Throughout our childhood, my brother and I celebrated nearly every one of our birthdays with a pool party since we were both born during the summer. Back then, we belonged to a small pool club in a quiet neighborhood, which was the perfect place for a children’s birthday party.
We kept those parties small, only inviting a handful of our closest friends, but we still loved every minute of the celebrations. For hours, we practiced cannonball jumps in the deep end and underwater somersaults in the shallow side, and we usually pulled out a set of neon plastic diving rings to play with, too.
Eventually, Mom called us all out of the water, and we eagerly obliged… Because that meant it was time for cake!
Two weeks earlier, Mom had taken us to the grocery store, and she let us slowly pore through the bakery’s big binder of birthday cake options. A beautiful color photograph of each confection filled every page, but after an eternity of flipping through the binder, I often picked out a chocolate cake with a Disney theme, while my brother generally chose a vanilla cake with race cars instead.
At our parties, Mom carefully opened the big bakery box to reveal the gorgeous cake we had ordered, which came with “Happy birthday!” scripted across in icing letters. After blowing out the candles, I always wanted the piece with my name on it… Or at least the slice with the most frosting!
Although I still love chocolate cake, my brother eventually gravitated towards lemon instead of vanilla, so I had him in mind when I baked this healthy lemon bundt cake! It’s really moist and full of bright citrus flavor, just the way my brother likes his lemon cakes, but unlike the multi-layered bakery birthday cakes of our childhood… This one is really easy to make. No need for frosting, decorating, or any assembly!
I can’t wait to bake it again for his birthday in August! ♡
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE A HEALTHY LEMON BUNDT CAKE
Let’s go over the key ingredients that you need to make this healthy lemon bundt cake — entirely from scratch! You’ll also need a few baking staples (like vanilla, salt, and milk!), but I have a sneaky suspicion that you’re familiar with those and already have them on hand… So we’ll focus on the more interesting ingredients instead!
Flour. You’ll start with white whole wheat flour. Yes, such a thing actually exists… And it’s not just a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and whole wheat flour!
Instead, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour the same health benefits (like extra fiber!) as regular whole wheat flour, but it also has a lighter taste and texture — which lets the moist texture and lemon flavor truly shine in this healthy bundt cake!
Hint: The difference between white whole wheat flour and regular whole wheat flour is similar to the difference between red and green grapes. They both have the same nutrition benefits — just a different color and slightly different flavor!
Tip: If you’d like to make your healthy lemon bundt cake gluten-free, then see the Notes section of the recipe. I’ve shared how to do so there!
Lemon zest. You’ll mix lots of freshly grated lemon zest into the flour. (The lemon juice comes later!) The zest actually has a much stronger citrus taste than the juice, so it provides the majority of the lemon flavor. I’ve tested this healthy lemon bundt cake multiple times, and you need 4 full tablespoons of zest to get the best and brightest flavor. Don’t skimp!
Tip: Use pure yellow lemons without any green spots. They yield the best lemon taste!
Leavening agents. You also need both baking powder and baking soda for this healthy lemon bundt cake. Although some recipes just use baking powder, the baking soda helps this cake rise just as much — if not more! That’s because the baking soda is a strong base, so it reacts with the lemon juice (an acid!) to create air bubbles (carbon dioxide, to be exact!) that make your lemon cake rise… And that reaction also helps yield a more tender texture.
As an ex-chemist, I love nerdy baking science like this! 😉
Greek yogurt. With just 1 tablespoon of butter (or coconut oil!), as compared to traditional bundt cake recipes with ½ to 1 full cup… This low-calorie lemon bundt cake gets the rest of its tender texture from one of my favorite healthy baking ingredients: Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt adds the same moisture to your lemon cake batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories. It also gives your cake a big protein boost!
Egg whites. The whites contain the majority of eggs’ protein, and that comes in handy with cake recipes. The protein provides structure and helps your cake stay nice and tall while cooling, instead of collapsing or sinking!
Sweetener. Instead of refined granulated sugar, you’ll sweeten your healthy lemon cake with another one of my favorite ingredients: liquid stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean-eating friendly!). It’s also highly concentrated. You just need 5 ½ teaspoons to sweeten the entire cake… Instead of 2 ¼ cups of granulated sugar! (That also helps keep this lemon cake low calorie!)
This is the liquid stevia that I use because I love its flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertaste like with some other stevia products. Although you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, I buy mine online here because that’s the best price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Tip: Many stevia brands and products have different sweetness levels, so they’re not necessarily 1-for-1 substitutes for each other. For the best flavor and results, I highly recommend using the same one that I do!
Lemon juice. Now it’s time for the lemon juice — and another nerdy baking science lesson! Ready?
I specifically designed this recipe for Meyer lemons.
Meyer lemons are a special variety of lemons. They’re a hybrid of citron, mandarin, and pomelo. This blend gives them a fuller and sweeter flavor, and it also raises their pH level compared to regular lemons — meaning they’re less acidic. (Remember from basic chemistry? Higher pH = more basic and less acidic!)
That acidity, or pH level, plays a huge role in the texture of your cake.
If you use Meyer lemon juice, your cake turns out perfectly moist and tender inside. It rises nicely in the oven, maintains its height and structure while cooling, and looks like a normal lemon cake when you slice into it.
If you use regular lemon juice, that adds WAY too much acid. It substantially lowers the pH level of the batter and results in a cake that barely rises, looks raw inside (even though it’s fully baked all the way through — I promise!), and turns out with an incredibly dense and almost brick-like structure.
So if you can find Meyer lemons, please use them! However, if you can only find regular lemons, that’s okay too. I know many grocery stores don’t stock Meyer lemons, so it’s not always the easiest thing to locate them.
If you can only find regular lemons, you’ll use less lemon juice — just enough to add the same amount of acid and create the correct pH level in the cake batter! — and substitute milk for the rest. This yields a cake with the exact same moist and tender texture, and because the zest provides the majority of the citrus flavor, your bundt cake will still taste bright, sunshiny, and perfectly lemony… Just like if you had used Meyer lemons!
Whew! You made it through! That wasn’t too hard, was it? The rest of this is as easy as pie — or, well, cake!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY LEMON BUNDT CAKE
Time to pull out your mixing bowls and start making the batter! Here are my tips about how to make the best lemon bundt cake…
Measure correctly. Yes, I probably sound like a broken record — but it’s incredibly important to measure the ingredients correctly! This is especially true for the flour, lemon zest, and lemon juice in this particular recipe.
For the flour, use this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own!) Do not dip your measuring cups directly into the flour container. This often results in adding up to 1 ½ times as much flour… Which dries out the batter, makes it more like stiff cookie dough, and can result in a crumbly cake. Take the time to measure properly, and you’ll end up with a beautifully moist and tender cake!
For the lemon zest and juice, measure by tablespoons or grams for the zest and tablespoons or mL for the juice. Do not measure by number of lemons! That will throw off the flavor of your cake, resulting in something that’s either bland (aka not enough zest) or sour (too much!). It can also ruin the texture by either adding too much acid from the lemon juice… Or not enough. (See the “Lemon juice” header in the “Key Ingredients to Make a Healthy Lemon Bundt Cake” section above for a detailed explanation of this last bit!)
Alternating additions. This is a popular technique for making cake batter. In a nutshell (or would that be a lemon wedge?), you’ll alternate between folding in part of the flour mixture, then switching to a splash of milk, and going back and forth between the two until you run out of each. This approach helps guard against overmixing (which makes a cake tough, gummy, or rubbery!). Just remember to gently stir in each one by hand, and you’ll end up with a perfectly moist and tender cake!
Prepare the bundt pan. Before you spread your healthy lemon cake batter into your bundt pan, remember to generously coat your bundt cake pan with cooking spray. If you have cooking spray with flour, that’s even better! Bundt cake pans have lots more nooks and crannies than traditional round cake pans, so it’s much easier for the batter to get stuck… Which means your cake won’t want to slide out of the pan when you invert it. As long as you’re generous with the cooking spray, your healthy lemon bundt cake should pop right out of the pan!
Bake. Pop your batter-filled bundt pan in the oven, and set a timer! The cake will be done when the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with some crumbs attached.
Cool completely. Yes, completely. Not mostly, not partially, and definitely not just a bit. Your cake must fully reach room temperature before you do anything else with it! The inside structure doesn’t finish setting until the cake is completely cool, so you’ll disrupt that process if you try to slice and serve it while it’s still warm. Also…
Glaze (optional!). One last thing! Once your healthy lemon cake has fully cooled, you can drizzle a little glaze on top. Following the theme from above, it must completely reach room temperature before you do this. If your cake is warm, it’ll melt the glaze… So the glaze would dissolve right into the cake!
This optional glaze is super simple to make! Just stir together confectioners’ style erythritol and a bit of lemon juice in a small bowl, transfer that to a zip-topped bag, and snip off a tiny piece of one corner to drizzle it all over your bundt cake.
Lemon bundt cake perfection! It’s truly the best lemon cake I’ve ever had! ♡ And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy lemon bundt cake!
Healthy Lemon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 3 ¾ cups (450g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp (20g) lemon zest (about 3 extra-large — see Notes!)
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 ½ tsp liquid stevia (see Notes!)
- ¾ cup (180g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¾ cup (210mL) freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (about 3 extra-large — see Notes before beginning!)
- 1 ¼ cups (300mL) nonfat milk, divided
FOR THE DRIZZLE (OPTIONAL)
- 3 tbsp (45g) confectioners’ style erythritol
- 2 ½ - 2 ¾ tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and generously coat a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray or nonstick cooking spray with flour.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Once thoroughly combined, whisk in the lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter or coconut oil, egg whites, vanilla extract, and stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in the lemon juice and ¼ cup of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.)
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake has completely cooled to room temperature and just before serving, prepare the drizzle. Stir together the erythritol and lemon juice in a small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a zip-topped plastic bag, cut off a tiny piece of one corner, and drizzle over the cooled cake.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Orange Bundt Cake
♡ Healthy Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Strawberry Lemon Cake
♡ Healthy Raspberry Lemon Cake
♡ Healthy Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy bundt cake recipes and healthy cake recipes!
Hi Amy have you ever tried halving a recipe using the same size bundt pan a recipe uses?
I would love to use my bundt pan (10 inch) but the usual bundt recipes are way to big and it’ll take way too long to eat (even if I freeze it). Would it fall apart if I halve this recipe but bake it in a 10 inch bundt pan or would it just basically be lower in height?
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Patricia! I’ve tried halving the recipe, but I’ve always used a 6-cup bundt pan like I mentioned in the Notes section of the recipe (instead of the traditional 12-cup bundt pan). I haven’t tried halving the recipe to make in the same pan. You’re welcome to try! My guess would be that it’d just be half as tall, and it may take less time to bake as a result. Again, because I haven’t personally tried, I’m not quite sure how much less time, but your bundt cake will be done when the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.
The other option would be to make cupcakes, if you’re worried about the results of halving the recipe but using a full-sized pan! I can guarantee those would turn out just fine. 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think of this lemon cake recipe if you decide to try making it!
Hi Amy.
That was a GENIUS idea!! I have a 6 cup Bundt Cake pan. Unfortunately, none of the stores around me have Meyer lemons. 😓😥
I’m so glad that water trick worked, Amy! 🙂 Are you a fan of orange-flavored baked treats, by any chance? If you can’t find Meyer lemons, then you could substitute freshly squeeze orange juice and orange zest for the lemon components in this recipe! Navel oranges and regular common oranges will work (and they’re the ones I typically use in my baking!). Since they’re not as acidic as lemons, they don’t negatively affect the texture the same way that regular lemons do when using liquid stevia. So if you substitute oranges, the texture of this cake will be perfectly moist and tender, exactly the same as if you had used Meyer lemons!
Hi Amy. I would like to make this but have a few clarifying questions.
For the gluten free flour, is it the same measurement of the white whole wheat (I’ll be using the Red Mill’s 1 to 1 that you recommended). Also, I don’t want to waste the egg yolks. Is there a way to add the whole egg?
If I can’t find the Meyer lemons, is there a way to use regular lemons and add more sweetener? If so, how much?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Amy. I forgot to ask you about the stevia. In some of the comments, you mentioned vanilla cremè stevia but the link takes us to Better Stevia-Original flavor. Which one should we be using to get the best results?
I’m honored that you’d like to try making my recipe, Amy! I definitely prefer the Better Stevia (original flavor). While it and the vanilla creme stevia are completely interchangeable in all of my recipes that call for either one (they have the same exact sweetness levels!), it costs a lot less and has a slightly better flavor.
If you’re using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour, then yes! It’s the same volume measurement (3 ¾ cups) as the white whole wheat. However, because it has a different weight per cup according to the package label, you’ll may need closer to 550g, if you’re using a kitchen scale to measure. Just to be safe, I’d recommend starting with the 450g and increasing if needed. (The batter should be very thick, sort of like really wet and liquidy cookie dough! Does that description make sense?)
If you’d like to use whole eggs, then use 4 large eggs and decrease the milk by 2 tablespoons to compensate for the added volume.
This recipe was designed for Meyer lemons, which is why I highly suggest using them! I’m still trying to figure out the baking chemistry of why… But something about the lower pH of standard, regular lemon juice reacts differently with the liquid stevia and causes this cake to have a more dense, gummy, almost raw-looking texture inside and collapse a bit while cooling. The cake’s flavor will be the same when made with either Meyer lemons or regular lemons (you shouldn’t need to add any additional sweetener!); it’s just the texture that’s different. And I promise the insides aren’t raw! It just looks that way.
I think I answered all of your questions, but let me know if I missed anything! 🙂 I’m really excited to hear what you think of this lemon bundt cake!
Thanks Amy! Yes, you answers all the questions. I’ll definitely look for the Meyer’s lemons. We live in a small town so I’m hoping to find them. I can’t wait to try it out.
Hi Amy: I have a few more questions: how do I know if my Bundt Cake pan is a 6 or 12? I have a blue silicone bundt cake pan. Also, would you get the same results using lemon essential oils rather than the lemon extract?
It’s my pleasure, Amy! I haven’t used essential oils in my baking before, so I’m not sure. To determine the capacity of your bundt pan, just use water! Fill a 1-cup measuring cup to the brim with water. Pour that into your bundt pan. Keep going (and keep counting the number of cups of water that you add!) until your bundt pan is completely filled. That will tell you whether it’s a 6-cup or 12-cup capacity bundt pan! 🙂
I’m so excited to hear how your cake turns out!
Hi, Amy. I’d like to make this cake but I’m stuck at the liquid stevia. It’s impossible to find here and yet I don’t want to use that much sugar. Will it work if I use honey or maple syrup instead of stevia? I never tasted stevia before so I don’t really know how sweet it is. Thanks in advance.
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Brenda! I’ve actually covered your question in the Notes section of the recipe. I know it can be easy to miss! 🙂 In the Notes section, I also share the link to where I buy my liquid stevia online. It’s cheaper there, and you don’t need to try to hunt it down in stores! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of this bundt cake if you try making it!
Good Morning, Amy!!!!
I went to the store yesterday and they had MEYER LEMONS!!!!!!! I’m SO EXCITED because now I can finally make this cake. I’m not sure how long they will have the lemons so I want to get on this right away. I do have a question. I am not doing dairy, so I won’t be able to use the Greek Yogurt and I’m not fond of the non dairy yogurt. I do however, have non dairy cream cheese. Would I be able to use that in the recipe?
What are your thoughts?
HOORAY!!! I’m so excited that you found Meyer lemons, Amy! Hopefully the four month wait was worth it! 😉 I’ve never tried substituting non-dairy cream cheese for Greek yogurt, so I’m honestly not sure. Is it mainly that you don’t like the taste of non-dairy yogurt? I’ve never been able to taste the Greek yogurt in this cake, so I’m guessing you wouldn’t be able to detect the flavor of the non-dairy yogurt, if that’s the case!
Thanks! I’m excited as well. Right, the non dairy yogurts have an aftertaste and upset my stomach. 🥺
I see! That’s so tough, if you can’t have any type of yogurt. 🙁 Like I mentioned before, I don’t have any experience with substituting non-dairy cream cheese for Greek yogurt, so I really don’t want to give you bad advice. If you do decide to try making this cake, I’d love to hear what you think of it, Amy!
Hi! Question, could I add blueberries to this? If yes, how much?
Thanks!
Yes! I’d recommend 1 ½ to 2 cups of fresh blueberries. I might also reduce the milk by ¼ cup, just to make the batter a bit thicker, so the blueberries don’t all fall to the bottom of the bundt pan. If you do that, then I’d recommend starting to check on it about 10 minutes sooner. It may need the full amount of time to finish baking (sometimes blueberries release juice into the batter while baking, which will add to the baking time!), but I don’t want you to burn your bundt cake! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of this cake if you try making it, Lisi!
Good Morning, Amy.
I tried the recipe twice and it turned out spongy. 🥺
I don’t know why. I followed the directions and used the ingredients you suggested.
Hello! Can’t wait to try this recipe! I, however, have a 10 cup bunt pan. Do you think this will be too much batter for it? I am also contemplating halving the recipe like you suggested, but then it will be very flat. I welcome your expert suggestion!
The batter doesn’t completely fill my bundt pan, even when the cake is fully baked, so I think your 10-cup bundt pan should be okay. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of this cake if you try making it, Michelle!
Hi Amy,
Is it possible to use oat, almond or coconut flour instead of the wheat flour?
Thank you,
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Maria! I actually don’t recommend substituting any of those in my cake recipes, including this bundt cake. This is because gluten is the protein in wheat-based flours that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling. Oat flour, almond flour, and coconut flour all lack that, so when you substitute them for wheat-based flours in my recipes that rise (like cupcakes, cakes, muffins, quick breads, etc!), your baked goods will often turn out denser and typically collapse while cooling. Does that make sense?
However, if you don’t mind that texture difference with oat flour or almond flour (where your cake will likely collapse and turn out denser), the flavors will still remain the same! Just don’t use coconut flour. It’ll make your cake incredibly dry and crumbly. If your main goal is to make this cake gluten-free, then I recommend using the option that I provided in the Notes section instead — it’ll result in the same texture as wheat-based flour! 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try making this bundt cake!
When you say “any milk”, does that include almond milk?
Yes, almond milk will work! I’ve used it many times to make this recipe. 🙂
I’m so sorry I’m just now responding. I had some family things I needed to take care of, but I’d love to hear what you think of this bundt cake if you try making it Diane!
Hi Amy! What do you think about adding cranberries to this recipe? I read the advice you gave when adding blueberries. 🙂 Thank you!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Magda! Were you interested in using fresh cranberries, frozen, or dried?