Lemon & yoghurt cake with lemon curd

I’m all for celebrations but that makes me the minority in our small family. I go ahead anyway and hope that people come to the party - literally!  It helps that whilst I may want to jump up and down for the occasion I am definitely not one for large, full blown parties. Intimate gatherings with family and close friends are preferred - something you can look back on with fondness in years to come. A gentle marking of the occasion. This is what I did for my daughter's 21st.  

The cake is from The Best of Annabel Langbein. I added the lemon curd filling as I had reduced the tin size and made a taller cake (the original version is noted below). 

I was pretty pleased with how the cake decoration turned out. My inspiration came from the stunningly pretty cakes from The Caker in Auckland.

Lemon & yoghurt cake with lemon curd

3 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
juice and finely grated rind of 4 lemons
2 cups rice bran oil (or any mild flavoured oil)
1 3/4 cups unsweetened Greek yoghurt
4 cups self-raising flour
a pinch of salt


Lemon Curd filling
about 1/4 cup lemon curd or enough for a 0.4cm layer

Icing

75g butter, softened but not melted
250g cream cheese
juice & finely grated rind of 1 lemon
4 cups icing sugar


Topping (optional - feel free to decorate as you wish). I used the following.

Fresh As freeze dried raspberry powder
Fresh As freeze dried blueberry slices
2 small packets of edible flowers (or pick your own but ensure they are clean and spray/insect free before placing on cake)

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 28-30cm cake tin. 

In a large food processor or cake mixer, blend together the sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest, oil and yoghurt.  Add flour and salt and blend briefly until just combined. Pour the mix into the prepared tin and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 10-20 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack.  Once completely cold, use a large serrated knife to split the cake horizontally through the centre. Spread the lemon curd about 0.4cm thick and replace the top of the cake. 

Icing

Mix icing ingredients until smooth in a large food processor or cake mixer (you may have to split this if your food processing bowl is small). Spread the icing over the entire cake and decorate as desired. I used a palette knife to smooth the top and make angled swoops on the side.

Easter Egg Cupcakes

It’s a given that if you like chocolate you’re going to think you’re in seventh heaven around Easter time.  Chocolate galore and, thanks to Easter starting shortly after Christmas in supermarkets, plenty of time to enjoy it. 

There’s always the usual favourites in this house – a large Cadbury rabbit for daughter (“it’s a tradition, Mum!”) and a cute little Lindt golden bunny bought for me, by me (no point in leaving yourself out of the equation is there?).   And, if Bill’s been good, the Easter Bunny may just bring him something too.  He has to eat his fast though – you snooze, you loose when I’m around chocolate.

In true form, I scoffed the first packet of Cadbury mini-eggs bought to decorate the cupcakes before I’d even got to weekend baking and had to buy another pack. These ones made it safely to the topping and they are rather cute with their speckled coating.

Thanks to Alessandra and Sweet NewZealand, I’d been given some Fresh As freeze-dried raspberry powder and used that to dust the icing.  It gives a nice sharp tang to counteract the sweetness of the cupcake.  I also had a Christmas gift of Vahlrona chocolate pearls.  I originally thought these were pure chocolate balls ready for melting (well, there’s nothing on the pack to say otherwise!). Thankfully I Googled them before making the horrible mistake of melting what were actually crunchy little chocolate-coated biscuit bites.  They added a nice crunchy texture and I was pretty pleased with the end result. 

I’m always a bit apprehensive when it comes to icing cupcakes but after a couple of re-runs of the lovely Lydia Bakes' icing tutorial, I reckon I made an acceptable attempt even if I was lacking in consistency of style.

I made these cupcakes on a Saturday morning and, after sampling a couple over the weekend and giving most away, I popped two in the fridge.  Happily, Bill didn’t notice his share (may have been the placing at the back of the fridge? J) and I was able to polish it off for morning tea on Tuesday – and it tasted good.  Just to show I'm not completely selfish, I am sharing this post with We Should Cocoa for the chocolate and Easter special hosted by Rachel and also with Marnelli at Sweets and Brains who is hosting Sweet New Zealand.

Happy Easter everyone.

Easter Egg Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes 

100g standard flour

20g good quality cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1½ tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g butter, at room temperature

120ml whole milk

1 egg

¼ tsp vanilla essence

Cream cheese icing 

300g icing sugar, sifted

50g unsalted butter at room temperature

125g cream cheese
Food colouring of your choice

Topping 

Decorate with chocolate sprinkles or easter themed decorations.  I dusted the Fresh As freeze-dried raspberry powder on top of the icing and sprinkled on a few Vahlrona crunchy pearls (tiny beads of biscuit filled chocolate).  To finish each cupcake, I decorated with Cadbury’s Mini Eggs, which resemble real eggs with their speckled candy shells, and a little fresh flower.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F).  Place some paper cupcake cases in a cupcake or muffin tin(s).

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a cake mixing bowl and add the sugar, salt and butter.  Using the paddle attachment, beat on a slow speed until the ingredients are combined and resemble a sandy consistency.

In a jug, whisk the milk, egg and vanilla together.  Slowly pour about half the liquid into the flour mixture with the mixer on a low speed then turn up high for a short burst to get rid of any lumps.

Slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture with the mixer on slow, scraping down the sides of the bowl.  Mix until smooth (do not overmix).

Spoon into the paper cases about half to two-thirds full (this will depend on the size of your cases as there are so many variants). 

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave for 5 minutes in the tin then transfer to a wired cake rack to cool. 

Ice and decorate when cool.

Cream Cheese Icing 

Place the icing sugar and butter in a cake mixing bowl with paddle attachment (or use a hand-held electric whisk).  With the cake mixer on a slow to medium speed, beat until the mix comes together and is well mixed.

Add the cream cheese and beat until incorporated.  Turn mixer up to medium-high and beat at least 5 minutes until icing is light and fluffy (do not overbeat).

Add your choice of food colouring and beat until incorporated.  I split the mix into two equal parts then added tiny drops of food colouring to get a lemon and a pink shade.

Recipes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Coffee + walnut cupcakes

This was supposed to be about coffee and walnut cake but I’d misplaced the recipe.  I’ll call it serendipity for these are just the texture and taste I was looking for in my cake; reminding me of good old-fashioned coffee and walnut cakes we had in Edinburgh way back in my childhood.

They deliver just the right amount of rich coffee mouthfuls, crunchy with chopped walnuts and topped with a light coffee mascarpone cream.  I think they’d also taste good with a coffee buttercream icing so I will make that the next time around when I can practice my piping skills L. 

I topped the cakes with walnut halves and the remainder with chocolate covered coffee beans.  I preferred the latter mainly because there are already plenty of walnuts tucked inside and the beans give them a contemporary look.

These are for Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blogging event hosted this month by Delissimon.

Coffee & walnut cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes

2 tsp instant coffee

100ml boiling water

100g butter, softened

50g light brown sugar

50g muscovado sugar

2 large eggs

100g self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

35g walnuts, chopped finely

walnuts/chocolate covered coffee beans for decoration

Icing

200g tub mascarpone

2 tbsp muscovado (or dark brown) sugar

3 tsp cold coffee mix (from recipe above)

Heat oven to 180°C. 

Mix the two teaspoons of instant coffee with the boiling water and leave to cool.

Place paper cupcake cases into a 12-hole cupcake tin.

Beat the butter and two sugars together until creamy.  Add the eggs, flour and 4 teaspoons of the cold coffee (keep leftover coffee aside to add to icing) and a pinch of salt.  Beat to combine.  Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Spoon the mix evenly amongst the paper cases.  Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with your fingers.

Cool for a few minutes in the tin and then transfer to a cake rack to cool completely.

Once cool, spread the icing as thickly as you like over the cakes and top with a walnut or chocolate covered coffee bean.

Icing 

Beat the mascarpone, sugar and coffee together until smooth. 

Cranberry, vanilla and yogurt loaf

I was having a sloth-like morning.  Everything I touched turned to “no”.  Didn’t feel like going out, didn’t feel like baking.  Three times I started gathering ingredients for recipes and three times I put them away.  Most unproductive.  I loathe using the phrase “I can’t be bothered”, but that’s how I felt.

Later in the afternoon the apathy lifted and a sudden burst of energy resulted in this lovely loaf which wasn’t even in the running earlier.  It does have the air of a “cheer me now” cake so perhaps it was just what I needed.  Each slice has little bursts of cranberries and a taste and texture reminiscent of a madeira cake.  The icing could be optional but I urge you to spread it on.  It adds a crunch, a tang, a touch of sweetness and just makes it look way more special than an ordinary fruit loaf. 

This little happy cake is my entry to Sweet New Zealand hosted this month by the delightful Sue at Couscous & Consciousness.  

Cranberry, vanilla and yogurt loaf

100g butter

100g caster sugar

300g Greek-style (or natural) yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

250g standard flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g dried cranberries

for the icing

100g icing sugar, sifted

1-2 tbsp fresh orange juice, sieved

pink food colouring

Preheat oven to 160°C (180°F)

Grease and line a 1kg (2lb) loaf tin. 

Cream the butter and sugar in a cake mixer until soft and fluffy (you will need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times in the process). 

Add the yogurt and vanilla and mix on lowest speed until just combined.

Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda together and fold gently into the mix in two batches.  Add the cranberries and fold in gently (check the cranberries do not stick together in bunches).  Do not overmix.

Spoon the mix into the loaf tin.  Level the top with a palette knife dipped in a little hot water. 

Bake in the oven for approximately 50 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely, then ice.

For the icing

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add enough orange juice to make a smooth consistency, not too runny or too thick.  (Add more icing sugar if too runny or more orange juice if too thick).  Add a drop of food colouring.  I use a skewer for this and dip it into the colouring, adding enough to reach the desired colour.  Mix thoroughly until smooth and colouring incorporated.  Spread or drizzle over the cake and leave to set.

Adapted from a recipe for sour cherry yogurt cake from Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell.