Mini Layer Cake in a Glass

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:

1. Preheat oven to 390 degrees F and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, placing the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a smaller bowl.
3. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat until almost stiff.
4. Add about ¾ of the sugar and continue beating until stiff.
5. Beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar and lemon zest until creamy.
6. 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.
7. Spread the batter onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden yellow.
8. Sprinkle sugar onto a kitchen towel and flip the sponge cake onto the kitchen towel, leaving the parchment paper on top. Let cool.
9. Wash the berries and puree them, except for a few to decorate with.
10. Add together whipping cream, half of the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and zest, and whip the cream until almost stiff.
11. Add the remaining sugar and mix until completely stiff. Mix half of the whipped cream with half of the puree.
12. Keep cool in the fridge until ready to use.
13. If the cake is cooled, carefully remove the parchment paper.
14. 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.
15. 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!
16. Put the first layer of cake circles on the bottom.
17. 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.
18. Now layer the cake again, then finish with a layer of raspberry whipped cream and the puree on top. Garnish with a raspberry.
19. Guten Appetit!