Yogurt Parfait Cupcake Recipe

As promised - the first of three recipes. The cake part of this cupcake is VERY light and airy. It was pretty funny picking it up and comparing it to the rather heavy bacon cupcake. Even in cupcake form - the parfait still masquerades as the "light" option - though in this case it's grams that determines this - and definitely not calories.

Ingredients

for granola topping

1 cup rolled oats

a sprinkle of cinnamon

a pinch nutmeg

a pinch of salt

2 tblsps olive oil

1/8 cup maple syrup

1/8 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

a handful of shelled pistachios and raw pine nuts

for cake

(original recipe found here - but I've messed with it just a tad)

1/3 cup sifted cake flour

3 tblsps cornstarch

2 Tblsps passion fruit tea (or other fruit tea)

2 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

for icing

8-10 ounces greek cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 stick soft butter (room temp)

for greek cream cheese

8-10 ounces plain greek yogurt

pinch of salt

Start by making the greek cream cheese (I only call it greek cream cheese because you need to use greek yogurt to get the proper final result). Line a small colander with 2 pieces of cheese cloth. Mix yogurt with a touch of salt and pour in to cheesecloth lined colander. Cover with one sheet of cloth. Leave at room temperature for 2 hours. Place in fridge overnight.

Next make the granola! This is my favorite part. I could just sit and eat this granola all day long. And I did - the other day....after I had a bit too much wine. Why do i even bother with wine, though, when beer is so much better??? Anyhow - I digress. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Mix together the oats, cinamon, salt and nutmeg. In a seperate bowl mix together the oil, maple syrup, brown sugar and vanilla. Then pour that over the oats and mix togehter until it's totally covered in the sweetness. Put a piece of parchment in a cookie sheet and spread the oat mixture all over it. Put it in the oven for 10 minutes. Then pull it out and mix the oats around a bit. Then add the muts (typo! but it was too funny to correct) - and bake for another 5-10 minutes till the pine nuts turn a golden brown. YUM. Set aside to cool and try not to eat it all.

On to the cake. Turn oven up to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with cute papers. In a bowl (NOT the bowl for your mixer) whisk the flour, cornstarch, and tea. Then in the bowl of your mixer beat the whole eggs, yolks, and sugar on high for about 5 minutes until it's really thick and bubbly and looks like you want to plant your face in it. Sprinkle about half the flour mixture over the eggs and fold in with a spatula, or your face. Then do the same thing with the rest of the flour mixture. In yet ANOTHER bowl whisk the egg whites until just foamy - then add a bit of sugar and continue to whip until it forms stiff peaks - or do like I did and forget about it for like 5 minutes and then come back to find a big lump of stiff whites....and just bypass the whole sugar step. Fold the whites into the batter and then spoon in to the cupcake pan (fill about half way). Bake for 20 minutes or until it passes the cake test (knife in the mid section comes out clean). Check it at 15 minutes just to be sure. Let cool. Btw - it should make about 12.

Frosting. This recipe makes too much - on purpose. It's so you can eat the rest when no one is looking. Take the now fully drained greek yogurt turned cream cheese out of the fridge. Whip the cream cheese and butter together and then slowly add the powdered sugar until it is able to stand on it's own. It's totally up to you how sweet you want to make this - but I wanted the tartness of the greek yogurt to come through - so I tried to do as little of the sugar as possible.

To finish! Scoop the icing into a piping bag and pipe a little dollop on to the cake (it'll hold it's shape much better than my photos....I promise). Then sprinkle with granola. EAT.