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This lemon pudding cake came about while I was fresh off the success of my homemade Pistachio Pudding cake. That cake rocked my world. It took my love of pistachio pudding to new heights. This cake rocked my lemon world and was in fact, Mike’s birthday cake. He wanted date squares for his birthday. I gave him date squares and a homemade lemon pudding cake because I mean, honestly, what’s a birthday without a birthday cake? What kind of wife, nay, what kind of food blogger would I be if I didn’t bake my husband a cake for his birthday?
And what a cake it was.
How to Make Lemon Pudding Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a standard Bundt pan.(the 12 cup capacity)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt then set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the lemon pie filling mix POWDER ( YOU DO NOT COOK IT) and combine thoroughly.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, making sure each is thoroughly incorporated.
- Mix in the lemon zest.
- Combine the milk, oil and vanilla extract in a large measuring cup or bowl.
- Starting with the dry ingredients, alternate pouring a third of the wet and dry ingredients into the mixer bowl, incorporating thoroughly after each addition. You will end on the wet ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes after the last addition.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Invert the cake onto a baking rack to cool.
- Frost with Lemon Buttercream Frosting when the cake has completely cooled and sprinkle lemon zest over the icing if wanted.
Fluffy, moist, amazing lemon flavor cake for my honey bunny on his birthday. So he got his birthday date square and I got my lemon cake. I think it’s a good symbiotic relationship. Not that he complains of course. “Oh no, my wife made me TWO desserts for my birthday because she wanted to try a lemon cake. Poor me!” <—- said no man ever.
Happy baking everyone! I hope you love this cake!
Love you more than cake,
Karlynn
Homemade Lemon Pudding Cake
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 55 minutes
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 12
- Calories
- 377
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups of white granulated sugar
- one 99 grams -128 grams package of jello lemon pie filling or instant lemon pudding (small packet
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a standard Bundt pan.(the 12 cup capacity)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt then set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the lemon pie filling mix POWDER ( YOU DO NOT COOK IT) and combine thoroughly.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, making sure each is thoroughly incorporated.
- Mix in the lemon zest.
- Combine the milk, oil and vanilla extract in a large measuring cup or bowl.
- Starting with the dry ingredients, alternate pouring a third of the wet and dry ingredients into the mixer bowl, incorporating thoroughly after each addition. You will end on the wet ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes after the last addition.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Invert the cake onto a baking rack to cool.
- Frost with Lemon Buttercream Icing when the cake has completely cooled and sprinkle lemon zest over the icing if wanted.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Claudia says
I made this yesterday for a dinner party. Although the recipe is a little involved, I followed it exactly as written, baked it in a bundt pan & it came out great! I used a lemon glaze rather than frosting & everyone loved it! I will definitely be making this again. Thank you! ❤️
Karlynn Johnston says
You are welcome! Glad you liked it!
Gottaknowbetterful says
I rated the cake four stars because it didn’t come with a disclaimer warning: Never make this cake if you live alone and/or have no self-discipline! I didn’t have the lemon zest so I added lemon juice 1/2 tsp. at a time and tasted. It still turned out right. The crumb was tender, it was the right sweetness and moisture was off the scale. Follow all the directions even if you don’t think it will work. It does.
JoAnn says
I just made this cake and my cake did not fall in the middle. Made the lemon buttercream frosting. I will recommend and do this recipe again.
Anna Capistrant says
Holy cow this cake is fantastic! I made it for my husband’s birthday. I had so many wonderful compliments! No problem with it falling. Made a lemon juice and powdered sugar icing instead as I did not see the lemon buttercream recipe. (I would love to try it though!) The cake was finished the next morning with coffee – absolutely delicious together! I am making it again less than a week later… we can’t wait to taste it again!
Anna Banana says
Holy cow this cake is fantastic! I made it for my husband’s birthday. I had so many wonderful compliments! No problem with it falling. Made a lemon juice and powdered sugar icing instead as I did not see the lemon buttercream recipe. (I would love to try it though!) The cake was finished the next morning with coffee – absolutely delicious together! I am making it again less than a week later… we can’t wait to taste it again!
Sandy says
Where is the lemon butter icing instructions/ingredients? I’d like to try it but need this piece of information.
Missy Yanchuck says
Fail!!! Don’t understand needing that much butter, and oil???? Cake Rose beautifully, then fell into a heavy goopy center???? Also no icing recipe????
Amy says
I just made this and it is AMAZING!!!! It did not fall, and it looks perfect! Great recipe that I will make again.
Pamela says
Hi. I made this cake for Easter. Complete fail! We made the cake exactly as recipe said and it fell in the oven. I have an electric oven. Could that have been the problem?
Susan paquette says
Mine turned out great so far. I am letting it rest for about 30 minutes then invert. I used entire pkg of instant pudding and used 1/8 cup of poppy seeds.
Marsha says
Oooh! Adding poppyseeds sounds delicious!
Carla says
Why do you have so much baking powder and so little flour
Diane says
This recipe is great.
I tried it last night and took it to work. It was a hit.
My cake did not fall
Charlene Gleason says
This recipe is delish!! But I tried making cup cakes and they fell in. Why? I know these will be a hit with my friends. Thanks so much! Charlene
Kendall says
I think it’s important to say it’s NOT lemon meringue pie filling. It’s the milk based pudding like chocolate or butterscotch. I didn’t figure that out until it was too late lol! I’ll let you know how it turns out
Denise Young says
This is my “go to” recipe for a lemon dessert, It turns out perfectly every time. I don’t use the lemon frosting on mine, instead I do a glaze with powdered sugar and lemon juice! YUM
Karlynn Johnston says
Glad you loved it!
Jami says
I bought instant pudding mix…do I need to make the pudding or just add the pudding mix?
Alice79 says
I tried this cake and WASTED 3 sticks of butter ! My cake fell like a busted ball. Flat! It looked good coming out of oven but it fell immediately! 4 teaspoons baking powder is a LOT! Also, 1 cup oil plus 3 sticks of butter is too much oil. I may try another time and cut back on suspect measurements but this is a fail!
Karlynn Johnston says
It’s 1/3 of a cup, not 1, so that would be the problem for sure.
LaDonna says
3/4 cup of butter is only 1 1/2 sticks, not 3. If you used 3 sticks of butter and 1 cup of oil, that’s why your cake was flat.
Tins DiGaetano says
It is 3/4 cup of butter….not 3 out of 4 sticks
of butter!!!!
Mary Ann says
Hi….this looks delicious. The measurement for the oil came out wonky, How much canola oil does this recipe call for?
Karlynn Johnston says
1/3 cup of oil!
Nancy says
I was hesitant to try this recipe due to all the comments about it falling. I am glad I tried it myself! The cake did not fall and turned out beautifully. Great tasting cake. Thank you for the recipe.
pintoll says
I have the same questions. I bought 2 packages of lemon pie filling – one jello instant (no cook-3.4 oz. – 4 1/4 cup dry servings) and one My T Fine brand that requires cooking. (2. 75 oz with 4 servings per container at 1/2 cup dry mix per serving.). Question is: Which do I use and how do I measure? What exactly did you use?
Jennifer Fleming says
After reading reviews of the cake falling, I still gave it a try. I tested for doneness after the recommended time and it passed the test – but I decided to leave it in the oven for just a few more minutes (about 5) and it still fell. It was a slow, compacting fall like perhaps the finished cake was to moist and dense – not just in the center which would indicate it wasn’t cooked thoroughly. Have no clue how it will taste as it is for a cake auction. Probably will not make this again.
Also, I was a bit confused about the “1 cups package of jello lemon pie filling (small packet equals 2 or 4 servings)”. Clarification in the recipe would be helpful. I used one full packet of jello lemon pudding. I added the powdered package directly to the butter/sugar mixture. Was it supposed to be one cup of the filling prepared? Perhaps this is where I went wrong. Regardless, that portion of the recipe is confusing, and I would encourage the author to revise it.
ScottSproat says
this is NOT a lemon pudding cake. that recipe makes its own cake like topping and lemon custard at the bottom. just say your recipe is just a lemon cake.
Brenda Lee Mclaughlin says
could i have the recipe, for this cake instead of buying your book …
April Marriedto Gibson says
Kaiya Nichelle I made this one time for a family dinner, it got ate up.
Kaiya Nichelle says
I’m gonna try it
BobbieJoWelchParret says
This sounds great, I have to try it
AlyshaRichardson says
I’m trying to recreate my boyfriends mothers recipe for orange lemon pound cake. I know she makes it with pudding. So I’m wondering if I could add orange to this.
Candace Calkins says
Gonna make this this weekend.
Michelle says
Why is there pudding in the cake?
montycat says
I am having trouble with the order of combining all ingredients. I have a medium bowl with flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Then I have another bowl with butter, sugar, lemon pie filling and then 4 eggs added. I have one another bowl with wet ingredients of milk, oil, vanilla extract. And from here, how am I supposed to combine all? When should I combine the ingredients in the medium bowl (flour etc) and the one with butter, sugar and eggs? I have three separate bowls and I don’t know which one is wet and which one is dry. The one with the eggs kinda wet and sticky…
LindaTeresky says
Our cake too fell….twice :(
My husband is a great baker and knows the basics so I’m really not sure what happened.
ddkk1 says
Just made it, followed your directions to the letter. Come out great and absolutely delicious. Very easy too!
foolofasuf says
Made this last night and loved it. Made a few modifications of my own though and it turned out great nonetheless.
My 2 bits – Next time I’ll probably do it without the oil (or maybe just a tbsp or 2) – turned out to be really oily this time around. Will also try it out the next time with the frosting 🙂
Mary says
I made this cake last night. I love lemon also and this was really good. I made the frosting also but will be serving it on the side as I found it to be cloyingly sweet (and I normally love sweet, it was just too much). Thank you for sharing this recipe, I will be making it again soon!