Individual Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes
A whole cake is great, but smaller, individual cakes are so much more fun! I wanted to create a tender and soft texture cake, so I used the same recipe that I used for the Mini Orange Bundt Cakes, and for the flavor, I used my husbands favorite combination – Lemon Poppy Seed.With a tangy and sweet glaze to top it off, what a beautiful gift to give someone for Christmas, New Years’ or any time of year. I included these little cakes in the collection of sweets that I gave as Christmas gifts to family and co-workers this year. You can even make them as muffins, a whole bundt cake or small mini bundt cakes. 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
3 lemons, zest grated and saved, plus 5 tablespoons juice (see note above)
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 egg yolk, at room temperature
28 tablespoons butter (3 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar (14 ounces)
Glaze
2 – 3 Tablespoons lemon juice (see note above)
1 Tablespoon buttermilk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar (8 ounces)
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
In another bowl or in a liquid measuring cup, combine the lemon zest and juice, vanilla and buttermilk. 
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. 
Using a standing mixer with a paddle attachment or using a large bowl and a hand mixer, mix the butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy, about 5 minutes. 
Add the eggs and mix to combine. 
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix to combine. 
Add half of the wet ingredients, followed by half of the dry ingredients, the remaining wet ingredients and lastly with the dry ingredients, mixing to combine in between each addition. 
Using this method of adding ingredients to the batter will create a really great texture for the cake, very tender with a fine crumb.
Divide the batter between the individual baking pans. I used an ice cream scoop to ladle out the batter and put about 3 scoops of batter into each baking pan. 
Since I was making the cakes for a collection of baked goodies that were all packed into one box, I purposefully made them shorter, so that the glazed top would not touch the rest of the cookies. Normally, I would make them slightly taller, so you should have 12 cakes, or 13 if you will make them shorter, like I did. You can also make these in a muffin pan, greasing the pan or using cupcake liners. You can also bake it in a mini bundt pans.
Individual Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Olga's Flavor Factory
Recipe type: Sweets
Serves: 12 cakes
Ingredients
Cake
- 4½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 3 lemons, zest grated and saved, plus 5 tablespoons juice (see note above)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cup buttermilk
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 28 tablespoons butter (3½ sticks), at room temperature
- 2½ cups sugar (14 ounces)
- ¾ cup poppy seeds
Glaze
- 2 - 3 Tablespoons lemon juice (see note above)
- 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar (8 ounces)
Instructions
Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the individual paper baking cups onto a rimmed baking sheet.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl or in a liquid measuring cup, combine the lemon zest and juice, vanilla and buttermilk.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks.
- Using a standing mixer with a paddle attachment or using a large bowl and a hand mixer, mix the butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs and mix to combine.
- Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients, mix to combine. Add half of the wet ingredients, followed by half of the dry ingredients, the remaining wet ingredients and lastly with the dry ingredients, mixing to combine in between each addition. Using this method of adding ingredients to the batter will create a really great texture for the cake, very tender with a fine crumb.
- Add the poppy seeds and mix to combine.
- Divide the batter between the individual baking pans. I used an ice cream scoop to ladle out the batter and put about 3 scoops of batter into each baking pan. Since I was making the cakes for a collection of baked goodies that were all packed into one box, I purposefully made them shorter, so that the glazed top would not touch the rest of the cookies. Normally, I would make them slightly taller, so you should have 12 cakes, or 13 if you will make them shorter, like I did.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched or a toothpick comes out clean.
Glaze:
- Whisk all the ingredients together until the glaze is pourable. You might need to add more lemon juice, just don't add too much or the glaze will stay wet and won't set. When the cakes have cooled slightly, pour the glaze over each cake. I put the glaze into a ziptop bag, snipped off a corner and made zigzag lines on each cake. Normally, I would just use a spoon or the whisk to drizzle the glaze onto the cakes, but since I didn't want any of the glaze to get on the sides of the cakes, I used a ziptop bag to make it neater with no drips. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea, whichever you prefer:).
7 Comments
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elena
These r so cute 🙂 i will have to make these sometime 🙂
olgak7
They certainly are cheerful and cute:). Enjoy, Elena.
Yulia
Hello, and i can make as regular cake/pirog right?
Veronika G
Can i substitute buttermilk for just milk? I know buttermilk makes the cake moist but I don’t have it at home.
olgak7
Here’s a tip for making buttermilk if you don’t have any on hand; Add some vinegar or lemon juice to milk, set is aside for 5-10 minutes. The milk will become just like buttermilk.
lily
So cute! Do u think you can do cupcakes instead of mini cakes?
olgak7
I think so, Lily. Although they will be just a tad bit firmer than most cupcake batters.