Surprise Mom this Mother’s Day with a Lemon, Thyme, and Olive Oil Bundt with Raspberry Glaze. We love a bundt as an “anytime cake.” It’s lovely with coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, or to grab a slice as you walk by. At Hipcooks, we don’t make our cakes too sweet, and love to use olive oil as the healthy fat. With freshness from lemon, thyme and raspberries, this bundt’s a winner!
Do you have bundt fear?
Let Hipcooks guide you step by step for the perfect cake — all the bundt pan’s beautiful details present, crispy edges, moist interior, and the perfect glaze. Hipcooks Portland’s Tina shows us her tricks — her secrets have been outed! Thank you, Tina.
For stress-free unmolding from the baking pan, Tina recommends first greasing the pan with no-holds-barred. She uses shortening (Crisco) — since it’s solid at room temperature, she can brush it on with a pastry brush. If you want an easy cake removal, take your sweet time at this stage. Some pans have exquisite detail, so make sure you work the shortening into all the nooks and crannies of the pan.
Once the pan is thoroughly greased, use a full quarter cup of flour to dust the pan. Using a fine-mesh strainer, sift the flour into the greased baking pan to thoroughly coat it with flour. Move to the sink, turn the pan upside down, and give a few tappedy-taps to remove any excess flour.
You’re all set to fill and bake the bundt. If you’re still stressed about unmolding, have a few sips of a nice Bellini to ease you through.
The perfect glaze for your Lemon, Thyme, and Olive Oil Bundt
Glazing a bundt cake not only can gives a nice pop of flavor, but it also can hide a multitude of sins. If the cake does not unmold perfectly, or if you have any unevenness of the bake (or air bubbles, the icing will distract the eye.
We use freeze-dried raspberries and a pinch of milk to a standard lemon icing for lovely pink color and a pop of sunny flavor. You can “fix” your bundt cake with thyme sprigs in the center. We add lemon curls and raspberries all around. Beautiful!
Do you have mini chefs wanting to spend time in the kitchen? Try this Mother’s Day bundt cake in mini-size here.
Say “Thank You!” this mother’s day with a gift as inspiring as she is. Gift a class or spend a day cooking together.
Share your Hip cake on Insta, #hipcooks. We’d love to see!

Ingredients
For the Cake:
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed from the stem
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
zest of 2 lemons
3 eggs at room temperature (put them in hot water for a quick warm-up)
1½ cups sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup milk (you can use almond milk for a dairy-free version or buttermilk for a tangy one)
½ cup lemon juice
For the Glaze:
¼ cup freeze-dried raspberries
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon milk (this is for color, so you can use nut milk instead, or double up on lemon juice)
If you have the chance to, combine the flour with the thyme the night before, to perfume the flour: lightly crush the thyme leaves in your fingers and mix with the flour.
You'll also need a bundt pan, greased with plenty of shortening (optimal) or butter and dusted with flour. If your bundt pan has lots of detail/crevices, use a pastry brush to really get the pan well-covered.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Sift the flour and mix with the baking powder and salt.
In a stand mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla on high speed until the mixture triples in size, about 10 minutes. Lower to medium speed and slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
Add the dry and wet ingredients in 3 portions: put the mixer on low speed and add in a third of the dry ingredients, a third of the milk and a third of the lemon juice. Repeat until all ingredients are in the mixing bowl and the batter is smooth.
Bake the cake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (Depending on your oven, you may need to rotate the cake pan halfway through baking for a nice, even color.)
Let the cake rest on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, until the sides of the cake start to come away from the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely. When cool, place the cooling rack on top of the cake and flip. It should come out smoothly, with no coaxing.
Make the glaze by mixing the ingredients together until you have a smooth consistency. Drizzle on top of the cake.
Notes
We also make a version of this cake as orange and cardamom. Instead of the thyme, use one teaspoon of freshly toasted and ground cardamom in the flour. Substitute orange zest for lemon zest, orange juice for lemon juice.
2 comments
Gorgeous Teacher & Gorgeous Cake! More cake, please!
I dunno, Loreal…more cake? That will be a tough one. JK! JK! Thanks for the comment, and I’ll whip up more cake soon. My Mother’s Apple Cake (in this blog also) should stave you off until I can dream more CAKE!