Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes

If you couldn't tell, I absolutely love, adore, & worship desserts. Ask me to pick a favorite and I'd first salivate thinking of all the delicious treats I've come to know and love. Tiramisu? Bourbon Bread Pudding? Mint Chocolate Chip ice Cream....Oh my. The choices. The calories.


Believe it or not, I'd have to say that I'd pick angel food as one of my top 3 favorites (I just can't pick a favorite, ok?). A treat that even Gym Barbie could love, angel food is essentially made from cake flour, egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. Read my lips: I am yummy but fat free!

I've always wanted to make my {one of top 3} favorite dessert, but buying a huge tube pan that I'll use for nothing more than one dessert seems like a whole lot of commitment to me. You also need to let the whole angel food cake cool upside down for an hour. Not one for patience or large kitchen pans, homemade angel food cake hasn't really been an option until I came across this tasty recipe from Baking Bites.


With a hint of lemon, these cupcakes are light, fluffy and sweet. I absolutely loved them. Hubby loved them too, but finally admitted to me that he felt a little *cheated* because they were so light! Back to chocolate and calories, I guess :)



Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes
Courtesy of Baking Bites
3/4 cup superfine sugar, divided
1/2 cup sifted cake flour
5 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one lemon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, sift together cake flour and 1/4 cup superfine sugar.
3. In a large bowl, beat room-temperature egg whites until foamy, then add in cream of tartar and salt. Gradually add in the remaining 1/2 cup of superfine sugar while the mixer is on high speed, beating the egg whites to soft peaks.
4. Fold in flour mixture, adding it in two or three additions.
5. Divide evenly into prepared muffin tins. The tins should be quite full.
6. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until golden brown. The tops will spring back when lightly touched.
7. Cool on a wire rack (no need to flip them upside down, as is usually done with full-sized angle food cakes).

Lemon Icing Drizzle
Confectioner's Sugar
fresh lemon juice

Combine confectioners sugar with lemon juice until the icing is a drizzable (is that a word?!) consistency. Drizzle on top of cooled cupcakes.
Makes 12 cupcakes.

Pink Strawberry Cupcakes for a Special Birthday

We often joke that Hallmark has a card for just about every obscure, random, and questionable holiday though I believe we celebrate a holiday that Hallmark hasn't quite captured yet. For the 2nd glorious year in a row, hubby and I have celebrated Bling's Birthday. For those that need a little clarification, Bling is my lovely dear friend that I wear everyday on my ring finger.

On New Year's Eve of 2004/2005, hubby proposed and Bling officially became a part of our lives. Since then we've celebrated Bling's Birthday on New Year's Eve, complete with cupcakes and of course, a little champagne. We're easily amused. And clearly a little crazy.

This year, hubby acquiesced to my very girly request of pink, strawberry cupcakes. A man who can make fresh strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing is a keeper, don't you think?! With no guidance from this micro manager of the kitchen, hubby pulled off some absolutely delicious cupcakes that were gone in a just a few short days.


Fresh strawberries are folded into the cupcake batter which is lightened with non-fat yogurt; softened butter eagerly brings back the sinfulness factor. Powdered sugar, more butter and more fresh strawberries make for a sweet, light and very strawberry frosting. These are amazing and I look forward to my upcoming birthday for a few more of these treats!

Bling's Strawberry Cupcakes
Found by Hubby on Cooking with Amy

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
6 ounces vanilla yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Frosting:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 fresh strawberries (we used about 3)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. With a mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg, yogurt and vanilla, blending until smooth.

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add slowly to the wet ingredients and blend, then fold in the strawberries.

3. Divide the mixture equally between the 12 paper-lined cupcake cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

4. Beat together butter, powdered sugar, and mashed strawberry in medium-size bowl until creamy and smooth. Chill frosting for 15 minutes or until thick. Frost cupcakes with a spatula. Keep cupcakes in the refrigerator loosely covered.

Birthday Cupcake Bites

By now, you've probably (taste) spotted, ooh and aahed over Bakerella's fabulous cupcake pop creations. I've always admired from afar, thinking nothing could be cuter but well, more time consuming. Though simple in principle, these babies require a cake to be baked then deconstructed, formed into little balls, then stuck into the freezer for multiple intervals and finished with a few baths in chocolate (hmm....can I take a bath in chocolate)?

Well, after much drooling and envy, I decided to take the plunge and try these out. It's hubby's birthday, what could be a more fitting occasion?


I started with homemade red velvet cake, though you can use a boxed cake mix of nearly any flavor. Next time I'll consider this route since it was so painful to take my beautiful cake and feed it to the food processor. Once your pretty cake is reduced to crumbs, mix it up with some good cream cheese frosting and lick your fingers once or twice. It tastes pretty good, just don't double dip.

Fill in your candy mold, and place the cake ball on top. Pop in the freezer to firm up and dip with your favorite artificially colored chocolate :)

Come to think of it, purple isn't the manliest of colors. I hope hubby can forgive me.

Check out Bakerella's more precise and less stream of consciousness instructions for your own darling cupcake bites.
Here's some tips:

• I purchased my supplies at Do It With Icing in San Diego. If you're not in San Diego, find a local baking supply store which will save you from traveling from store to store searching for ingredients. If you're an internet kind of person, you can buy the candy molds here.
  
• Bakerella's recipe doesn't mention putting the cake into a food processor, though it does on her Martha Stewart video. I went ahead and used the food processor and found it to be easy for crumbling the cake
• I used my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer to combine the cream cheese frosting with the cake crumbs.
  
• When rolling the dough into balls, wash your hands periodically so the dough doesn't stick to your hands
• Colored chocolate can be very thick, so unless you have paramount crystals to thin the chocolate, I found twisting the cupcake bite into the chocolate was the best method
• Consider this a weekend activity because it's time consuming though worth it!
  

Have a great rest of the weekend!