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Keep It Fresh! Store this cake, covered with plastic wrap or placed under a glass cake dome, at room temperature for up to one week. Freeze the cake, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to six months. Let the cake thaw overnight on the counter before serving.

Note: The amount of juice you get from a lemon varies, depending on its size, its juiciness, and its temperature. Warm lemons give more juice, so that’s why people will pop a cold lemon from the fridge in the microwave for 5 to 7 seconds. You can also warm up a lemon by rolling it between the palm of your hand and the kitchen counter, just to encourage a bit more juice from it. You will get at least 2 tablespoons of juice from a nice large lemon, so what you don’t need for the glaze pour into the cake batter or your cup of tea.

How to Bake This Cake in the Clouds

Baking cakes with added sugar or sweetened gelatin is risky at high altitudes because the sugar makes the cake more tender, thus weakening its structure. On the other hand, Bundt pans are quite useful at high heights because they support a cake well. If you are intent on baking this cake in Denver or Albuquerque, add a quarter cup of all-purpose flour and a couple of tablespoons of water to the batter to increase the structure. And as the recipe indicates, not adding the entire package of gelatin is better than adding the whole thing.

This Cake Is Just the Beginning

Nancy Copeland of Manassas, Virginia, is a reader of my newsletter who has all sorts of ideas to transform Susan’s Lemon Cake into other delicacies.

• Use a lemon cake mix instead of plain yellow or vanilla.

• Use lime gelatin and key lime juice instead of lemon juice. Use grated lime zest instead of the lemon zest.

• Substitute orange cake mix, orange gelatin, and orange juice and zest.

And Nancy concocts what she calls “boiled syrup”—1 cup of granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of whatever juice you are using in the cake, and 2/3 cup of water. Simmer this until the sugar has dissolved. When the cake is done and cooling in the pan, Nancy pours the warm syrup over the top of the cake. She lets the cake set for 20 minutes, then turns it out onto a serving plate.

MARSHA’S LIVELY LEMON CAKE

serves:

12 to 16

prep:

15 minutes

bake:

43 to 47 minutes

cool:

35 to 45 minutes

MARSHA GILLETT OF YUKON, OKLAHOMA, developed this recipe for one of my online recipe contests. She likes to add fruit juices like orange juice to her cake recipes, and she considers herself a “cake aficionado” because she loves cake, bakes cake, and eats cake. Although Marsha serves this cake unadorned, I dusted it with confectioners’ sugar before slicing. You’ll love the ease of this recipe.

Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pan

Flour, for dusting the pan

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain lemon cake mix

1 package (3.4 ounces) lemon instant pudding mix

¾ cup orange juice (or a combination of orange juice and a tropical juice blend)

¾ cup (6 ounces) lemon yogurt

½ cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)

1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust it with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, orange juice, yogurt, oil, eggs, and lemon zest, if using, in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the batter until it is smooth, 2 minutes longer, scraping down the side of the bowl again if needed. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula, and place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it is golden brown and the top springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, 43 to 47 minutes. Transfer the Bundt