Freedom Cupcakes
Colorful, light, and simply delicious, these patriotic cupcakes are the perfect addition to your July 4th celebration. Happy Independence Day!
Happy Fourth of July! I’m celebrating this amazing holiday with wonderfully festive and proudly patriotic cupcakes. These little cakes are so light and airy, one might not be enough.
What I’m most thrilled about with this recipe is the frosting. Desserts like cupcakes and layered cakes present a bit of a challenge when you’re trying to make them healthier, and that challenge is the frosting. Take buttercream frosting for example. It’s not uncommon to see buttercream recipes call for two sticks (1 cup) of butter. Unfortunately, lots of butter means lots of calories. Two sticks contain a whopping 1,600 calories.
The frosting I made for these freedom cupcakes is called a Swiss meringue. It’s a lightly sweetened, fluffy, marshmallow cream-like frosting made from just four ingredients – egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract. It’s light, easy to spread, and has a very creamy texture. Two tablespoons of this delicious frosting adds less than 25 calories to each cupcake. Using buttercream frosting would have added about 150 calories to each cupcake. This Swiss meringue frosting is also fat free and contains just 7 milligrams of sodium per 2 tablespoons.
While this frosting takes a little bit of time to make, it’s not difficult. Let me take you through the steps.
Start with room temperature egg whites. It’s important when making meringue to carefully separate the egg whites from the yolks. Any amount of egg yolk that gets into the whites will prevent the whites from developing that airy, light lift. The bowl I like to use for preparing this meringue is the stainless-steel bowl from my stand mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer bowl, use any large heat-safe bowl.
To the egg whites, add the sugar and cream of tartar and give these ingredients a quick whisk. Once combined, place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir the mixture until an instant-read temperature reaches 160 degrees. From a food safety standpoint, reaching that temperature makes the meringue frosting perfectly safe to eat. This heating process will take about 8 to 10 minutes.
Once that safe temperature is reached, remove the bowl from the heat and set it into the base of the stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, turn the mixer to high and beat until it’s fluffy and stiff peaks form. This should take about 5 to 8 minutes. I like to stop the mixer halfway through and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Finally, add the vanilla extract. You can fold it in by hand or give the frosting a quick whisk with the mixer to incorporate. Of course, you could add another flavored extract like lemon, orange, almond, coconut, or even butter. Any extract you choose will give this frosting amazing flavor.
If you don’t have a stand mixer with a stainless-steel bowl, just use any heat-safe bowl that can be placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Then, use a hand mixer to whip the heated egg white mixture into stiff peaks.
Swiss meringue frosting holds its shape and consistency really well. It will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. This is what the frosting looked like after 24 hours in the refrigerator – still perfect. The stability of this frosting allows you to frost and decorate the cupcakes as you need them.
Before we get to the recipe, let me share two additional calorie-cutting tricks I used when making the cake batter. Trick number one involves using Greek yogurt to replace some of the oil in the recipe. For these cupcakes, rather than adding a 1/2 cup of oil as was called for on the cake mix box, I used a 1/4 cup of oil and a 1/4 cup of low-fat Greek yogurt. The other calorie saving measure was using egg whites instead of whole eggs. The box instructions give two egg ingredient options – use four egg whites or three whole eggs. I added four egg whites. These two recipe adjustments shaved about 25 calories off each cupcake. For those trying to reduce their calorie intake, every little bit helps.
Happy Fourth of July!
Darlene
FREEDOM CUPCAKES
Yield: 24 servings
Serving Size: 1 cupcake
Prep: 15 minutes
Ready: 50 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
24 baking cup liners
1 box (15.25 ounce) white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup canola oil
4 large egg whites
1/4 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt (such as Fage Total 2%)
Frosting
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup fresh sliced strawberries
1/4 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup fresh blackberries
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin/cupcake baking pan with baking cups.
To prepare cupcakes, in a bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, 4 egg whites, and yogurt with a hand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Evenly fill 24 baking cup liners with batter. Bake in preheated oven 15 to 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
To prepare frosting, place 3 egg whites, granulated sugar, and cream of tartar in the stainless-steel bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until just combined. Once combined, place bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir mixture until it reaches 160 degrees (this heating process will take 8 to 10 minutes). Remove bowl from heat and set into the base of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Turn mixer to high and beat until stiff peaks form, about 5 to 8 minutes, stopping halfway through to scrape down sides of bowl. Add vanilla extract and whisk until just combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
When ready to serve, frost each cupcake with 2 tablespoons Swiss meringue and decorate with various combinations of sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.
Decoration ideas are endless.
Cook’s Note: If you don’t have a stand mixer to prepare the frosting, use any large, heat-safe bowl that can be placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Use a hand mixer to whip the safely heated egg mixture into stiff peaks.
Nutrition Information per Serving
124 Calories, 4 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 0 mg Cholesterol, 128 mg Sodium, 20 g Total carbohydrate, 0 g Dietary fiber, 14 g Total sugars, 13 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 19 mg (2%) Calcium, 0 mg (0%) Iron, 44 mg (0%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
