A diet cupcake seems like a bit of an oxymoron, right?

Still, if a cupcake has a quarter of the carbohydrates, a quarter of the fat, that a regular cupcake would, you can’t not call it a diet cupcake. They even have fruit in them (thanks to the addition of cranberry orange relish), and so could be related, very loosely if at all, with muffins.

Cupcakes that are a quarter of the size, so long as you don’t go eating a stack of them, totally could work with a diet plan. You’re getting all of the calories in a diminished amount, but don’t need to deprive yourself from their goodness. Deprivation is definitely one of those things that I have trouble believing in.

I baked almost 200 of these for a birthday party, and there were none left the next morning, so they apparently need not be viewed as a diet cupcake. But if you’re teetering on decisions, just remember that this indulgence is a small one, take that bite.

Cranberry Orange Fairy Cakes

(adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Fairy Cakes)
Ingredients

125 g butter

125 g sugar

2 medium eggs

125 g flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

splash of cream

cranberry orange relish

cream cheese icing

Directions
  • Preheat the oven to 400° F.
  • Mix together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda and vanilla extract.
  • Splash in cream a little bit at a time, until the batter gets kind of droopy, so that it slouches when you stop stirring it.
  • Spoon into a mini cupcake pan, or a regular cupcake pan.
  • Spoon a little bit of cranberry orange relish onto the batter in each cupcake well.
  • Bake for 8 minutes or until the cupcakes test clean and begin to brown (18-20 minutes for regular sized).
  • Allow to cool completely, and then ice with cream cheese icing.
  • Enjoy responsibly :)
Now that I have a kitchen scale, I am really loving recipes with weights given. Tare functions make measuring so very very quick. Also, this cupcake recipe, for which you could omit the cranberry orange relish, or add a different fruit or flavor comment, is a really simple but wonderful basic white cupcake recipe. The cranberry and orange really do make these cupcakes something special though, adding hits of floral, citrus, and cranberry bite to a lovely base flavor of vanilla cake.
Now to try and stop myself from eating a dozen of them next time they get baked up.
The birthday boy quite enjoyed his two-bite cupcakes. Mister ponders why it is that making things littler makes them taste more special, and really stands by the idea of using cranberry orange relish in baking.