The Balanced Kitchen

Time for food. Time for Life.

  • Home
  • Services
    • Family Programs
    • Individual Programs
    • Wrap-Around Coaching
    • Meal Preparation, with a twist
    • Workshops
    • What is Health Coaching?
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • About
    • Policies
  • Blog
  • Recipes
    • Cooking Resources
  • Events
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

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

recipe-redux-linky-logo

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

Protein-Packed Oven Pancakes: My new favorite cooking hack

April 15, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook. All in all, things move smoothly in my kitchen. There is only one major exception to this: pancakes. My whole family loves them and requests them a lot, but I have never been able to master them. I have set the smoke detector off so many times while making pancakes that we have a extra fan that we pull out whenever I make them. My younger son will ask, “Mama, is today going to be an alarm day?” And then there is the burning that happens—not all the time and never the whole batch, but just enough to make it really frustrating. I have tried all kinds of fats, different skillets, and different temperatures, but I have never been able to smoothly make a full batch of pancakes. It is incredibly frustrating.

So when I heard that you could bake a whole batch of pancakes in the oven I was overjoyed! There are a number of reasons why I am completely in love with this method of making pancakes:…

Read More »

Filed Under: Baked Goods, Breakfast, Feeding Kids, Tips and Tricks Tagged With: Easy, healthy, oven, pancakes, spelt, whole wheat

Spelt Cranberry-Walnut Scones

January 13, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Spelt Cranberry-Walnut Scones

Part of my training to become a health coach was to try an elimination diet. The idea was that in all likelihood I was going to have clients who had food allergies or sensitivities and that at some point I would probably find myself recommending an elimination diet. Elimination diets can seem pretty scary and so it was important that I be able to speak from experience about what it was like to live through a week of eliminating some of my favorite foods. So I tried it. It was challenging, but not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, and I learned a huge amount about myself. The main thing I discovered was that while I am not allergic to wheat, it does make me very, very sleepy.  The 2 o’clock slump? Wheat. The almost falling asleep while driving my kids? Wheat….

Read More »

Filed Under: Breakfast, Freezer Cooking, Lunch Box Food, Snacks, Uncategorized Tagged With: dried cranberries, Easy, healthy, spelt, walnuts

Spelt Sweet Potato Muffins

November 19, 2013 By Jessica Braider 2 Comments

Spelt Sweet Potato Muffins

I don’t know about at your house, but things at our house have been crazy busy! One way you can tell is that our freezer has gotten very, very empty. How is that a sign? Well, it means I have been depending heavily on my leftovers stockpile for dinners, as well as my quick breakfasts stash.

So today I am replenishing my stores a bit. I made a big trip to the grocery store (first trip since our CSA ended for the season, such a hard transition) and have been whipping up some goodies. One of which is a new favorite recipe in our house: Spelt Sweet Potato Muffins.

…

Read More »

Filed Under: Breakfast, Cooking with Kids, Feeding Kids, Lunch Box Food, Picky Eaters, Snacks Tagged With: oats, spelt, sweet potato, Vegetables, walnuts, yogurt

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…

logo
Food Advertisements by
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
logo
Food Advertisements by

Blog

  • BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
  • Zucchini & Eggplant Pie
  • Lessons Learned from Hospital Food
  • Vanilla Mini-Cupcakes with Tangy Chocolate Glaze
  • Grilled Fennel and Red Onion Salad
logo
Food Advertisements by

Subscribe

Get my posts delivered directly to your inbox!

logo
Food Advertisements by
my healthy aperture gallery
recipe redux

Tags

Beans black beans broccoli carrot cheese chicken cooking corn dessert dried cranberries Easy eggplant eggs family feta food waste fruit greens healthy healthy eating holiday holidays kale kids leftovers mexican oats onion parenting parmesan pizza quick self care snacks soup Spinach stress sweet potato time management tomato Vegetables vegetarian walnuts yogurt zucchini

Copyright © 2023 The Balanced Kitchen · Foodie Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in