What are Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes? | The Best Mini Bundt Cake Pan | Can I Make a Traditional Size Bundt Cake Instead of Mini? | How to Make Moist Lemon Bundtlets | How to Make Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes
Delicate, chic, and dripping with lemon flavor, these mini lemon bundt cakes made with lemon simple syrup and lemon glaze are everything you could hope for in a lemon cake. Whether you’re serving these for Sunday brunch or a bridal shower, these lemon mini bundt cakes will be sure to impress.
Get the recipe and details below.
What are Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes?
A mini lemon bundt cake usually comes in two forms: pound cake or light, delicate cake. This particular recipe is a mix of the two. It is neither overly dense nor too light and airy.
Honestly, it’s all the lemon flavor a person could want!
What makes this lemon mini bundt cake recipe so good is the layers of lemon flavor. The addition of lemon zest really brightens the flavor too.
Originally, I used lemon extract, but that didn’t work well.
For one, the extract flavor dissipates almost entirely during baking. And lemon extract tends to have a strong alcohol smell/flavor, so it’s not preferable.
Next, I switched to lemon emulsion, which worked better and had a truer lemon flavor.
However, nothing tastes quite like lemon except…well, real lemon. So now this recipe is a combination of lemon zest and lemon emulsion to really bring the flavor to life.
This updated version is even better than the original, which is saying something.
The Best Mini Bundt Cake Pan
One of the most important parts of choosing a mini bundt cake pan is getting one that is not dark-coated.
Dark pans tend to overcook and brown bundt cakes too much, so stick with silver or gold.
I would also recommend using a super high-quality bundtlette pan, such as this adorable Nordic Ware heritage bundtlette cake pan. Optionally, this other traditional pan is light-colored on the inside and is a good choice as well.
If you want to use the same pan I used for these lemon mini bundt cakes, I have this one from Williams-Sonoma.
Can I Make a Traditional Size Bundt Cake Instead of Minis?
This recipe will not translate to a standard 12-cup bundt cake pan correctly as it is written. You can double this recipe and use a 10-cup bundt cake pan, however, but only use 5 eggs!
Also, increase your baking time to 45-60 minutes and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F.
How to Make Moist Lemon Bundtlets
There is nothing worse than a dry cake that should be moist and flavorful! There are a couple of things that make these lemon mini bundt cakes moist.
First, we use plenty of butter, a little shortening, and milk. All of these ingredients add to the moist, light texture of this cake.
Second, the lemon glaze hydrates this cake and keeps that lemony flavor feeling fresh even days later.
In fact, these cakes are even better the second day after they have had time to absorb more of the lemon glaze!
How to Make Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes
- Cream room temp butter, shortening, lemon zest, and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Next, add the dry ingredients and mix.
- Add milk and lemon emulsion, and mix until combined.
- Lastly, incorporate the eggs one at a time.
- Butter and flour the mini bundt cake pan, pour batter into wells and bake.
- Pour lemon syrup over cakes while warm.
- Once cool, drizzle with lemon icing.
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PrintMini Lemon Bundt Cakes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 mini bundt cakes 1x
- Category: cake
Ingredients
The Cake
- 142 g (10 Tbs) unsalted butter, room temp
- 28 g vegetable shortening
- Zest of 3 medium lemons
- 250 g sugar
- 180 g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 118 ml (1/2 c) milk
- 1 tsp lemon emulsion
- 3 large eggs, room temp
Lemon Glaze
- 118 ml (1/2 c) fresh lemon juice (from approx. 2-3 lemons)
- 150 g granulated sugar
Lemon Icing
- 120 g powdered sugar
- 1–2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
Instructions
For the Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour the bundt pan, or use your favorite nonstick coating for cake pans.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening, lemon zest, and sugar on speed 4 (for a 10 speed mixer) for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Next, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix on low until combined well.
- Then, with the mixer on low, add the lemon emulsion. Slowly pour in the milk, and mix until combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time on low speed, ensuring that each one is fully mixed in before adding the next egg.
- Fill the mini bundt cake wells 3/4 full with batter and spread evenly. It’s easiest to fill a piping bag with the batter, cut off the tip of the bag, and then fill the mini bundts.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. You know the cakes are done when you gently touch one and it springs back. Or test with a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done.
- Let the cakes rest for 20 minutes in the pan, and then flip the pan over onto a cooling rack to remove the cakes. If the cakes don’t come loose, run a thin knife along the sides of the bundtlets to loosen them from the pan if needed.
For the Lemon Glaze
- Place the cakes on a wire rack, and place the rack on top of a half sheet pan.
- Combine the fresh lemon juice and granulated sugar in a microwave safe bowl, and heat for 90 seconds.
- Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour 1-2 tablespoons of the lemon sugar syrup over the tops of the cakes, allowing the excess to drip onto the sheet pan.
- Allow the mini lemon bundt cakes to cool completely at this stage (about 1-2 hours).
For the Lemon Drizzle
- Combine lemon juice and powdered sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Drizzle over bundt cakes and enjoy.
- Store cakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Keep a piece of parchment paper underneath the cakes so they don’t stick on the bottom.
Notes
This is a Baker Street Society original recipe.
Keywords: mini lemon bundt cakes, lemon bundt cake, lemon glaze
