I have a UIButton
which is very similar to the standard iOS keyboard alphabet button.
I am not sure how to create a shadow only for the bottom layer li
You can try with this code: (sorry, i only know swift, not obj c. this code will add bottom shadow on your button.
button.layer.masksToBounds = false
button.layer.shadowColor = UIColor(rgb: 0x000000, alpha: 1.0).CGColor
button.layer.shadowOpacity = 1.0
button.layer.shadowRadius = 0
button.layer.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(0, 1.0)