The beautiful thing about these little jarred mini cakes is that once you get the basics down - sponge cake recipe and whipped cream frosting - they can become anything you can dream up! AND your friends will love you when you show up with these to a dinner party. They're pretty quick (total of 1 hour time investment), easy, yummy and pretty! Today's recipe is for a lemon variety with added raspberry to the top layer. But don't let your mind stop there. Think Nutella chocolate mousse layered with espresso-brushed sponge cake and shaved dark chocolate on top - there are no boundaries to your creativity, so you have my permission to go a little crazy and please share your creations with me in the comments below!
When first starting to bake German recipes in the US, I had major issues with the measurement conversions. Luckily I took a professional cooking class in college, so I am now much better with conversions between ounces and tablespoons, but it still throws me off at times. So I slowly started neglecting my kitchen scale and attempted measuring in cups, spoons, pints and ounces. It seems messier and less accurate, and I still prefer the metric system for best results, especially in baking. To help you perfect your baking, I am happy to announce that Ozeri is providing me with 5 kitchen scales to give to my dear blog readers. I researched kitchen scales and Ozeri has some of the highest ratings I could find - and they're stylish! So stay tuned for a chance to win (and in the meantime, I will try to add an alternative metric measurement to all my recipes)! 🙂
And if you love German cooking and baking as much as I do, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE at the bottom of this post! ???? Danke! ❤️
Ingredients for 1 cake:
- 5 eggs
- ½ c sugar
- ½ c & 2 tablespoon flour (I substituted gluten free flour to make this recipe gluten free!)
- ¼ c corn starch
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
For the filling:
- 1 little container of fresh raspberries
- 2 oz of apricot jam
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 c heavy whipping cream
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 5 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon lemon zest
Method:
- Preheat oven to 390 degrees F and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks, placing the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a smaller bowl.
- Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat until almost stiff.
- Add about ¾ of the sugar and continue beating until stiff.
- Beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and lemon zest until creamy.
- Mix together the flour, corn starch and baking powder and add to the egg whites along with the egg yolk-sugar mixture, folding it carefully into the egg whites.
- Spread the batter onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden yellow.
- Sprinkle sugar onto a kitchen towel and flip the sponge cake onto the kitchen towel, leaving the parchment paper on top. Let cool.
- Wash the berries and puree them, except for a few to decorate with.
- Add together whipping cream, half of the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and zest, and whip the cream until almost stiff.
- Add the remaining sugar and mix until completely stiff. Mix half of the whipped cream with half of the puree.
- Keep cool in the fridge until ready to use.
- If the cake is cooled, carefully remove the parchment paper.
- Mix the jam with 2 oz of water and heat in 20 second increments in the microwave until warm, and brush onto the cake. Allow to cool.
- Cut out circles to layer in the glass jar (2 circles for each glass, I used a 2.5 inch diameter biscuit cutter). I got my glasses at IKEA - they came in 3 different sizes and I bought the smallest size for $4.99 for a 3-pack. They hold 4 ounces each and make the perfect, little dessert!
- Put the first layer of cake circles on the bottom.
- Divide the lemon whipped cream between the glasses and spread evenly. You may want to clean up the rim in between layers to keep it neat and pretty. Believe me, I tried, and I thought I would never say this, but it's so much easier clean them up after each whipped cream layer than to try to get it perfect in the first place! I used a damp paper cloth to wipe around the edges and kept layering.
- Now layer the cake again, then finish with a layer of raspberry whipped cream and the puree on top. Garnish with a raspberry.
- Guten Appetit!
u.herzog
so gorgeous! I wish I could taste them 🙂
Nicolette Daleske
Would you consider offering your recipes in weight as well? Even in baking classes here they will explain that measuring ingredients is more accurate. I made the rhubarb muffins Sunday night and converted cups to grams so I could weigh the flour (I wondered if I ended up with more flour than you as it seemed slightly dry so I added an extra Tablespoon of milk). Especially with flour I prefer being able to weigh it.
Also, I saw your bratwurst post and was looking for the potato salad recipe. I can't find it.....have you ever posted the Kartoffelsalat?
I love your blog!
dirndlkitchen
Hi Nicolette!
Thank you for your comment. I will start offering recipes in metric measurements as well. I hope you liked the rhubarb muffin recipe!
I did not post the recipe for the Bavarian potato salad I made to go with the Bratwurst.. but I guess I should have! So expect to see it soon! 🙂
Again, thanks for your feedback and if you ever have any other ideas or suggestions of what you want to see on my blog, please let me know.