I made these for Mother’s Day, intending to give pretty little baggies of them as gifts to all the mothers at the annual Mother’s Day picnic on Dennis’ side of the family. It didn’t quite work out that way. The first pan, which was half the batch, I didn’t grease well enough and they all stuck horribly so guess where those ended up? Yup, in our bellies. Can’t say we were too sad that only half the batch was pretty enough to share. But then we couldn’t keep our hands off those either, and in the end, there were only enough to give to two mothers: his and mine.
Our mothers loved these little beauties, and we loved them. Way too much. They are really delicious, but most of the lemon flavor comes from the glaze, and I would suggest trying this with a lemon cake mix instead of a yellow if you can find one. That would really intensify the lemon flavor. They are wonderful as is, but can you get enough lemon flavor in the summer? I think not.
Lemon Blossoms
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
1 (18.5 oz) box yellow or lemon cake mix
1 (3.5 oz) box instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Glaze:
4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Lemon zest from 1 lemon
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray miniature muffin tins thoroughly with cooking spray.
Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Batter will be quite thick. Using a cookie scoop, divide the batter between the muffin wells, filling each halfway. Bake for 12 minutes.
While the blossoms are baking, make the glaze. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Whisk until smooth.
Remove the blossoms from the oven when they are done and turn out onto a tea towel. You might have to run a butter knife around the edges of the cupcake wells to loosen them before turning out. While they are still warm, dip the blossoms into the glaze, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. (I did this over the sink.) Let the glaze set, about 1 hour, before storing in airtight containers or covering with plastic wrap on a platter.
Makes 48 mini-cakes
Recipe source: Paula Deen, as seen on Minda’s Cooking
Veronica's Cornucopia 
These sound wonderful. I would love to pretend to be your mother next year. :)
Until then I’ll try my hand at making some myself.
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This is a fantastic recipe, thanks so much for sharing! =)
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Love lemon flavor, making some more homemade lemonade when I get home tonight. You crack me up eating all the goodies…lol!
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Nice! And good call on amping up the lemon flavor. I’m all for that! And these look so delicious, I don’t think I could stop at 1 or 2 . . . or 3 . . .
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these are so cute! i love mini things :) and lemon. yay!
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These sound amazing! And I love your photos so much! I will definitely make these using the lemon cake mix you suggested. Aww I bet your mamas loved these goodies. You are a sweet daughter :)
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These certainly do look like the ideal mothers day treats – delicious :D
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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As you probably have already guessed, I love all things lemony. If I made bite sized lemon cakes I don’t think I could stop myself and before I knew it they’d all be gone.
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Those look so good! I wonder if you put a little lemon essence oil in the cake batter or maybe lemon zest it would be ok to use yellow cake. Either way, they look yummy!
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Yes, I think adding either or both would do the trick.
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I love all things lemony! I bet the your mothers loved these!
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What a fabulous recipe! I love those things, not to tart or sweet delicious!
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I’m betting these are bite-sized bits of lemony heaven. Love!
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I used this recipe, and it was amazing! All my friends loved them too! Thank you for sharing it!
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Yay! So glad you liked it!
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Veronica, I wouldn’t have been very sad if mine all stuck together and I was forced to eat them. Yum, they sound wonderful!
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Haha, I know we weren’t! ;)
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These are so cute and I can imagine how bright their flavor is! Perfect snack with a cup of tea. :)
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Yes, these would be great with an English tea! Great idea.
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I was busy making all the recipes I’ve tagged while I’ve been busy with classes. As uasual, they impressed me! I changed this recipe up a little since I was making a cake for my mom’s birthday. I took yellow cake mix, followed the directions on the box, but added a box of yellow pudding to the mix. I had left over strawberry lemonade icing that I made cupcakes with, so I added that between the two layers. Then I halved the glaze recipe and poured it over the top of the cake. To finish it off, I wrote, “Happy Birthday Mom” on the top with the remaining strawberry lemonade icing. My mom loved it as lemon is her favorite! It was very refreshing and moist! Keep the posts coming! You are awesome!!! :)
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So good to hear from you Brittany! Glad you’re getting a break for a while. :) You had such a good idea to make this into a regular cake and use the leftover strawberry lemonade icing for filling and writing. I got the picture you got and will be adding it to the “reader photos” on facebook-it turned out great!
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i made these a few months ago. they are ridiculously good. I too had a batch of them fall apart. i ended up taking all the mangled pieces, and dipping them into the glaze anyway.
Sooooooo worth the effort. these are probably the most dangerous treats I have ever eaten.
I am salivating just thinking about them.
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So glad you loved them Krissy! I can’t believe I only made them once, I really ate half the batch before I could stop myself! Probably better I steer clear-haha.
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Can these be frozen ?
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They sure can! I just put them in a Ziploc bag and press as much air out as I can before freezing.
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Now that the cake mixes are only 16.5 oz instead of 18.5 oz, do you need to adjust the recipe?
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Nah, it should still be great. The cake mixes were specifically made so that they would still work the same despite the lower volume. Let me know how it works, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t perfect.
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Yes! They came out great. I put the batter in a 9 X 13 pan baked for 20 min. Used a mini round cookie cutter to cut them out. Dipped them in the glaze and they all were the same size and not only beautiful but tasted great! Thanks again for your advise.
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We do these all the time! It’s a family favorite!! I also swap out the vegetable oil with applesauce to make it a little healthier and it’s delightful!
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