Woo hoo!! The studio smells like fresh new babies again! 🙂 This is Baby Bryce – sweetest little guy who loves to lay on his side. I think I smelled like new baby all day – sigh.
The official day of summer is almost here! Next Monday – but you can make this yummy dessert any day. The berries in season right now are the perfect compliment to this light and refreshing dessert.
The whole family and guests LOVED this cake. The kids even asked for second and third helpings – so we know it’s a winner. I love Bundt cakes and there is a great lemon bundt cake that America’s Test Kitchen makes. This cake is great if you don’t have a bundt pan or do not need that much cake. A bundt serves a lot of people.
This recipe can also be cut in half if you don’t want a full 9×13 sheet cake. It was also made in a 7×11″ pan with perfect results.
The taste? I love LEMON! This is lemony without being too tart. The cake texture reminds me of my lemon muffins (which you should also check out!).
- 3 cups all purpose flour (healthier version: use part or all white whole wheat flour)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk or almond milk
- ½ cup lemon juice (fresh from about 3-4 lemons or organic bottled lemon juice)
- ⅔ cup vegetable or canola oil (fewer calories: substitute applesauce)
- 1 tsp. vanilla (I use ½ tsp. vanilla and ½ tsp. Fiori di Sicilia)
- 1 Tb. lemon zest - zest from 2 of the lemons that you juiced
- 2 eggs
- Toppings: chopped strawberries with a little sugar, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, whipped cream, powdered sugar glaze (powdered sugar mixed with a little fresh lemon juice), simple syrup glaze etc.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Or 325 degrees if using convection oven or Pyrex dish.
- Spray your 13x9" pan with baking spray or grease and flour.
- In a great big bowl, mix the dry stuff: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In a mixing bowl, mix the wet stuff: milk, juice, oil and/or applesauce, lemon zest, vanilla and eggs.
- Add the wet to the dry and mix until combined.
- Bake 35 minutes for a 9x13" pan. Bake for 25 minutes for a 7x11" pan (recipe cut in half of course).
- Cool and serve with toppings.
- Powdered Sugar Icing: sift 1 and ⅓ cups of powdered sugar. Mix with about 2 Tb. lemon juice. Spread and let harden about 15 minutes.
- Simple Syrup Glaze: Mix ¾ cup sugar, 2 Tb. lemon zest and 6 Tb. lemon juice in a saucepan. Boil and then simmer 5 minutes. With cake still warm, poke with a fork and brush syrup on top.
