Healthier Option - Lemon Pound Cake

Ever wanted to have a delicious slice of cake to go with your coffee, whether is it for breakfast or for a break time, but worried about the calories? Now you don't have to! 


This wonderful rich, sweet lemon pound cake is downright zingy and the candied lemon slices are a beautiful bittersweet topping that’s better than frosting. The best part, though: when you taste it you won’t miss all the butter we cut out compared with a traditional pound cake recipe. It is perfect with a nice warm cup of coffee for a little perk me up during the day. 

The recipe makes 12 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or white whole-wheat flour (see Tips)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large lemons, divided
• 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
• 3 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature (see Tips)
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat milk
• 
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-by-5-inch (or similar-size) loaf pan with cooking spray; dust with flour and tap out any excess.
2. Sift whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl.
3. Finely grate 2 tablespoons zest from 2 of the lemons (see Tips); set the lemons aside. Beat 3/4 cup sugar, cream cheese, butter and the zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the egg and beat well. Reduce speed to medium and beat in milk; the mixture will look curdled.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in 2 batches, beating just until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
5. Bake the cake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the sides and turn the cake out onto the rack.
6. While the cake is cooling, squeeze 5 tablespoons juice from the zested lemons. Trim the ends off the remaining whole lemon and very thinly slice; discard any seeds. Heat the lemon juice and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon slices and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Use a fork to transfer the lemon slices to a bowl. Continue simmering the syrup until slightly thickened and beginning to turn golden yellow, 2 to 4 minutes.
7. Set the rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Poke holes all over the top of the warm cake with a wooden skewer, 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep. Spoon the glaze over the cake, poking more holes if the glaze does not sink in. Arrange the lemon slices on top. Let the cake cool completely before slicing.

Tips and Notes:

• 
  Make Ahead Tip: Using toothpicks to hold the plastic wrap away from the glaze, loosely wrap the cake and store at room temperature for up to 1 day. Equipment: Loaf pan

• Tips: Whole-wheat pastry flour is milled from soft wheat. It contains less gluten than regular whole-wheat flour and helps ensure a tender result in delicate baked goods while providing the nutritional benefits of whole grains. Find it at large supermarkets and natural-foods stores. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.
• White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole-wheat flour. It is available at large ­supermarkets and natural-foods stores and online at bobsredmill.com or kingarthurflour.com. Store it in the freezer.
• To bring an egg to room temperature, either set it out on the counter for 15 minutes or submerge it (in the shell) in a bowl of lukewarm (not hot) water for 5 minutes.
• When we call for citrus zest (i.e., 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest) we are referring to the finely grated outer rind (not including the white pith) of the citrus fruit. Use a microplane grater or the smallest holes of a box grater to grate the zest. In some cases we call for long strips or threads of zest. To get long strips, peel the citrus with a vegetable peeler. To remove long threads, use a 5-hole citrus zester or remove long strips of zest with a vegetable peeler, then use a knife to cut into very thin strips.

Have fun baking!

Cheers, 

Cupcake Pony Sg Admin - Timothy

Strawberry Cupcake w Cream Cheese Frosting

Its always summer here is Singapore, when the weather gets too humid and/or hot, our team always crave for a fresh and light tasty cupcake to beat the heat!

And nothing is better than our Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes! (especially when they are eaten cold)
Soft and fluffy cake with sweet tangy strawberry bits, matched with a light and creamy cream cheese frosting, yum! A cup of iced coffee or home made lemonade sure do go well with this cupcake!

Here's how we do it...

Fresh Strawberry Cupcake Recipe (Makes 34 Cupcakes)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 1/4 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 egg white
1 cup milk
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

*The original recipe calls for unsalted butter, but we preferred it with salted butter and lesser vanilla extract.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F
2. Whisk together both the flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
3. With an electric mixer, medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla till light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Add eggs and egg white, one at a time, till fully mixed in. Scrap sides of bowl when needed.
4. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in flour mixture in two batches. Alternating with milk, mix well.
5. Lastly, fold in strawberries with a spatula manually. 
6. Divide batter in to paper liners, 3/4 full. Bake for 25-30 mins, or until golden and when a cake tester inserted into the cakes center comes out clean.
7. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 15 mins then remove from baking pan and let cool completely before frosting.

*(This recipe yields a lot of cupcakes, you can cut the recipes in half to make 15-17 cupcakes, do the same for the frosting recipe.)

Frosting Recipe:

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 ounces unsalted butter. room temperature
3 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*(If frosting seems to be too soft, add more icing sugar till desired consistency)

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, whisk together cream cheese and butter on high speed until smooth. About 5 mins, scrap down sides of bowl whenever necessary. 
2. Reduce speed to low and add in icing powder slowly until fully incorporated.
3. Add vanilla and mix. Turn mixer on to medium high speed and whip till frosting is light and fluffy.
4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes, decorate as desired, and refrigerate cupcakes for 2 hours before consumption.

Hope you will have fun with this recipe and enjoy your cupcakes!

Cheers,
Cupcake Pony SG Admin - Aveline

Icing Techniques for Cupcakes

This video tutorial is by far the favorite of the the Cupcake Pony team!
It is comprehensive and the designs are so pretty and simple to do at home, with any of your favorite frosting and decorations.

Practice makes perfect so keep frosting those cupcakes!

Cheers,
Cupcake Pony SG Admin - Aveline

Vanilla Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

No matter how many types of cupcakes our team has baked, or tried, we always fall back onto one, Vanilla Cupcakes. There is just something special about this simple, light and fluffy cakes that makes us want more. Paired with smooth dark chocolate frosting, perfect for an any day treat!

Furthermore, they are so simple to bake and decorate!

Here's how we do it...

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe (Makes 12-15 cupcakes)

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup Canola oil (or any other vegetable oil that does not have a strong smell/flavor)

1/2 cup buttermilk

(or 1/2 cup normal milk plus 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice, keep aside for 5mins before using)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. 
2. In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with whisk, and set aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and oil, beat till combined. 
4. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add half of the milk, then the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk. Beat until just combined. Scrap down the side of the bowl. 
5. The batter will be thin. Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full. 
6. Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes. 
7. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack. 

Frosting Recipe:

2 3/4 cups icing suger

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

6 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 pieces of dark chocolate, for decoration

Directions:

1. Shift icing sugar and cocoa powder to ensure that there are no lumps.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed till fluffy, about 2 mins.
3. Gradually add shifted sugar&cocoa powder alternating with the heavy cream and vanilla - beat on low speed after each addition. Frost cupcakes when they are cooled - (you can add more sugar if the frosting taste too bitter, or add a little salt if it turns out too sweet)

We frosted ours using a Wilton 1M tip, and added a piece of dark chocolate as decoration.

Hope you will enjoy baking this delicious cupcakes!

Cheers,

Cupcake Pony SG Admin - Aveline

Our very 1st post.

Hello Everyone! Greetings from the CupcakePonySG team!

We are so excited to be writing to you guys.
The team would like to use this space to share with your guys recipes of our favorite baked goods as well as baking techniques! Information on this blog might not always come from us personally, as we might be sharing tutorials from other bakers(we will credit them!).

Please give us your support and check our blog often :) Thank you!