Vanilla Cupcakes with Greek Yogurt and Lemon Yest, topped with Fresh Marion Berry Buttercream

We are having a bit of a heat wave here...the real ugliness starts tomorrow with some triple digit temps. I am not excited about it. My daughter texts me while I am on my way home from work, and tells me that she wants to make cupcakes. I text back..."seriously it is 90+ out and you want to turn on the oven?" "Are you high". Pretty sure those are close to my exact words. She was and so we did. She had a recipe that called for a few things that I didn't have, but what I did have worked real well.

For the cupcakes: 1 3/4 cups cake flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 plain Greek yogurt 1/2 cup milk (I used 2%) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large egg whites, at room temperature 1 stick (4 ounces) butter, melted and cooled 1 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

In a mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients and set aside in a smaller bowl add your wet ingredients yogurt, egg whites, vanilla, lemon juice and zest and mix together. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and blend. Then add your wet to your dry and mix until batter is smooth.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree and line a regular size cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill each cupcake 2/3 full of batter. Bake in preheated oven for roughly 16 min. Toothpick check to make sure they are done and remove from oven and from pan. Place cupcake on cooling wrack and allow to cool. This is a small batch recipe and makes roughly 12 cupcakes. Perfect for a little gathering of friends.

For the Marion Berry Buttercream: 1 cup Marion Berries 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 sticks (4 ounces) butter, VERY soft, pinch salt (do not skip!) 2 cups confectioners sugar (more if needed), sifted. Into a small bowl add your marion berries and 1 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Mash them until really, really pulverized or use your immersion blender. Then pour through a strainer you want all the juice but none of the seeds. Use a spoon to work it through the strainer if you must. Then into a separate bowl place the soft butter, and pinch of salt and whip together. Add confectioners sugar 1/2 cup at a time and alternate with slowly drizzling in marion berry puree. Get your buttercream the consistency you want by adding more confectioners sugar or more marion berry puree. You have to gauge how stiff you want your frosting. You may not use all of the puree. If you store the cupcakes in the fridge take them out about 30 minutes before serving.

Almond Lemon Bread

I made this amazing bread/cake last Thursday evening, so it would be waiting for me Friday morning when my self imposed calorie restrictions are put aside for the weekend (I love weekends). This bread went together in minutes and baked for about an hour making the house smell like Christmas. This is not my recipe, but I had to share anyway because it really is amazing and makes buying a half gallon of almond milk, because it is on sale, and making your bf drink the rest on his breakfast cereal except for what you needed for the Almond Lemon Bread completely worth it.

I stumbled across this recipe while browsing through the recipes on Piterest and I saw this amazing looking bread. I had all the ingredients except the almond milk, so I thought I would give it a try. Having never cooked or even drank almond milk I was a little concerned.

For the bread: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking powder 1 cup granulated sugar (take the 2 tablespoons of zest and toss it with the sugar and set aside. 2 tablespoons lemon zest 3/4 cup Almond Milk 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil 2 large eggs, slightly beaten 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond extract Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, the mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry blending well. Pour the bread mix into a lightly greased and floured bread pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for roughly 1 hour. Let the bread cool some before running a knife around the sides and removing from pan. Let it cool even longer before drizzling the glaze over the top (You have to have the glaze). 1 cup powdered sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon almond extract 3 tablespoons sliced almonds, for sprinkling on the loaf to make it pretty.

This bread does not disappoint the taste buds in any way shape or form. This is the perfect bread for taking to a dinner for dessert, summer BBQ's or just when you want to have your cake (excuse me bread) and eat it to. Delicious, simplistic and moist. Like I said earlier this is not my recipe and I want to give all the credit to "Two Peas & Their Pod" for this wonderful bread.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!