simple, light, airy, springy and flavorful cupcakes! perfect with a nice cup of tea. we actually had some of these cupcakes for breakfast also...!
the ground almonds give a perfect texture, similar to our red fruits and almond cupcakes. honey replaces sugar and add extra flavors.
plus, it's a good way to use the egg whites you may have left.
again, our topping is made from mascarpone and cream cheese. we don't really like butter cream at home, so we tend to use a mascarpone/cream cheese mixture instead. the cream cheese brings a salty flavor wich offsets the sweetness and creaminess of the mascarpone.
you can also replace the topping by a lemon glaze (lemon juice + icing sugar) if you don't want a creamy topping.
serving 12 to 15 cupcakes:
for the cakes:
80 g honey
3 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
3 cl olive oil
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp lemon zests
juice of 1 lemon
80 g ground almonds (almond powder)
50 g flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp poppy seeds
for the topping:
4 tbsp mascarpone
3 tbsp cream cheese (philadelphia)
juice of 1/2 lemon
poppy seeds
preheat the oven to 175°C (350 F).
melt honey.
in a bowl, mix together honey, olive oil, heavy cream, lemon juice and zest, egg yolks.
add flour, ground almonds, baking powder and poppy seeds.
in another bowl, beat egg whites. whisk 1/4 of beaten egg whites into previous mixture, then gently fold in remaining egg whites.
pour mixture into paper baking cases.
bake for 25-30 minutes. leave to cool completely.
prepare topping: whisk together mascarpone, cream cheese and lemon juice.
using a pastry bag, pipe topping on top of the cupackes.
spread some poppy seeds on the top.
piece of advice:
the cakes may sink after removing them from the oven. it's not a big problem as you'll put the topping on them!
if you don't like honey, you can replace it with caster sugar (90 g), and if you don't like olive oil, you can replace it with melted butter (70 g)
