Lemon Yogurt Bundt
For years in our house the joke has always been that Valentine’s Day is the day to have lemon yogurt for dinner. It started one year when I asked Kevin to make reservations at our favorite neighborhood restaurant. Well he didn’t end up making reservations and was under the impression that we could just walk in without reservations since we were ‘regulars’. Well as we all know that is not possible on Valentine’s Day no matter who you are. Since we couldn’t get in to the restaurant we just went home and the only thing we had in the fridge was yogurt so I ended up having the infamous lemon yogurt for dinner. Ever since I have stocked up on lemon yogurt for Valentine’s Day just in case.
This year I thought I would take the lemon yogurt idea and use it to make a delicious dessert, might as well eat cake for the holiday. I created this recipe using many different recipes I found online and combining them to make what I think is the perfect lemon cake. The flavor is strong and powerful like the Starbucks lemon loaf but without the ‘fake’ lemon flavor.
I used Meyer Lemons for this recipe but you could easily use normal lemons. I used Meyer Lemons from my very own tree, which made the dessert even more special. Las summer I bought a Meyer Lemon tree for our patio and by the end of summer it was covered in baby lemons, knowing that our Seattle winter would not be good for the baby lemons, I moved the giant pot inside in front of a south facing window. I feel so lucky that almost each lemon has grown to maturity and ripened to a beautiful yellow hue.
The other trick that I think sent this bundt to the next level is the fact that when the cake came out of the oven I poured limoncello over the warm cake so it absorbed deep into the cake. The boozy lemon liquor gave another depth of lemon. I used the last of my homemade limoncello for this, I must get some good lemons since they are in season and make another batch soon. Keep an eye out for my recipe soon!
I found that you can easily store this cake at room temperature for a few days in a cake domed cake plate and it gets better. I had it last about 5 days until we ate it all and it was still just as good as day one!
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2.5 cups white sugar
- zest of 4 Meyer Lemons
- juice of 3 lemons (about 1/4 cup)
- 6 eggs
- 2.5 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
- 1 cup lemon flavored greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup limoncello
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice or limoncello
- Preheat oven to 325°F
- Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and dust with flour, set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer combine the sugar and zest with a paddle attachment. Add the butter and cream until fluffy. Add the lemon juice till combined. Add eggs one at a time. Note: the mixture will look curdled but don't worry it will come together.
- Sift the flour, salt, powder and soda together. Add the flour to the butter mixture alternating between flour and yogurt until you have a good looking batter.
- Pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake until fully set, I found my oven took about an hour and ten minutes, but each oven is different so I would say check the bundt after 50 minutes and go from there.
- Once cake is removed from oven, while it's still in the pan, poke the cake with a toothpick all over, and then gently pour over the limoncello so that it soaks into the cake. Cool cake for about 20 minutes in pan, then gently remove cake from pan and let cool completely.
- Whisk the powdered sugar with the liquid of choice to form the glaze. Pour glaze over top of bundt. My bundt pan is in the shape of a rose and so it as grooves and channels and the glaze puddles into these to give each slice a little extra gooeyness.
- I served slices of this bundt with a lemon custard ice cream from Snoqualmie Ice Cream. I also served it with a 2009 Late Harvest Muscat from Maroon Wines.
Snoqualmie Ice Cream – Lemon Perfection
Maroon Wines- 2009 Late Harvest Muscat
