Lemon Yoghurt Cake

I made this delicious lemon yoghurt cake for my mum’s birthday today.

It was recently featured in Best and is a Mary Berry recipe.

The first cake book I bought was one of Mary’s and as far as I am concerned, you can’t go wrong with a one of her recipes.

Great to see her on the Great British Bake Off on BBC2 on a Tuesday night.

Keep this cake in the fridge and eat within a week (if it last that long). 

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

(Makes a round, deep 20cm cake tin)

Ingredients:

300g Caster Sugar

50g Butter, softened
175g Self-Raising Flour

3 Large Eggs, separated

225g Greek-style Yoghurt

Zest of 1 Lemon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4. Grease the cake tin and line the base with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Beat together the sugar, butter and egg yolks in a bowl.
3. Add the yoghurt and lemon zest then beat the mixture until smooth. Gently fold in the flour.
4. Whisk the egg whites to a soft peak and carefully fold into the mixture.
5. Turn into the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour or until the cake is well risen and firm to the touch.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Lemon Icing

Ingredients:

100g Icing Sugar, sifted

1 ½ tbsp Lemon Juice

Directions:

1. Mix together the sifted icing sugar and the lemon juice. Pour over the cold cake, smooth over with a palette knife and leave to set.

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes

This is the first of hopefully many cake recipes on my blog. 

I recently attended a Creative Cupcake course run at Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline, Fife where this was one of the recipes.

This Cosmopolitan Cupcake is alcohol free so it suitable for children but please feel free to add spirits for adult only versions. You can use this recipe for any shop bought cocktail mix should you fancy a margarita, mojito or pina colada.

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes

(Makes 12 Cupcakes)

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

210g Plain Flour

½ tbsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

100g, Unsalted Butter, room temperature

190g Granulated Sugar

2 Large Eggs, room temperature

1 ½ Limes, zested and juiced

¼ tsp Vanilla Extract

120ml Buttermilk

20ml Cosmopolitan Mix

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C / Gas Mark 3 and line a 12-hole muffin tray with baking cases.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir with a fork to blend.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar on a medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla.
5. With the mixer on a low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending the dry ingredients. Beat each addition until just incorporated.
6. Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake cases, filling each about ¾ full. Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Once cupcakes are cool, lightly poke holes in the top with a fork. Brush the tops lightly with the Cosmopolitan mix.

 Cosmopolitan Buttercream

Ingredients:

110g Unsalted Butter, room temperature

40ml Cosmopolitan Mix

1 Lime, zested and juiced

500g Icing Sugar, sifted

Red Food colouring

12 cocktail umbrellas

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, cosmopolitan mix, 1 tsp of lime juice, lime zest, a few drops of food colouring and half the icing sugar until smooth – this can take several minutes with a hand mixer. Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat again until the buttercream is smooth and creamy.
2. Top each cupcake with a cocktail umbrella.