Secrets to the Best Nothing Bundt Cakes Lemon Copycat Recipe (2024)

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If there’s one dessert I can’t pass on at a party, it’s one from Nothing Bundt Cakes. These beloved bundt cakes are oh-so tender. And moist. And if that weren’t enough, those signature stripes of sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting catapult this delicious dessert way over the top to the irresistible outer limits.

Buying a cake from the NBC store can be a bit pricey—full size cakes start at $30-40. The cost, plus my curiosity about what makes these cakes so good made me want to see if I could come close to replicating the iconic Nothing Bundt Cake at home.

The result?

I usually cringe at the word, but all I can say is this cake is MOIST, y’all. And tender. And bonus—this homemade cake costs so much less.

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Nothing Bundt Cakes Secret Recipe Tips.

I love lemon desserts, so I chose the lemon cake for my test. Then to attempt to make my copycat cake as authentic as possible, I tried some tips I discovered on the internet from former employees of NBC.

Here’s what they shared that I took into account for this copycat recipe:

• The cakes in the store are partially made from scratch but many use premade mixes they are sent as a base. So I decided using a box cake mix and pudding mix like so many other copycat recipes was the way to go for time and more lemon flavor.
• Nothing Bundt Cakes uses sour cream in the batter for extra flavor and moistness.
• For even more moist cakes, the stores only let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the pan before promptly wrapping them and popping them in the freezer.
• I read (and was shocked) that the frosting is not a top secret recipe, but a simple classic cream cheese frosting made with cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar.

Lemon Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Ingredients.

Make sure to print the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

For the cake:

• Box of lemon cake mix
• 3.4 oz instant pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water

For the cream cheese icing:

• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment:

• 10-cup Bundt cake pan
• Piping bag and a large round piping tip (1A)
• Stand mixer or electric mixer

How to Make This Easy Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe.

Nothing Bundt Cake Lemon Cake Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray the inside of the pan well with baking spray. I like to use baking spray with flour to ensure the cakes don’t stick to the crevices in the bundt pan.

3. Add all the cake ingredients (cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil, lemon juice, and water) to a mixing bowl and beat with a stand mixer or electric mixer until combined.

4. Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt cake pan.

5. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then flip it out onto a plate.

7. While it’s still warm, wrap the cake airtight and place it in the freezer overnight. (This is one of those secret tips for moistness someone posted that says they used to work there.)

(I wrapped mine well with Press and Seal, but I’m sure you could also use plastic wrap.)

8. The next day, remove the bundt cake from the freezer and let it thaw for at least an hour before frosting.*

How to Make Nothing Bundt Cakes Icing:

1. Set out the butter and cream cheese for at least a couple of hours before you plan to make the frosting. (*You may want to set it out when you take the cake out of the freezer.)

2. Add the softened butter and vanilla to the mixer bowl and combine with a stand mixer or electric mixer.

3. Add the room-temperature cream cheese and continue mixing until combined.

4. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. (Pulse on low until the powdered sugar is somewhat incorporated or you’ll have it flying everywhere).

SH&H Tip: Make sure the butter and cream cheese are completely softened at room temperature before mixing.

How to Frost a Cake Like Nothing Bundt Cakes.

You can’t have a Nothing Bundt Cake knockoff without the signature thick frosting lines!

1. Cut off the pointed end of a piping bag just enough for the piping tip end to fit through.

2. Push a large round piping tip down inside the bag into the hole so that just the end sticks out. I used a 1A piping tip.

3. Fill the bag with the frosting, squeeze it to the bottom, and twist the top closed.

4. To ice the cake, start at the bottom on the outside. Squeeze a line of icing up and over the top of the bundt cake, and let it break into the hole in the middle. Don’t press the piping tip up against the cake when making the icing stripes to keep them nice and round.

Repeat all the way around the cake. The width between stripes is totally up to you and how much icing you want. Just keep in mind the goal is to have a line of frosting down the side of each slice.

5. Spread the remaining icing inside the hole with a knife or offset spatula until smooth. I love this detail that the Nothing Bundt Cakes store does to ensure every slice has a bit of extra frosting!

Bundt Cake Decoration Ideas.

Nothing Bundt Cakes are not only all the rage for parties for the delicious cake, they offer fun and festive dress-up options for just about every special occasion! These add-ons typically cost around $10 for them to do, but it’s so easy and much cheaper to do it yourself.

I popped this sunflower off of a $3 artificial floral bush from Walmart:

How do you make a bundt cake look pretty like Nothing Bundt Cakes?

Here’s a list of the items Nothing Bundt Cakes embellishes the top of their cakes with:

• Faux Flowers
• Paper Flowers
• Party Hats
• Cupcake Picks and Cake Picks

Shop the party aisle at craft stores, the dollar store, Walmart, or Target and you can find just about any of these for any celebration!

SH&H Tip: Place the frosted cake in the refrigerator to let the icing harden before adding embellishments to the top of the cake.

Do Nothing Bundt Cake Copycats Need to Be Refrigerated?

The company states that they can safely stay out for up to 48 hours, but because of the butter and cream cheese in the frosting, they should be refrigerated after that because these ingredients spoil faster. The cakes will keep in the fridge for up to five days.

SH&H Tip: The cakes are best at room temperature, so set your cake out a couple of hours before serving.

This lemon bundt cake turned out so moist and tender, I can’t wait to test out some of my other favorite flavors to see if I can get close to the real deal. And I want to experiment with the smaller sizes—Bundtinis are the best for a party!

What’s your favorite flavor so I’ll know which of their delicious bundt cakes to try next? Red velvet? White chocolate raspberry bundt cake? Let us know in the comments!

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