Lemonade seems to be one of the defining items of summer, does it not? When you think of summer, one can feel this thirst for lemonade… as well as a desire for the crunch of fresh fruit. Strawberries and lemons make for fabulous partners. Vitamin C + ascorbic acid = amazing conservation. This cupcake was one that immensly appealed to those who usually dislike sweets- and love fruit. I’m glad to say they were the recipients of some excellent feedback- “I usually don’t like cakes or sweet things but these were pretty darn fantastic!” “I loved them. Those strawberry cupcakes were the best!” “I usually hate icing- but that was some really good icing.” If that’s not enough to convince you, I don’t know what is :)
The cupcake itself is very low fat- using all canola oil in favour of butter, and with plain low-fat yogurt. Yum! The icing, however… well… let’s pretend that’s equally healthy, shall we?
Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Adapted from Lemon Yogurt Cupcake @ Smells Like Bean Spirit
Ingredients:
- 1 & 1/3 cups King Arthur organic cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp Sicilian sea salt, large grain
- 3 large cage-free eggs
- 1 cup plain low-fat Stonyfield organic yogurt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
- zest of 1 small orange
- 1/8 tsp 2x vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely-chopped strawberries
- 1/4 cup organic canola oil
Process:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk together briskly the eggs, vanilla, zest, juices (lemon + orange), and sugar in a large bowl; set aside.
- Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder into a small bowl.
- Mix the flour mixture into the wet mixture in two batches, mixing briskly and thoroughly but not overmixing.
- Pour in the oil and mix this in as well, still briskly. Then fold in the strawberry bits.
- Pour into baking cups (small, large, both, you pick!) and bake for 18-20 minutes (depending on the heat of your oven). Then let cool in a wire rack while you prepare the icing!
Icing Ingredients:
- 7 tablespoons soy butter, softened
- zest of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/4 tsp 2x vanilla extract
- 2-3 large strawberries, finely chopped
- about 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
The ‘about’ in reference to the powdered sugar is because this depends on the consistency you’re going for. I wanted a thick, creamy icing that would pipe easily and hold its shape; but if you’re going for runnier, then add less sugar, and for a more thick icing, add more, and so forth. It’s not overly sweet, surprisingly, but that’s thanks to the lemon. It’s very rich, and goes very nicely with the airy cake.
This one’s a cupcake for friends and family who claim they aren’t dessert people. Make a batch of these and prove them wrong! :)
SPECIAL NOTE: The one complaint I had concerning these- and it was the same excat complaint every time- was regarding the texture of the cupcake around the strawberry bits, which sort of melted into the cake during baking. The cupcake became rather gooey around these parts, mostly due to the excess moisture being thrown out by the berry pieces. To combat this, try either a) drying them on a paper towel for 1-2 hours prior to baking (thanks, Jon!); or b) masserating them in sugar to ‘sweat out’ the moisture, then dry on a paper towel. It all depends on the sweetness level you would like your cupcake to have! Another alternative is to use method b but then rinse the berries thoroughly to remove the added sugar which has not been absorbed- this may reduce the sweetness by a bit.
