These Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes are adorable treats bursting with bright, zesty lemon flavor. These individual-sized cakes are made with a moist and zesty batter, and topped with a tangy lemon glaze for an extra burst of citrus sweetness. Perfect for any occasion!
I love making bundt cakes because they're easy and so festive. You can take a simple cake and turn it into a showstopper with very little effort! These Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes are adapted from my Viral Lemon Bundt Cake recipe. Tons of people absolutely loved and recreated the recipe, so I thought I would turn them into mini bundt cakes because they can easily satisfy a crowd!
They're made in one bowl, bake up nice and moist, and topped with an easy lemon glaze. I highly recommend trying my Shortbread Lemon Blondies if you love lemon desserts!
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♥ Why You'll Love This Recipe
Bursting with flavor - These Mini Lemon Bundt Cake has loads of lemon flavor, especially due to the zest infused in the sugar, like my Lemon Butter Cake Recipe.
Moist & Tender - The oil and sour cream in this cake create such a delicious and tender cake.
Easy - It's an easy cake that doesn't require planning ahead and it comes together in no time! Bundt Cakes are some of the easiest cakes to make!
One-Bowl - You only need one bowl to make this recipe, just like my Orange Olive Oil Cake.
No mixer - These cute cakes comes together with a bowl and a spatula! So no need to buy any new equipment.
Individual sized - Because they're small, they're perfect to serve at a party. Just grab and go. No cutting or slicing involved.
📝 Ingredient Notes
A full list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions are located in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Lemon Bundt Cakes
- All purpose flour: This cake works wonderful with regular all purpose flour.
- Baking Powder: Just baking powder to help the cake rise.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar to sweeten the cake.
- Melted butter: I love butter in cakes, but in this one I think melted butter works well. Unsalted butter is what we need for this cake.
- Neutral oil: Using oil helps create a moist and tender cake. You can use vegetable, canola, or even light olive oil.
- Lemon juice & zest: Two key ingredients in this cake. Loads of zest and lemon juice.
- Eggs: Room temperature large eggs are essential.
- Sour cream: To create an even more moist and flavorful cake, we use sour cream.
Lemon Glaze
- Powdered Sugar: using powdered sugar to create a sweet glaze.
- Lemon juice: Adding a bit of tang for the lemon flavor.
- Milk: If needed, using a little bit of milk to help thin out the glaze.
See recipe card for quantities.
🍴Special Equipment
Kitchen Scale: It's so important to use a kitchen scale for accurate results.
Bundt Pan: You'll need a mini bundt pan.
Mixing bowls: I love using glass Mixing Bowls when making batters and doughs.
⇄ Substitutions
Greek Yogurt - In place of sour cream, you can use plain yogurt.
Oil - If you don't want the butter, swap it out for extra oil.
✨ Variations
Orange - Switch it up and use other citrus fruit, like orange.
Cream Cheese Frosting - If you're not a fan of the glaze, use a cream cheese frosting to pipe on top of the cake.
Larger Mini Cakes - Make them a little larger, like I do in my Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes. You'll end up with about 5 or 6 individual cakes using this mini bundt pan.
𓎩 Step-by-Step Instructions
A few instruction photos to help you nail this recipe every time.
Infuse the sugar
Combine the sugar and the lemon zest together in a large bowl, and using your fingers, rub them together. This helps bring out the oils in the zest, which yields more flavor.
Add the liquid
To the sugar/zest bowl, add the lemon juice, melted butter and oil and mix using a spatula.
, then add the eggs one at a time making sure that the eggs are mixed after each addition. Then add the sour cream and mix until all is incorporated.
Add Eggs
Add the eggs one at a time making sure that the eggs are mixed after each addition. Then add the sour cream and mix until all is incorporated.
Mix in the sour cream
Then add the sour cream and mix until all is incorporated.
Dry Ingredients
To the wet batter, sift in the dry ingredients and mix until all is incorporated. Don't over mix.
💡 Hint: Prepare your bundt pan by spraying it heavily with baking spray. Make sure to get every single nook and cranny so that the cake doesn't stick. My favorite method is to spray using a baking spray like Baker's Joy. This is the method that works 100% of the time for me.
Scoop & Bake
Scoop the batter into the prepared bundt pan. I use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop. Bake for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Glaze
In a bowl, add the powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix until combined. If it needs thinned out, add a little milk. Pour the glaze over the cakes.
🎩Trick: Instead of pouring glaze over the cakes, you can dip them into the glaze. This way you can control how much glaze gets added to each cake. Depending on the thickness, it should also slightly run down the sides to create a drip.
💬 FAQ
The number one reason cakes stick to bundt pans is that the pan was not greased enough. I know a lot of people swear by buttering and flouring the pans, but I have never had success using that. I highly recommend using a baking spray like Baker's Joy. The cakes come out in one piece.
Absolutely! Just make it the day before you plan to serve it. You can even frost it the day before and let it sit in the fridge or a cold room. Serve at room temperature.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
Yes! Use my Lemon Bundt Cake recipe!
💡Pro Tips
Measure Flour Correctly - As always, with any recipe, use a kitchen scale, as it is the best form of measuring your ingredients. If you don't have a kitchen scale, fluff your flour, scoop flour with a spoon into a measuring cup and level off.
Room temperature - Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature so that your cake batter properly mixes.
Grease Bundt Pan - It's so important to make sure your bundt pan is heavily greased when making bundt recipes because they tend to stick. To avoid a cake from sticking, grease every single nook and cranny of the pan. I HIGHLY recommend the Baker's Joy cooking spray because I have had success 100% of the time using it.
Don't over mix - Once the ingredients are incorporated, stop mixing.
Don't over bake - Start checking the lemon bundtlettes at 18 minutes by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, remove them from the oven. Depending on your oven, it could take longer.
Cool cake - Before inverting the cake onto a cooling rack, make sure the cake cools down for at least 10 minutes.
Sizing - You can make larger mini bundt by using a larger mini bundt pan; it should make about 5 or 6. If you want to use a 10-12 cup bundt pan, you'll need to double the recipe or use my Lemon Bundt Cake recipe.
❄ Storage
To store any leftovers, wrap tightly and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
📖 Recipe Card
Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 1½ cups (180 g) All Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) Salt
- ¾ teaspoon (3 g) Baking powder
- 1 cups (200 g) granulated sugar
- zest of 1 large lemon
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter melted
- ¼ cup (56 g) neutral oil
- 3 tablespoon (45 g) lemon juice
- 2 (112 g) large eggs
- ½ cup (130 g) sour cream
Glaze
- ¾ cup (90 g) Powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon (15 g) lemon juice
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325°
- Prep the pan: Prepare your mini bundt pan by spraying it heavily with baking spray. Make sure to get every single nook and cranny so that the cake doesn't stick. My favorite method is to spray using a baking spray like Baker's Joy. This is the method that works 100% of the time for me.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Combine flour, salt and baking powder and whisk until combined.1½ cups All Purpose Flour, ½ teaspoon Salt, ¾ teaspoon Baking powder
- Infuse the Sugar: In a large bowl, combine the sugar and the lemon zest together in a large bowl, and using your fingers, rub them together. This helps bring out the oils in the zest, which yields more flavor.1 cups granulated sugar, zest of 1 large lemon
- Combine Wet Ingredients: To the sugar/zest bowl, add the lemon juice, melted butter and oil and mix using a spatula, then add the eggs one at a time making sure that the eggs are mixed after each addition. Then add the sour cream and mix until all is incorporated.¼ cup unsalted butter, ¼ cup neutral oil, 3 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 large eggs, ½ cup sour cream
- Add the Dry Ingredients: To the wet batter, add the dry ingredients and mix until all is incorporated. Don't over mix.
- Pour & Bake: Scoop batter into each bundtlette. I used a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop. I make 12, but this means they have a bit larger bottoms. You can make them slightly smaller and make 13-14.Bake for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes before inverting on a wire rack. Let cool completely before adding glaze.
Glaze
- In a bowl, add the powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix until combined. If it needs thinned out, add a little milk, or more lemon juice. Pour the glaze over the cake and enjoy!¾ cup Powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoon lemon juice
- Store leftovers in an airtight container.
Moist and very easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much for the review, Amber! 🙂
These were just okay. The texture of these is what I tend to prefer for cakes – moist, dense, hearty (the cakes are HEAVY for their little size). However, I think I personally don't prefer this texture for a LEMON cake and would rather have a lighter crumbed cake that matches the brightness of lemon. The texture also leaned a bit gummy at times. I also found the flavor of the cake alone to be bland – the lemon flavor was there but light, and it could use more salt for sure. I will say though that I now know how to make a moist and dense cake (use the muffin method and lots of sour cream), so thank you!
Hi Danny. Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback. These mini bundt cakes are meant to be moist and dense; that’s the classic bundt style. I completely understand preferring a lighter crumb for lemon desserts. I’ll keep your notes on flavor and salt in mind for future tweaks. I’m glad the recipe helped you learn a new technique, and I appreciate you giving it a try.
They were so easy to make. I appreciate that it was all made in one bowl. The cakes turned out super flavorful and very moist. They were also very cute!
Delicious!