This Easy Lemon Snack Cake recipe makes a fantastic, smooth, moist, dense snack cake with delicious lemon flavor to enjoy at any time. It’s perfect for parties, potlucks, holidays, and anytime you need a lemon pick-me-up. And it’s topped with a homemade cream cheese frosting that really takes them to a whole new level.
Table Of Contents
Easy Lemon Snack Cake
Snack cakes are great for when you have that sweet tooth hankering, but don’t need to overindulge (as long as you stick to just one piece lol). Zesty lemon flavored moist cake, topped with fluffy vanilla icing makes for the perfect sweet zing of a bite when you dig into these beautiful lemon cakes.
What is a Snack Cake?
A Snack Cake is an individual sized cake that is meant for you to “snack” on, or enjoy a small part of. It’s basically a small serving of a large cake already portioned out appropriately. They’re kind of like lemon bars or lemon brownies, except lighter cake like texture.
Can you use a Lemon Boxed Cake Mix?
If you wanted to use a shortcut or were in a pinch, you could use cake mix, but there’s nothing like a homemade snack cake made from scratch.
Just like those lemon recipes, this Lemon Snack Cake is perfect for Springtime holidays, think Easter Dinner or Mother’s Day Brunch. It’s even better when it’s been chilled and the flavors have time to meld, get stronger and pop!
Your taste buds will smile when sinking into these Lemon Cake Bars.
How to Make Lemon Snack Cake
• Gather all of the ingredients together.
• Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8” baking dish.
• In a large mixing bowl combine the milk, egg, butter, sugar, salt and the juice of the lemon. Whisk until well combined.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients.
• Gently mix until everything is combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Once the lemon cake is cooked, set it aside to cool. Then make the frosting.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese. Mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
• To the cream cheese mixture, mix in the powdered sugar slowly, and the juice of half a lemon.
• Mix until combined and spread over the cooled cake.
• Garnish with lemon zest. Cut, serve and enjoy.
Lemon Snack Cake Tips
- You can double the recipe and bake in a 9″x11″ baking dish. You may need a few more minutes of cook time.
- If waiting to serve, keep this lemon cake in the refrigerator.
- If you want more lemon flavor, add some lemon zest to your snack cake batter. You could also add a half teaspoon of lemon oil to the batter. Lemon oil is found near the extracts in the grocery store.
- You can also choose to line the pan with parchment paper instead of greasing it if you would like. This helps you cut the cakes and remove them from the baking dish easier.
- To make your cake lemony yellow, add a few drops of yellow food coloring.
- Serve your snack cakes with a side of sugar coated berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or blackberries) or plop a few on top of a cake piece and enjoy.
How to Store this Cake
• You can store the cake in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. It tastes even better once chilled. Store the leftovers in an airtight container if possible.
• In a pinch you can cover the snack cake with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge. It will dry out faster that way, but it’s possible to store them like that if needed.
An easy cake recipe with homemade cream cheese frosting. The perfect Easter cake, birthday cake, or bake this lemon cake for any occasion!
Easy Lemon Snack Cake
Easy Lemon Snack Cake is full of zesty lemon flavor. Often served cold or room temperature.
Instructions
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ¼ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 large Egg
- Juice of 1 Lemon (zest it before cutting and juicing it)
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter, melted
- ¾ cup Milk
Frosting
- 1 stick Unsalted Butter (½ cup) softened
- 1 8-ounce block Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 pound Powdered Sugar (3 ½ cups)
- Juice of Half a Lemon
- Zest of Half a Lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F and lightly grease an 8"x8" baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the milk, egg, butter, sugar, salt and the juice of the lemon. Whisk until well combined.
- To the wet mix, using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour and baking powder.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set aside to cool.
Make the Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese. Mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
- To the cream cheese mixture mix in the powdered sugar slowly, and the juice of half a lemon.
- Mix until combined and spread over the cooled cake.
- Garnish with lemon zest.
- Chill in fridge before serving.
Notes
- Keep cake in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
- You can add a drop or 2 of yellow food coloring if you want the cake to be a brighter color.
- This cake is fabulous with some sugared berries on top.
