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I am a huge fan of Total Greek yogurt as an ingredient. High quality, delicious and adaptable. It is also pretty good in cakes and bakes as a lower fat substitute for butter or baking margarine. Paired with fresh lemon these low fat zesty bite sized cakes are perfect with a cup of coffee or for afternoon tea.
You do need to think ahead a little with this recipe to prepare the labneh for the filling, but the hands on time is minimal, put some yoghurt into a piece of cheese cloth, hang up and allow to drip for a few hours. Also these little cakes are easy to make by hand without the need for an electric mixer.
As well as the base for the filling in these cakes labneh is delicious on freshly baked bread with a drizzle of oil and some spices. I always make extra. You can also use the whey in place of water the next time you make bread – keep it in the fridge for a few days or freeze.
As usual I shopped in my local Waitrose for most of the ingredients, picking up a bowl of lemons from the market on the way home (8 lemons for £1 is a wondrous bargain).
Greek Yogurt Mini Lemon Cakes
Ingredients
- 160 g Greek yogurt (0%)
- 25 g vegetable oil
- 40 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 100 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- zest of 1 lemon – finely grated
- 2 tbs milk
- 2 tbs icing sugar
Instructions
- To make the labneh for the filling, place 100 g of the yoghurt into the middle of a piece of cheese cloth. Then gather up the edges to make a bundle and hang over a bowl and allow to drip over night (or at least a few hours). You can make the labneh in advance and keep covered in the fridge for several days.
- Whisk the remainder of the yogurt (60 g), vegetable oil, caster sugar and egg together in a bowl so that the mixture resembles custard.
- Fold in the flour, baking powder, half of the lemon zest and the milk.
- Dollop into a greased mini muffin pan (or into fairy cake cases in a baking pan) and bake at 180 °C / GM4 for 15 – 20 minutes (depending on the size of your cakes) until risen and springy.
- Remove from the oven, allow to rest for a few minutes, then remove from the baking pan and leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Stir the remainder of the lemon zest and icing sugar into the labneh to make a filling. Slice the mini cakes in half horizontally and sandwich them together with a teaspoon of the lemon labneh filling. (If you have made cupcakes then simply put a dollop of frosting on top).
- Keep in a cool place and serve the same day.
Rosana McPhee Hot&Chilli Blog
They look so pretty and I bet tasty too.
Helen
Thank you Rosana, super easy to make too!
Ren Behan
These buns are so cute! Love them, and sounds like a tasty filling, too.
Helen
Bite sized. Everything is better when it is bite sized (providing there is enough of it that is)
Katie Bryson
Oooooh cute!!! Love mini bakes and lemon is such a winning flavour as it’s not sickly sweet like some cakes.
Franglais kitchen, Nazima
lovely looking little cakes Helen. I made similarly yoghurty cakes in the past and really liked the texture.
Helen
thanks Nazima, we really enjoyed them.
Pebble Soup
Love citrus. These bitesize cakes are lovely, I’ve a similar recipe which is always welcomed as a snack or breakfast but I never thought of filling them up, that takes them to another level: “food for guests” brilliant.
Gilla01
They look great. Lemon is one of my favourite flavours – so refreshing.
Milos
Tastes yummy. It doesn’t seem to hard to make so I will definitely try to make something like this for dessert.
Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla
They look very pretty and seem to be healthy as well, great combination!