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Vanilla Mini-Cupcakes with Tangy Chocolate Glaze

June 22, 2017 By Jessica Braider 2 Comments

Vanilla Mini-Cupcakes with Tangy Chocolate Glaze

In honor of The Recipe Redux turning 6, we were challenged this month to come up with a small bite dessert. So fun! And a very welcome excuse to bake some cake!

When I first started pondering what to make, the dessert that popped into my mind was the mini-cupcakes at Whole Foods. I have a weak spot for them. I love that they are small enough that I can happily have two (or, let’s be honest, often three) and that they give me a nice hit of chocolate without being too much. So I thought I would try and come up with a homemade version.

If you have been following me for a while, you have probably caught onto the fact that I am a big fan of using yogurt in baking. I like it for three reasons: 1) like buttermilk, it makes things fluffier, 2) unlike buttermilk, I almost always have it in the house, and 3) it adds some protein to whatever I am baking. My love for using yogurt in cakes was firmly solidified a couple of months ago when I came across the yogurt cake recipe on the Kitchn. No beating or stiffening of eggs, only one bowl used, and yet out comes a fluffy, delicious cake—it is a lazy cook’s dream cake recipe! So I adapted it a little to make it a smidge healthier by including some spelt flour and cutting down on the sugar and the outcome was outstanding! (Note: I have found that using whole grain flours, like whole wheat or spelt, in cakes works better in cupcakes than it does in full-sized cakes, it just doesn’t rise quite enough as a big cake because the flours are denser…)

For the chocolate glaze, I also wanted the tangy-ness of yogurt to enliven the flavor and bulk up the nutrition, even if just by a little bit. So I tweaked a Cabot recipe by decreasing the sugar (why does every frosting recipe call for so much sugar?!). All I can say is that if I could eat these cupcakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I totally would. And, in fact, I just might have them for breakfast tomorrow…

Happy Birthday, The Recipe Redux!

5.0 from 1 reviews
Vanilla Mini-Cupcakes with Tangy Chocolate Glaze
 
Save Print
Prep time
20 mins
Cook time
15 mins
Total time
35 mins
 
Cupcake recipe adapted from: The Kitchn Yogurt Cake Glaze recipe adapted from: Cabot Chocolate Layer Cake
Author: Jessica Braider
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 48
Ingredients
  • For the cupcakes:
  • 1 ½ cups whole milk plain yogurt
  • ⅔ cups extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup spelt flour (or white whole wheat flour)
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • pinch freshly ground nutmeg
  • For the glaze:
  • ¼ cup plain whole milk yogurt
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 ¼ cups confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
  1. To make the cake:
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 and line two mini-cupcake pans with liners.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
  4. Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and stir until there are no lumps.
  5. Distribute the batter amongst your muffin cups and bake for 15 minutes. Place them on a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before glazing them.
  6. To make the glaze:
  7. Combine the yogurt, cocoa powder and vanilla in a large bowl.
  8. Using an electric mixer, slowly beat in the confectioner’s sugar until there are no lumps.
  9. Carefully dip the top of each cupcake into the glaze, turn onto its side, and spin gently to let any drops fall off, then place them on a tray. Place the tray into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the glaze firm up a bit.
3.5.3226

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Filed Under: Baked Goods, Dessert Tagged With: birthday, chocolate, cupcakes, dessert, spelt, the recipe redux, yogurt

Recipe Roundup: April Edition

April 27, 2017 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Recipe Roundup: April Edition

This month is kind of a wacky month for my recipe roundup because three of these recipes come from one cookbook: Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem: A Cookbook*. I have a complicated relationship with this cookbook. I love it because everything that I make from it comes out so well, the pictures are beyond beautiful, and the recipes are truly inspiring, but I also find it challenging because many of the recipes include obscure ingredients that, truthfully, I am not willing to drop lots of money on to possibly use just once before they go bad. So I have started adapting when I use the book and so far that has worked out pretty well!…

Read More »

Filed Under: Baked Goods, Cooking Basics, Dessert, Dinner, Family Dinner, Freezer Cooking, Lunch Box Food, Sides Tagged With: butternut squash, cake, calzones, cauliflower, dessert, Easy, healthy, pizza, roasted, salad, Vegetables

The 8 Steps to Healthy-ish

February 9, 2017 By Jessica Braider 4 Comments

The 8 Steps to Healthy-ish

One of my favorite parts of my day is going through my newsfeeds and seeing what strikes me—new articles, new recipes, new perspectives. I love being challenged to see a different perspective and being inspired by a new flavor combination or cooking technique. But every once in a while I come across an article or a trend that I think is damaging or dangerous when it comes to having a healthy relationship with food. This week that happened and so I wanted to share my thoughts on the term “healthy-ish.”…

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Filed Under: Culture of Food, Healthy Eating, Life Balance, Tips and Tricks Tagged With: dessert, exercise, fruit, healthy eating, Vegetables

Pineapple-Ginger Popsicles

May 26, 2016 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Pineapple-Ginger Popsicles

While I grew up in a family where good food was highly valued and celebrated, from about age 7 on I had quite a tortured relationship with eating. I was incredibly self-conscious about my appearance (I was pretty overweight) and I worried about people judging me by the foods I was eating. This lasted well into my twenties (or even thirties). For me, the shift occurred when I started cooking more. Through cooking I began to shift the way I thought about food. It became less about control and negotiation (“if I have this last cookie, then tomorrow I won’t have anything ‘bad’ and I’ll be back on track”) and more about feeling satisfied and nourished.

For me, part of feeling fulfilled by the food I eat is to have some sort of sweet treat every day. Many times that treat is something that the old me would have considered unhealthy and would have regretted as soon as I ate it such as ice cream or cookies, but other times it is something along the lines of these amazing popsicles which contain nothing but healthiness. These are a sort of upgraded version of the all-fruit popsicles that I loved as a kid, but with no added sugar. They are sweet and creamy and have a nice kick from the ginger!…

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Filed Under: Dessert, Healthy Eating Tagged With: dessert, Easy, ginger, healthy, kid-friendly, pineapple

Mom’s Gluten-Free Fruit Crisp

March 31, 2016 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Mom’s Gluten-Free Fruit Crisp

The boys and I are in Colorado this week visiting my parents for Spring Break. Coming home to Colorado is always wonderful because we get to see friends and family, we spend time in the mountains and with horses, and we spend lots and lots of time outside. But the other reason I always love coming home is that I don’t think there has ever been a time when I didn’t fall in love with some new recipe that my mom has either developed or discovered and this week is no exception!…

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Filed Under: Baked Goods, Breakfast, Dessert Tagged With: crisp, dessert, Easy, fruit, gluten-free, nuts, oats, peach

Jessica Braider

Hi! I'm Jessica. I love delicious food that is simple and easy. As a busy mom, I am always on the lookout for ways to make life easier and tastier! Read More…

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