Just six ingredients are all you need to bake the most flavorful and delicious Lemon Surprise Cake! If you happen to love Lemon Pound Cake as much as I do, try my from-scratch version! (Better yet, try this Cream Cheese Pound Cake. It’s award-winning!)

Lemon Bundt Cake on Cake Stand with Icing Drizzling

Lemon Surprise Cake

Why did I call this a lemon “surprise” cake? Because it has lemon-lime soda as an ingredient! I was a bit shocked that one little can of soda can make such a wonderful difference in a cake, but it did. I can’t wait to try this with other flavors!

Traditionally speaking, this is a lemon pound cake and has been around for many generations. Our grandmothers were masters of finding ways to save money and use what they had to create beautiful and delicious desserts.

Lemon Bundt Cake Slice on Plate with Fork

What is a Lemon Surprise Cake? 

This is actually considered a pound cake. The definition of pound cake is this: a rich cake containing a pound, or equal weights, of each chief ingredient, typically flour, butter, and sugar.  One of the original lemon pound cake recipes was: (OH MY GOSH A DOZEN EGGS?!?!) 

  • 1 pound sugar
  • 1 pound butter
  • 1 pound flour
  • 1 dozen eggs
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest

With changes in the sourcing of flours, accessibility of ingredients, quality of butter, and the addition of extracts in baking, some modifications have been made to that original recipe.

So if you want to get technical, this lemon pound cake recipe does not have equal parts of flour, butter, and sugar. However, it still maintains the rich flavor and beautiful, dense crumb that is commonly associated with a pound cake.

Close up of a Slice of Lemon Bundt Cake

Easy 7-Up Cake

As you can tell, this cake recipe is much easier! A few simple ingredients!

There are only 6 ingredients in this easy lemon pound cake, no baking soda or baking powder is needed! The rise comes from the carbonation in the soda added.
You can use any lemon-lime flavored soda.
Super easy, super delicious!
4.67 from 6 votes

Lemon Surprise Cake

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Just six ingredients are all you need to bake the most flavorful and delicious Lemon Surprise Cake!
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Ingredients

Lemon Cake

  • 1 1/2 cup (339g or 3 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
  • 3 cups (600g) granulated sugar
  • 5 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3 cups (384g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp. McCormick Lemon Extract
  • 3/4 cup lemon-lime soda, like 7-up or Sprite

Lemon Glaze

  • 3 cups (375g) confectioners sugar
  • 4 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon McCormick Lemon Extract
  • 0-4 tablespoons milk (optional)

Instructions

Lemon Cake

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour (or spray with non-stick spray) a bundt pan.
  • Cream sugar and butter in the bowl of stand mixer on medium speed until fluffy and light.
  • With the mixer on low, add eggs one at a time and mix well.
  • Add in lemon extract and soda and then slowly add in flour and mix until fully incorporated.
  • Bake at 350°F for one hour and fifteen minutes or until inserted toothpick is removed with very few crumbs.

Lemon Glaze

  • Place butter in bowl and mix (with hand-held mixer or stand mixer) until light. Add in confectioners sugar and extract. Mix until fully combined. (If frosting is too thick it can be thinned with a little milk.)

Video

Course: Dessert
Keyword: Lemon Surprise Cake
Servings: 6 SERVINGS
Author: Amanda Rettke

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Let me know if you try this super easy and delicious cake! Photography by Ashlee Marie.

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  2. On the video it show a lemon zest… there is no lemon zest shown in the video. Is it supposed to be added or is that optional?

    Reply

  4. I love looking at what you do, I stay home dad I am retried and some of your cooking recipes are hard for me but I try they do not look like your but I try.

    Reply

  5. The place the recipe will not print just the recipe, it prints all of the other stuff. Can not separate recipe from other advertising 23 pages.

    Reply

  6. Why is the video directions different than the printed? Differences in cooking times for cake, no reference to the lemon zest in the printed version, and the frosting video calls for melted butter creamed into the confectionary sugar, while printed version calls for room tempt. This last mishap results in having to use more milk to think it down.

    Reply

  7. Hi Amanda. Could I put a layer of cake mixed in the bottom then small layer of lemon curd …and the rest of the cake mix . Would this work do you think ?

    Reply

  9. Please repost your recipe for blueberry lemon cake. I saw the video but need exact measurements and I cAn’t find it 😇Thank You!

    Reply

  10. What about the zest. How much? When is it added? “Always follow the recipe as written.” ??? No zest written in the recipe . . . ???

    Reply

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