Baking with Toddlers and Kids
Healthy Lemon Fairy Cakes with Raspberry Ricotta Frosting
If so, these lemon fairy cakes might be for you. Without an ounce of refined sugar in the cupcake, or in the frosting, they’re made with all natural ingredients and sweetened with maple syrup. They also have less butter than most cake recipes, and yet they’re still the lightest, fluffiest and tastiest fairy cakes.
So you can enjoy your baking with your toddler almost guilt free!
Summary
Prep: 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Makes: 9 lemon fairy cakes
How to make lemon fairy cakes?
Lemon fairy cakes can be made like ordinary fairy cakes but with a little lemon zest and lemon juice added in.
Here we have added a tablespoon of each to the fairy cake batter. We find it gives it enough of a lemon zing without being overpowering.
How we’ve made these lemon fairy cakes healthier?
Baking with maple syrup
This particular dessert replaces sugar with maple syrup. We’ve done this on a number of our baking recipes as we find it leads to healthier desserts.
Real maple syrup as it has lower glycemic index than table sugar.
Why is the glycemic index important?
The Glycemic Index (GI) is a scale from 1-100 of how quickly a food is broken down into glucose in the blood stream.
This leads to a rise in blood sugar. So foods that have a high glycemic index (like white sugar) are often associated with some rather hyperactive behaviour in kids that you may have noticed!
Maple syrup stands at a glycemic index of 55 while table sugar is at 65. We also like how maple syrup (the real kind) has certain vitamins with sugar does not. According to Parker’s Maple some of these are: Riboflavin, Manganese, Zinc and Potassium.
A little less butter
We’ve used butter but about half of what a normal fairy cake recipe may have, just to make it that little bit lighter.
At the same time these lemon fairy cakes are still fluffy, sweet and delicious.
So all in all a lighter, healthier dessert that tastes great too!
Healthy lemon fairy cakes – your step by step guide:
What you’ll need:
Lemon fairy cakes
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup maple syrup (120 ml)
- 45 grams unsalted butter (softened or just melted)
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup plain flour (120 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon salt (remove if using salted butter)
Fresh raspberry ricotta frosting
- 220 grams soft ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ fresh raspberries
Beat the maple syrup and butter
Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F) fan setting.
Grease a 9-hole cupcake tin or line the holes with cupcake cases.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat the maple syrup with the softened butter for a minute.
Whisk in the egg
Add in the egg and whisk for another minute or two.
Add in the remaining wet ingredients
Add the Greek yogurt, vegetable oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract and stir.
Mix in the dry ingredients
Gradually add in the flour along with the baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and salt. Stir until just combined.
Your lemon fairy cake batter should be like a thick paste in consistency.
Spoon into your prepared cupcake tin
Spoon the mixture into each of the cupcake cases until they’re about ¾ full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes
Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
Blend the ingredients to make your raspberry frosting
In the meantime make your frosting.
Place the fresh raspberries, soft ricotta cheese, Greek yogurt, maple syrup and lemon zest into a small mixer.
Blend until you get a smooth, pink, creamy mixture.
Chill the frosting
Place it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve the cupcakes.
If you’re frosting them straight away, wait until they’ve cooled completely to room temperature after baking before starting.
Frost your lemon fairy cakes
You can frost these fairy cakes in one of two ways.
Easy topping
Add a simple layer by spooning the frosting onto the cupcake and swirling it round using the back of your spoon.
Layered piping
- Place the chilled frosting in a piping bag with a ribbed nozzle.
- Start on the outside of the cupcake and create a full circle.
- In the same motion continue to make another circle inside the first, with half of this inner circle overlapping the outer circle.
- Keep moving inwards until you reach the top of the cupcake, in the centre. Then lift and release the frosting in one movement.
It’s worth noting that this fresh raspberry ricotta frosting is a bit wetter than ordinary buttercream frosting which is why we recommend chilling it before beginning.
Store these cupcakes in the fridge in an airtight container and return to room temperature before serving.
Healthy Lemon Fairy Cakes with Raspberry Ricotta Frosting
Healthy Lemon Fairy Cakes with Raspberry Ricotta Frosting
Ingredients
Lemon Fairy Cakes – wet ingredients:
- ½ cup maple syrup (120 ml)
- 45 grams unsalted butter softened or melted
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lemon Fairy Cakes – dry ingredients:
- 1 cup plain flour (120 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon salt (remove if using salted butter)
Raspberry ricotta frosting
- 220 grams soft ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup fresh raspberries
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F) fan setting. Grease 9 holes of a cupcake tin or line them with cupcake cases.
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In a medium size mixing bowl, beat the maple syrup and butter together. Add in the egg and and whisk together for a minute or two.
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Add the rest of your wet ingredients: your Greek yogurt, vegetable oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well.
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Add in your dry ingredients by gradually pouring in the flour, followed by the baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and salt. Stir until just combined. Your fairy cake batter is ready.
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Spoon the batter into your prepared cupcake holes until they're about three quarters full.
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Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
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In the meantime make your frosting. Blend your raspberries, soft ricotta cheese, Greek yogurt, maple syrup and lemon zest together using a small mixer. You should have a thick, pink mixture by the end.
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Place your frosting in the fridge until ready to serve or until the fairy cakes are cooked and have cooled down to room temperature.
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Frost your fairy cakes. Either by simply spooning a little frosting onto the cupcake in one layer and swirling it round with the back of the spoon. Or place your frosting in a piping bag with a ribbed nozzle. Move in concentric circles starting from the outside and moving towards the the inside of the cupcake. Make swirls that slightly overlap each other, to build up a thick frosting layer.
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Enjoy these cupcakes straight away or store in an airtight container in the fridge overnight.
