Key Ingredients:
Yellow Cake Mix
Base for Ease and Consistency: A boxed yellow cake mix delivers a dependable, tender base that’s simple to augment with extra flavor.
Flavor Boosts: The lemon pudding mix and zest will give the cake a homemade flavor and a burst of citrus.
Variation: To add a little extra lemony kick, use a lemon-flavored cake mix.
Instant Lemon Pudding Mix
Keeps the Cake Moist: Adding pudding mix to the batter ensures that you get a tender, moist crumb.
Brightens the Lemon Flavor Even More: And on top of all that, it brightens the cake’s lemon flavor and makes it taste bright and fresh.
Tip: Use instant pudding mix, not cook-and-serve, because instant mixes more easily with the other ingredients.
Zest of a Lemon and Fresh Juice of a Lemon
Brightens Up: The lemon zest in the batter and lemon juice in the glaze give it a bright, tart flavor that only fresh lemon can provide.
Zesting Tip: Try to avoid the white pith that lies under the colored skin; it can be bitter. Grate the yellow zest, using a fine grater, or microplane, to get just that bright yellow zest.
Heavy Cream for the Glaze
Makes for a Silken Texture: Heavy cream gives the glaze some richness, and a dose of it helps set it with a smooth finish.
Substitutions: If you’d like, you can use milk instead, but a heavy cream will give a thicker, richer glaze.
Powdered Sugar for the Glaze
Perfectly Sweet: It dissolves easily, which gives you a smooth, pourable glaze.
Adjustment Variability: For a thinner glaze, drizzle in a little additional lemon juice; for a thicker glaze, sprinkle in extra powdered sugar.
