Lemon poppy seed cake bites, little cakes baked in mini muffin tins with a big taste of lemon. These mini cakes are moist and tender lemony bites of goodness.
I have a thing for little mini desserts. Not sure why, maybe because they are cute and they are not going to make you feel overfull.
These cake bites are easy to make, they do take a little bit of time, but they are worth it. They would be perfect if you are having a party and you want some finger food.
Helpful tips:
- Make sure that the butter and eggs are at room temperature. If the butter is a little hard it will not blend with the sugar and zest very easily.
- When zesting the lemon, use only the yellow part of the peel. The white part, which is called the pith is bitter
- The muffin tins need to be greased and floured to help with the removal of the cakes. I like to use shortening to grease the tins, but a nonstick cooking spray can be used as well.
- The recipe makes about 36 little cakes. If you don’t have enough tins for all of the batter, you can bake it in batches. But be sure to wash and dry the tins after each batch. Then the tins will be greased and floured before adding the batter.
- The icing should be quite runny. You want it to be more like a glaze than a frosting.
- Dry the cakes on a cooling rack. You can use wax paper or parchment paper, but the bottoms will take a long time to dry.
- These little cakes can be stored on the counter for 2 to 3 days. If keeping them longer than that place them in an airtight container and freeze them. They freeze really well.
Steps for making Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Bites
Step one
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour mini recipe tins.
Step two
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
Step three
In a large bowl combine the sugar, butter, and lemon zest. With an electric mixer beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each egg.
Step four
Combine the milk and the lemon juice together. Mix in the flour mixture and milk mixture alternating, starting and ending with the flour.
Step five
Add the batter to the muffin tins and place in the oven, bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until the cake bounces back when lightly touched.
Step six
Cool on cooling racks. While the cakes are cooling make the icing. Once the cakes are cooled dip them in the icing and coat the whole cake. Dry the iced cakes on a cooling rack.
Check out these other fun desserts:
If you make these Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Bites. I would love to hear about it! Please leave me a comment and a rating.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake Bites
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup soft butter
- Zest from one lemon
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- Icing-
- 4 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 7 to 9 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour mini muffin tins
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a medium bowl beat the sugar, butter, and lemon zest with an electric mixer.
- Add the eggs beating after adding each one.
- Combine the milk and the lemon juice.
- Alternate the flour and the milk lemon mixture. Starting with the flour and ending with the flour.
- Mix in the poppy seeds until combined
- Fill the mini muffin tins about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Place the tins in the preheated oven and bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until the cakes bounce back after touching them lightly.
- Remove from oven and remove from tins.
- Set each cake bite on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the icing
- In a bowl add the powdered sugar and gradually add the lemon juice (by tablespoons) until you have a thin icing.
- Using a fork place each cake bite in the icing turning until the whole bite is covered with the icing.
- Let the excess icing drip off, before setting the cake bite on a cooling rack to dry completely
Notes
- Have the butter and eggs at room temperature.
- Make sure to have the muffin tins greased and floured well, so the cakes are easy to remove from the muffin tins.
- Add enough lemon juice to the powdered sugar for a running icing.
- The mini cakes can be stored on the counter in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
- If you like you can freeze these cake bites in an airtight container, they come out of the freezer like when they were freshly baked.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on November 25, 2016. It has been updated with new content and pictures on November 17, 2022.
Lemon and poppy are such a delicious combo! These mini muffins look beautiful and very tempting with that citrusy glaze.
Ooh, I love the built in portion control—–but, I have a feeling I’d have to sample more than just one! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
I love lemon poppy seed and mini desserts too! I want to gobble a few of these right up! They look delicious! Funny about the clothes – I usually diet for a few weeks after Thanksgiving so I can eat my way through Christmas. 🙂
I love mini desserts – so cute & fun! I’ve been craving poppy – and lemon & poppy together is soooo good! I’ll have to bake these mini muffins soon ♥
I totally know what you feel about the clothes fitting tighter, Dawn! We’re really trying to watch our diet around here right now (I know…I know…we picked the worst time of the year to play this game!). The mini version of this lemon poppy seed cake would be a great way to get my sugar fix without going overboard. Looks delicious!