundt cake is loaded with the honey flavor and the perfect amount of lemon. Top it with the caramelized honey glaze for an extra special treat.
Honey and lemon are a perfect match. They come together beautifully in this Italian Bundt cake. It is the perfect mix of sweet and tart and the texture of the cake itself is great thanks to buttermilk and sour cream.
The glaze melts in to take it to the next level of amazing. It is perfect for any special occasion.
I know it is hard to believe, but at one point MiMi was the dessert committee for our family. I seem to have taken that over in the last few years.
My cousins would rave over her sweets. My siblings and I didn’t know how good we had it.
This was one of the cakes she made in 2016. It thought it was time to freshen it up with some new pictures. I am glad I did, as this cake is delicious!
Carlee’s Tips For Making This Bundt Cake Recipe
Start with softened butter and room temperature eggs, sour cream and buttermilk to make incorporating everything easier. From there the batter is super simple.
This cake is absolutely loaded with honey, it is the predominant flavor. So you may want to use a mild to moderate flavored honey unless you are a HUGE honey fan.
A fun fruity orange blossom style honey would be lovely. It might even be fun to use a little lavender honey or something if you like a bit of floral.
Email Me The Link
I'll email this post to you, so you can easily find it later. Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!
For a bolder lemon flavor, feel free to add a bit of lemon extract. It is easy to alter the recipe a bit to get it just the way you want it!
Making the Lemon Honey Glaze
The glaze is also super simple to make. Start by stirring together a little lemon juice, sugar and honey.
Melt it over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Then let it continue cooking until it is bubbly and golden brown, a few minutes should do it.
Stir in a pinch of salt, cream and butter to round out the caramelly goodness. Let it cool while the cake finishes baking.
Pouring the mostly cool glaze over the still warm cake allows some of it to sink into the cake. For a cleaner finish, glaze the cake over a wire rack and allow the excess to drip onto a sheet pan.
If you don’t mind a little pool of glaze around your cake, go ahead and do it with the cake on the cake plate. Either way, it will taste amazing!
This cake does not need additional frosting. However, if you want a little something extra some honey whipped cream goes fabulously with it.
Italian Lemon Honey Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1½ cups honey
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 4 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup buttermilk
Glaze
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 300°F
- Combine 3 cups all purpose flour, 1½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt with a whisk and set aside.
- Cream 1 cup unsalted butter and 1½ cups honey until light and fluffy.
- Beat in 3 large eggs, one at a time. Mix in ½ cup sour cream, 4 Tablespoons lemon juice, 1 Tablespoon lemon zest, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract.
- Mix ⅓ of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix in half of the ½ cup buttermilk and then add in another ⅓ of the flour mixture. Then mix in the rest of the buttermilk and finish by adding in the last ⅓ of the flour mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Pour cake batter into a greased Bundt pan.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Turn the cake over on a wire rack or cake plate and remove the pan. Let cool before glazing.
Glaze
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Combine the 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, ½ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup honey in a medium pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves into a liquid. Continue to cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally. Mixture will bubble and start to darken in color.
- Once mixture is a medium brown remove from heat. Carefully stir in the 2 Tablespoons butter. Add ¼ cup heavy cream and stir until smooth. Add 1 pinch salt and stir until combined.
- Let sauce cool until just warm before pouring over the cake.
Notes
- This recipe works well in a 10 cup Bundt pan.
- You can use milk soured with a tablespoon of lemon juice in place of the buttermilk.
Video
Email Me The Link
I’ll email this post to you, so you can easily find it later. Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!
Did you try this recipe?
Don’t forget to leave a rating below and make sure to follow on Pinterest and Instagram for more!
More Popular Lemon Cake Recipes
This recipe was originally published in May of 2016. It was republished with new photos and an updated glaze recipe in 2021.
Get social!
Recipes in your inbox
I followed the recipe exactly. The cake was extremely heavy and gloopy. I made it for a party and was so embarrassed when I cut into it. I think there was way too much honey in the recipe and the glaze was so sweet. I even cut half the sugar and added more lemon juice and heavy cream and it was still too sweet.
I made your cake today and it is very good. It is a bit on the dense side, but I’d don’t mind that as I’m used to European baked goods having grown up in a German household. The only reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars is because of the glaze recipe. If I’d have known how much it was going to actually make, I’d have cut the recipe in 1/2. I have so much left over and feel like it is a waste. I will keep it for future use, but would have preferred not having so much. Otherwise, it’s a keeper recipe 😋
That is good feedback. It is a lot of glaze. I have this recipe on my list to make again soon. I may reduce the amounts in the recipe card to generously glaze the cake without having too much.
Really disappointed with this recipe, there was no baking soda and only a teaspoon of baking powder so the cake doesn’t really rise too much but it actually looked cooked when I took it out after 65 minutes the toothpick even came out clean. It is beyond dense and looks raw on the top and bottom and only cooked in the middle. It’s also about half the size of the actual Bundt pan. I am a trained baker, so I’m really not sure what went wrong with this one baking powder was new.
I am sorry it didn’t work out for you. I will add it to my list to bake again soon and see if I can figure out what happened.
Followed the recipe exactly and this cake turned out very thick and gluey in the middle despite tooth pick coming out clean after baking. The glaze was delicious though.
I am sorry that happened. Bundt cakes can be hard because there are so many different shapes that require slightly different bake times. And a toothpick doesn’t quite get to the center if it is a taller bundt cake. Perhaps using a skewer to test or even a thermometer would be good to ensure it is baked through next time.
This sounds amazing! I love Lemon!! Would this work in mini bundt pan?
You would either need to reduce the size of the recipe or make a couple. I don’t see why not otherwise!
Can you send me the lemon ice recipe please?
Sure! I’ll send it over.
Looking forward to making this for my book club this Sunday for an Italian themed dinner we are having. I was looking for a nice neutral flavored cake to have with some gelato and I think this will fit the bill. I plan to gild the lily with warm pistachio creme and some chopped nuts because more is more! I hope everyone saves room for dessert!
That sounds amazing!
Hi! I was wondering what I would need to change to make these in the Nordic Ware Nonstick Cast Aluminum Honeycomb Cake Pan. Thank you
That’s a perfect pan for this! It would probably take a few more minutes in the oven because it doesn’t have the tube shape.