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!
- 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
- To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line two mini-cupcake pans with liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and stir until there are no lumps.
- 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.
- To make the glaze:
- Combine the yogurt, cocoa powder and vanilla in a large bowl.
- Using an electric mixer, slowly beat in the confectioner’s sugar until there are no lumps.
- 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.
