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Books + Cupcakes = LOVE

Javier’s cat Spencer trying to get at the cupcakes.

As you may know, this weekend The WHS is holding our annual book sale AND we are celebrating National Cupcake Day. So on February 13 and 14th you can load up on great books and enjoy some delicious cupcakes and at the same time help us save thousands of animals and offer low-cost spay and neuter surgeries to thousands of pet owners who otherwise could not afford it.

One of my favourite hobbies is cooking. I love making great meals (and desserts) and enjoying them with friends and families. In honour of our cupcake day and book sale, I made a dozen of my French Madeleine cupcakes. Just in case you don’t make it on time to grab one (trust me, they are delicious if I say so myself!), here is the recipe and a few pictures I took while making them last night:

Javier’s French Madeleine Cupcake

INGREDIENTS

Dry mix. In a bowl, mix thoroughly the following ingredients:

  • 5 cups all purpose flour or 1 cup all purpose flour and 0.5 cup almond meal
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of cardamom
  • 5 teaspoon of fine salt

Wet mix. In a large cup, whisk the following ingredients:Javier cupcakes

  • Using a zester (or a grater if you don’t have a zester) zest the skin of a blood orange or tangerine orange.
  • Mix the orange zest with 1 cup of sugar, or5 cup of light brown sugar and 0.5 cup of icing (powdered) sugar. Use your (clean) fingers until the sugar turns orange and it is thoroughly wet.
  • Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • Mix and whisk ½ cup of plain Greek yogurt, or if you prefer a vegan cupcake, use ½ cup of almond yogurt
  • Add 3 eggs, or if you are vegan use 3 tablespoons of ground flax and 9 tablespoons of warm water, mix it and let it stand for 15 minutes.
  • Whisk vigorously for 3 minutes.

Now, put it all together:

  • Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and blend using a spatula until everything integrates into a batter.
  • Add ¼ cup of olive oil and ¼ cup of canola, corn or coconut oil. The batter will turn shiny, that’s what you want to see!
  • Pour the mix into cupcake/muffin moulds. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top of the cupcake starts to brown.
The final product!

Optional ingredients:

  • You can add orange segments to the top of the cupcake right after pouring the batter.
  • After the cupcakes are done, you can add some melted honey to the top. I melt 3 tablespoons of honey and then just paint the top of the muffins.

Enjoy!

And if you don’t want the hassle of making them and would like a dozen of my cupcakes, just email me your order and I will gladly bake them for you in exchange for a donation to The Winnipeg Humane Society!!

Remember, WHS supporters, I will use only the best ingredients and the money raised is for our animals so please make a generous offer.