One Number Baking Ratio Adventures (9)–Yoghurt Marble Cup Cake

INTRODUCTION

My wife told me yesterday afternoon that she needed some cupcakes when we visited my relatives last night. I did not have much time to think of what to bake nor do I have the luxury of ingredients to choose from. Due to these constraints, I have decided to prepare some simple cup cakes that are fast to make and of course delicious. Since I have one cup of yoghurt with me, I have decided to make the YOGHURT MARBLE CUPCAKE.

I did not refer to any cook book when I am preparing the cup cakes. I am preparing based on my proposed one number baking ratio with a slight twist of incorporating one cup of plain yoghurt in place of some milk portion. The results are moist and tasty cup cakes.

One number baking ratio basically means that using equal portion of the ingredients to prepare the cake. If you are interested to read more about my “one number baking ratio” adventures, you can refer to the following posts – Basic Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Muffins, Fruits Dates Cakes,Zebra Patterned Pound Cake and Grapefruit Cognac Pound Cake，Almond Sugee Cake.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: about: 18 – 20 small cup cakes or 8 muffin size cup cakes

250 grams of unsalted butter at room temperature

250 grams of sugar

250 grams of plain flour

250 grams of eggs (use 6 eggs) – separated into egg yolks and egg whites)

80 grams of yoghurt (about 1 cup)

170 grams of milk or less subject to eggs volume and amount of yoghurt used (balancing – see calculation below)

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda (optional)

1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar (optional)

Note that you can either follow exactly the above recipe or you can follow the following calculation to work out the milk required. This is especially so if you do not want the volume of the eggs fixed at 250grams.

CACULATION OF ACTUAL MILK VOLUMES USED

Yesterday, my actual eggs volumes used are =6 eggs x 55 grams per egg = 330 grams

Therefore milk volume required = Theoretical egg volume (250 grams ) – yoghurt volume (80grams) – excess eggs volume (330 grams – 250 grams) = 250 – 80 – 80 = 90 grams of milk actually used in this illustration. To summarize, this illustration uses 330grams of eggs, 80 grams of yoghurt and 90 grams of milk = 500 grams

STEPS OF PREPARATION

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius

Line 18 small muffin tins with cup cake cups or slightly greased the muffin tin with butter

Preparing the meringue (Beating of egg whites)

In a big mixing bowl, place your egg whites, cream of tartar and beat using the machine whisk to whisk the egg whites until soft peak. Note that the bowl have to be extremely clean, dry and free of any oils.
When the volume expands, add in about 5 tablespoons of sugar gradually, beat until thick and glossy and until all the sugars dissolved (firm peak) Spoon the filling into a clean bowl and set aside for later use.

Change your whisk to a K beater. Place your remaining sugar and butter, beat until light and creamy. Add in the vanilla essence and eggs yolks, yoghurt and use slow speed to “mix” until well mixed. Eggs yolk should be added one by one and scrap the bottom of the bowl to ensure no unmixed egg yolk settled at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

Use a big metal spoon or wooden spoon or a spatula, quickly and swiftly fold in fresh milk and the sifted flours and baking soda. Alternate between fresh milk and sifted flours.

Once well mixed, fold in the egg white swiftly and lightly until the batter are smooth.

Separate the batter into two portion. Put the sifted chocolate powder in one bowl and use a metal spoon to stir lightly until well mixed. Stirring action is just like folding of flours and it should be quick and light.
In the greased muffin tins, start with 2 tablespoons of the beige batter. Add 1 tablespoon of chocolate batter on top of the beige batters. Shake it slightly so that the batter spread over a wider surface. Add another 1 tablespoon of beige batter on top of the chocolate batters follow by 1 teaspoon of chocolate batter on top of the beige batter. Do the same until the muffin cups are 85% filled.

Baked in the oven for 15-20 minutes or when the skewer inserted comes out clean. For bigger cup cakes, you may need additional 5 minutes to the baking time.

Note:

If you want a mushroom shaped muffin, you have to be at least 85% filled so that when it rise, the batter will overflow a bit and stop by the flat surface. This will looked like those sold in bakery shop. Otherwise, just fill 75% full.

You can always by pass the zebra pattern, you can just have one tablespoon of beige batter followed by another one tablespoon of chocolate batter.

CONCLUSION

This is definitely not a difficult bake, it is easy and simple. I am just an old man and long winded to share with readers points I think is necessary for home chef who are new to baking. If you are a baking expert, without looking my long winded procedures, I am sure you will also be able to succeed by using your own procedures. Do try this moist and buttery yoghurt marble cup cake.