Lowfat Vanilla Cupcakes with Orange Fennel Seed Glaze

Happy (Almost) Valentine's Day!  I made these heart-shaped cupcakes over the weekend, and I wanted to share this recipe with you.  THIS is the cupcake recipe I've been looking for all my life.  A lowfat cupcake that is light and airy and more like a sponge cake than the traditional buttery cake that is rather dense and often guilt-ridden.  It requires no butter or oil, and uses foamed egg whites to get its fluff.  Each cupcake (with glaze!) is just under 100 calories.  

Plus, the glaze is ridiculously good--a light, citrusy glaze that tastes like summer.  The tangy flavor is cut by the addition of fennel seeds, which adds a surprising dimension to the cupcake that is beyond sweet or tart.  Convinced?  Let's get started! 
   
Ingredients (12-18 cupcakes):
3 egg yolks
1 cup sugar (divide in half)
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup cold water
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
5 egg whites
⅛ tsp cream of tartar


Orange Fennel Seed Glaze

1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp fennel seeds


First, separate three of the eggs, and reserve the egg whites.  I find that the gentlest way to separate eggs and have foolproof, unpopped yolks is by doing it with my hands.  You want to make sure you don't get any egg yolk in the whites, so this is the best way.   

So cute :)

Now, beat the yolks with half a cup of sugar.  You’ll use the other half later.  Add vanilla and water.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt.  Since it's a really light batter and we want things to be as smooth as possible, I took extra care to sift.

Add the dry mix to the wet mix.

You should get a rather thick batter that looks like this.

Now, it's time to foam the egg whites with cream of tartar.  Cream of tartar is what you use when you want to make baked goods extra fluffy.  You invest in one of these guys and it actually lasts a long time. 

So yes, foam five egg whites with cream of tartar until you get soft peaks.  So that's the three egg whites we saved from earlier, plus two more whites.  Yeah, you'll have to toss two yolks, but that's okay.

Once you get the soft peaks, take the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk it in, little by little, until all is dissolved.

Now, very gently fold the egg whites into the batter.  You want to add the foam to the batter, not the other way around, because you don't wanna squish all the bubbles you [or your mixer] worked so hard to get by foaming.  I use kind of a cut-down-then-lift-up-and-out motion when I'm folding egg whites.

There we go.

Now, preheat your oven to 350F, and get your pans ready.  In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I used these adorable heart-shaped cupcake molds I got from the dollar rack at Target a few years ago.  You might remember this recipe from a few years ago.

So really, the best way to fill cupcake molds is by using an ice cream scoop with a scraper thingmabob.  Er...you know what I mean.

Cute!

 So, I ended up filling 12 of the hearts and then another 6 in my regular cupcake pan.  You might get 18 like I did, or less if you're a generous scooper.

Twenty minutes later, we get this adorable little cuppies!  Aww, how cute are the hearts?!  (Also, a tip for using silicon bakeware--make sure the cupcake has cooled on a rack in the cupcake mold before you try to yank them out.  I ruined a huge batch of cupcakes once because I thought you had to try to get them out right away.)

While the cupcakes chill out, you can start making the glaze.  I am not a huge frosting person, so this glaze was a really nice change.  Plus, these cuppies are so light and fluffy, it would be very odd to top them with heavy buttercream frosting.  Okay, so sift the powdered sugar into a bowl.

Then get yourself a nice lemon.  I used a meyer lemon because that's what we got in our CSA (community supported agriculture) box this week.  

Meyer lemons are more...orange.  Huh.

So here's the lemon juice (2 tablespoons), plus the orange extract.  When you start mixing, you'll be like, what the heck...this is never gonna turn into glaze.

And then you're like, huh, the tiny amount of moisture is actually working itself through the sugar.  Interesting.

 
So mix until you get a nice creamy, drippy glaze that is just a tad thicker than glue.  If you need it to get a little more liquidy, add a little water, a drop or so at a time.  A little liquid goes a long way for glaze.

I'm not the most impressive glaze drizzler in the world...look how awkward this first one is going.  Though I blame it on having to take a picture with my right hand at the same time.

Things got a little better once I put the camera down.  Haha look at the sad one in the bottom left.  The middle one looks pretty nice though.

See?

Now, you'll have to trust me on this.  Get yourself a little fennel seed (it was in my spice rack) and sprinkle a few on the glaze before it hardens.  Fennel seed is a little licorice-y and palate-cleansing.  I always munch on them at the Indiana restaurants I go to as I'm checking out.  They're delightful, and they give the cupcake a lot more depth.  Your friends will bite into the cake and go, "Ooh!" because it is just that surprising.

How cute is that?

I love this recipe so much, and I hope you'll try it too!  It's a pleasant change from the typical cupcake, and it's light enough that you don't feel guilty eating it.  Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, everyone!

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For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.

original recipe in 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly