Monday, October 26, 2009

Y is lemon 'Y'oghurt Cupcakes

Lemon yoghurt cake topped with blueberry swiss meringue buttercream

What comes to mind when you think of yoghurt? To me it is instantly berries - delicious, fantastic berries. When yoghurt won the poll I knew straight away that I wanted to incorporate berries into the cupcakes somehow. But then I remembered the waffle cupcakes, they had blueberries in the cake and I only made them a short while ago. So I decided that the cake portion of these cupcakes would have to have a different flavour, something that goes well with berries. And that my friends is how I decided upon lemon yoghurt cupcakes.


Lemon Yoghurt Cupcakes (from Best Recipes)
Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tsp lemon juice (I used 3)
Grated zest of 2 lemons
3/4 cup oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 cup natural yoghurt (I used low-fat)
2 cups self-raising flour
  1. Preheat oven to 180 C and line 2 12-hole muffin trays with cupcake cases.
  2. In a bowl mix sugar, eggs, salt, juice, zest and oil with a fork.
  3. Add remaining ingredients and combine well.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.


Now seen as I had some frozen blueberries left over from the previously made waffle cupcakes I decided that the buttercream would be blueberry flavoured, so....

Blueberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

4 egg whites
270g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
500g blueberries, pureed
  1. Follow the directions for Almond SMBC but replace the vanilla and almond with the pureed blueberries.
  2. Once the cupcake have cooled pipe a swirl of the SMBC onto each cupcake.
Doesn't it look pretty...


And just for a bit of fun I thought I would show you my miniature photography set up today. Normally I have a big light box out but I couldn't be bothered moving it. So a piece of paper and three lamps seemed to work quite nicely.


The ratings?

Me - 7/10 - I love the blueberry SMBC but the cake was a bit dense/too moist for me. Still yummy though :)
Mat - 7/10 - it was good but he is over lemon.

24 comments:

Rhianne said...

this looks amazing and I love seeing your photography setup as well!

Chatterbox said...

That's 'art the yummy way.'
Loved the look of these yummy looking cupcakes. I am great fan of yogurt. I love it in all forms and flavors.

You've done an awesome work at food photography as well.

Keep up the 'yummy' work.

Cheers!!

Xiaolu said...

Man those lovely swirls of frosting get to me every time, Alicia! Did you really puree over 3 cups of fresh blueberries? My converter tells me that's what 500g equals but it seems a bit high and I wanted to check. Love the photo setup too. What bulbs do you use?

Sue said...

Your cupcakes always look like works of art, Alecia! I love the way you leave a little of the cake showing and swirl the frosting on top. What size decorator tip do you generally use?

Chantelle {fat mum slim} said...

They look yummy!

I've loved watching your photography go from strength to strength. :)

Sugar Daze said...

Wow, Alicia! You have outdone yourself. I LOVE the flecks of blueberries in that swirl. So gorgeous!

Lulu froufrou said...

my kind of cupcake - yummo!

Anonymous said...

Yummy!! I was inspired by you yesterday when baking cupcakes and instead of using a spoon to put on the frosting I used a piping bag and tip!!! I'll post a pic later on my blog.

Love the photography set up! I've always wondered how you got that lovely clear white background....

apparentlyjessy said...

That frosting looks so delicious. I like the flavour idea, and I really like dense cupcakes, must remember to give this a try.

Elissa said...

Cupcake looks great as do your photos. I always wondered how you took your pictures of the cupcakes, and now I know. Very professional and creative!

Chantel said...

The cake I made with Yoghurt was a lemon one too and it turned out a bit like a mudcake.

I loved your berry buttercream - it did look wonderful!

I'm yet to make my lightbox. I tried one day and it didn't work well. I bought some white material the other week and I'm going to try again.

You did a wonderful job on these cupcakes!

alissa said...

im so glad you showed us your photo setup! very creative - love it!

Mary-Laure said...

This is just making me too hungry! Such beautiful deliciousness!

Miss Dot said...

2 things: 1) I really like the cupcake liners you used. I think black (or is it dark brown?) always makes cupcakes look crisp and smart. 2) I've been looking into setting my own little light station/light box. I like your setup -- do you find the little elephant to be helpful? How does it affect the quality of your photos? What do your photos look like WITHOUT it?

;)

Rose said...

They sound great, and the sky high icing looks delicious! Love your lighting set up, so easy too, thanks for sharing :)

Rose

Anonymous said...

Xiaolu - I guess it must of been 3 cups, I just pureed down a 500g box of blueberries, which in the end doesn't leave you with that much blueberry puree. As for the bulbs I use daylight/natural light bulbs, just avoid the warm coloured bulbs.

Sue - I used a 1M tip for these cupcakes.

Miss Dot - the liners are dark brown (I love them too) and yes Eric the elephant definitely helps :P - the cupcakes just don't look as happy without him.

Gala said...

The frosting looks sooo good!
Thank you for giving us a peek of that lighting area.... :)

Katie said...

Wow your cupcakes look stunning and I love the speckled blueberry buttercream. I love your little photo studio - certainly results in good pics

Ash said...

I love this icing too!! I love the little bits of blueberry. I would love it if my lamps gave off that white light.. mines to yellow for my liking so I just settle on natual light!
looks great!

drollgirl said...

i love lemon! but i am not sure about that frosting. i bet once i tasted it i would love it!

and mat is over lemon. ahahhahah!!!! that is so funny! sometimes it happens. maybe he will come back around to lemon someday. :)

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Those sound good! I haven't had lemon in a while so I'm not over it yet.

Btw, I have a light box but hardly ever use it....can we say lazy? :)
~ingrid

Grammatically Delicious Designs said...

I always wished I had a light box. Now I'll make one just like your example. Thanks for the tip, and the cupcakes look fabulous.

danielle

emma wallace said...

Oh my goodness! What beautiful icing! And it seems impossible for a cake to be too dense/moist. Sounds wonderful.

iamemmamusic.blogspot.com

Amanda said...

Mmm... I agree with Emma. Bring on the moist/dense lemon cake! This sounds like a winning combination to me.