Mini birthday cakes - light as a feather and bursting with flavor

22 Happy Birthdays for Genevieve

  Our oldest, Genevieve, turns 22 today. Wow! How is that possible?

•   She and I have been working out and dieting for a month or so. She is my inspiration. I would probably sleep through early morning workouts and avoid meetings with the trainer at all costs.
•   So, she is serious about eating healthier and exercising regularly.
•  I had considered making her a birthday salad, but an impromptu survey on Facebook revealed my friends thought a mother who would make a birthday salad is a "monster".
•   I decided to make the lightest cake I could manage. A meringue base for a cake would make it airier than anything else I could do. She and I like key lime so key lime it was.
•   She got 22 cakes - one for each year - to share with all her friends.      Everyone gets a bite of flavor, only a few calories and a bunch of fun.
• Key Lime Meringue Mini Cakes  
• • Cake
  • 1/2 cup of flour
  • 1/3 cup of whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon of freshly grated Key lime zest
  • 3 tablespoons of canola oil
  • Lime Filling
  • 1 14-ounce can of nonfat sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/3 cup of Key lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon of freshly grated Key lime zest

  Meringue

  2 large egg whites, at room temperature

  • 1/4 cup of sugar
• •Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat 24 mini muffin pans with cooking spray.
• •Whisk the flour, the whole-wheat flour and the salt in a medium-sized bowl.
• •Beat four of the eggs and 2/3 cup of sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale yellow and has doubled in volume...this could take as long as 10 minutes.
• •Beat in the vanilla and 1 teaspoon of lime zest.
• •Gently fold the oil into the egg mixture, using long, even strokes, until it is just incorporated. Add the flour mixture; gently stirring just until the flour is incorporated.
• •Put one tablespoon of batter into each muffin tin.
• •Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the cakes are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean - about 20 minutes.
• •Cool the cakes on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert them onto the rack and let cool completely - about 45 minutes.
• •While they are cooling, whisk the condensed milk, the lime juice and a teaspoon of lime zest in a medium bowl until they are fully combined. •Refrigerate the mixture until it has thickened, at least 30 minutes (if you have time, keep it in there overnight so it gets nice and thick).
• •When you're ready to finish off the cakes, beat the egg whites in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at the highest speed until soft peaks form. Beat in the 1/4 cup sugar in a slow, steady stream. Continue beating the meringues until stiff peaks form.
• •Cut each cakelette in half and put a quarter teaspoon of the lime filling inside.
• •Set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the broiler. 
• •Put the cakes on a cookie sheet and plop a quarter teaspoon of  meringue on top.
• •Put them under the broiler until the meringues are lightly browned, which should take less than a minute.

Ovo Vegetarian