Poppy seeds yogurt mini cakes garnish with parsimmon

garnish with cream cheese frosting, parsimmon cut-out, pomegrante arils and flower

Come to the tall layered-cakes and cupcakes, I really think that those I had in America have the most variety and the best texture. They are spongy and light in taste (but it would be a different story after a heap of buttercream slapping on the top..). Not saying that the barkeries in Barcelona don't have the know-how to create such cakes, of course they do. I think, because their have different taste, they expect something different.

Cakes in here in general are much shorter/smaller, but substantial. For cupcakes, usually enriched by milk or yogurt, their size is not much bigger than a ping-pong ball. This makes a perfect sense, when food is richer, the portion we take should be smaller, our eating habit is healthier then.

These poppy seeds cakes are incredibly moist and flavorful. And since they are fairy rich, so I limit them to a bite-size. The recipe is originally written by Patricia at Technicolor Kitchen (taken a reference from a cookbook). Pat is an amasing and skillful baker. Her recipes never fail to impress me, so as this one.

I adjust Pat's recipe slightly according to my own taste. Instead of separating the nuts, I mix them into the batter so that the crumb is more flavorful, and so denser. I believe her recipe is absolutely beautiful as it-is, please click here for the original recipe.

Poppy seed yogurt mini cakes

yield: 20 x 2"/ 5cm wide tiny cakes

• 1 egg yolk
• 45g butter, room temperature
• 1/8 cup pine nuts, ground
• 90g sugar
• 90g plain flour
• 3 tbps poppy seeds
• zest from 1/2 small mandarine orange
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 100g plain yogurt, unsweeten

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F/200C
2. Beat the butter and sugar until they are white and fluffy. And add the yolk and beat for a little while. Then combine with yogurt.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine the nut, poppy seeds, zest of mandarine orange, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Corporate the flour mixture with the butter mixture. The batter looks slightly thick.
5. Spoon the batter into paper cups. Baked the cakes at 375F/200C for the first 5 minutes, then lower to 350F/180C and bake until they are slightly golden brown, my oven took me for another 10 minutes.
6. Cool off on the rack before garnish with cream cheese frosting and seasonaly fruit.
7. The cakes keep well for 2 - 3 days.

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