Mini Lemon Layer Cake for Two

Light and fluffy lemon layer cake slathered with delicious cream cheese frosting. This cake is sized perfectly for two people!

Today we are celebrating a virtual baby shower for one of my very favorite bloggers. Christina and I became friends a few years ago by commenting on each other’s blogs (you must read Dessert for Two) and exchanging a few emails. She was always so kind and generous with her blogging knowledge.

When I went to Foodbuzz in San Francisco, she met me in the city to be my “date” to one of the events. She’s just as wonderful in person as you’d imagine. The best combination of sweet and sass!

Now Christina is having a baby girl and I am so incredibly happy for her. Tina, from almost six months of experience, I can tell you that being a mom is pretty much the best thing ever.

Now, onto this cake! Given her love of lemon desserts and small batch treats, I thought this mini lemon cake would be the perfect recipe to share for the shower. It’s light and fluffy and topped with a generous helping of cream cheese icing. I made it the first time for Valentine’s Day and Matt loved it, but I made it a second time last week with a couple of tweaks and it was even better.

Scroll down to see what everyone else made!

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Mini Lemon Layer Cake for Two

 

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Light and fluffy lemon layer cake slathered with delicious cream cheese frosting. This cake is sized perfectly for two people!

Makes: 2 servings

Ingredients

• Lemon Cake:
• 73g (~1/2 cup + 5 teaspoons) all-purpose flour
• 1½g (3/4 teaspoon) baking powder
• 1g (1/4 teaspoon) salt
• 28g (2 tablespoons) plain greek yogurt (I used fat free)
• 30 milliliters (2 tablespoons) milk (I used skim)
• 30 milliliters (2 tablespoons) fresh lemon juice (~1/2 of a lemon)
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest (~1/2 lemon)
• 2½ milliliters (½ teaspoon) vanilla extract
• 57g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter softened at room temperature
• 80g (~6 tablespoons) granulated sugar
• 50g (~1 large) whole eggs, at room temperature
• Cream Cheese Icing
• 85g light or regular cream cheese, cold
• 71g (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter,  at room temperature
• 160g (1 cup) powdered sugar
• 2½ milliliters (1/2 teaspoon) vanilla extract
• ½g (1/8 teaspoon) salt

Instructions

1. Lemon Cake:
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees; grease and flour two four-inch cake pans (lining the bottom of each pan with parchment paper will make for easier removal as well); set aside
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; set aside
4. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla; set aside
5. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on high speed for several minutes or until light and fluffy; at this point you can’t really overbeat the batter, you want to get as much lightness at this stage as you can; scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula
6. Add egg and beat at medium speed for one minute; scrape the sides of the bowl with the spatula
7. Reduce speed to low and slowly add ½ of flour mixture and then all of the wet ingredients; finish with the remaining flour mixture and remove from mixer immediately (there should still be lumps in the batter)
8. Gently fold batter so that you can no longer see any dry ingredients but there are still some small lumps; do not overmix
9. Evenly distribute batter between cake pans
10. Bake 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center; do not overbake
11. Set aside to cool and prepare frosting
12. Cream Cheese Icing
13. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and shortening on high speed for several minutes until light and creamy; make sure there are no clumps from the cream cheese
14. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add one cup of powdered sugar; beat on high speed until combined; repeat with additional cup of sugar
15. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add vanilla and salt; mix on medium speed for one minute and then on high speed for at least five minutes and until frosting is light and creamy
16. Once cake has cooled and icing is ready, use a flat metal spatula to frost the first layer of cake; top with second layer and frost outside of cake

Notes

Adapted from these lemon cupcakes
Store cake in refrigerator and store at room temperature (best enjoyed within 24 hours but can be eaten within 4 days)
For additional lemon flavor, add some lemon zest to the frosting; just add it at the beginning with the butter and cream cheese

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Other Shower Treats:

Fizzy Grapefruit Margaritas from Well Plated

Earl Grey Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream from Country Cleaver

Mini Bourbon and Bacon Tater Tot Casseroles from Climbing Grier Mountain

Maple-Chia Overnight Oatmeal from Feed Me Phoebe

Lemon Cake for Two from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Mini Raspberry Rhubarb Pavlovas from The Baker Chick

Almond Berry Cake Parfaits for Two from Edible Perspective

Peanut Butter Bourbon Blondies from The Frosted Vegan

Mixed Berry Mascarpone Scones from Bluebonnet Baker

Greek Yogurt Funfetti Cupcakes for Two from The Housewife in Training Files

Bourbon Barbeque Sliders with Bleu Cheese from Saucy Pear

Steak Fajita Tacos for Two from The Sweetphi Blog

Mango Madeleines from Stetted

Citrus Salad with Mint, Honey, and Lime from Rachel Cooks

Parfaits for Two from Order in the Kitchen

Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse with Coconut Whipped Cream from Joyful Healthy Eats

French Breakfast Puffs from Stephie Cooks

Blueberry Vanilla Cream Hand Pies from Eats Well With Others

Banana Pudding Cheesecake from The Domestic Rebel

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.