Under 100 calories! Chocolate buns – fat free and yummy

Cupcakes are the in-thing, right? Tempting us, wherever we turn, it seems, with their spongy hugeness and their elegant coiffures of icing.   So let me clear one thing up right now:   on grounds of size,  this recipe is for buns not cupcakes.     Producing something the size of a cupcake in under 100 calories would be up there with turning water into wine, which as you know, hasn’t been accomplished for about 2000 years.    Anyway, back in the day we all happily  ate buns and here we’re sticking with this very English confection with no transatlantic interference.   

The bun itself is indeed fat free, allowing for the use of eggs.  There is a little bit of fat in the icing, but not much, I promise.

There is also a lemon alternative!

Here’s what you will need:

• 115 g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 75 g sifted plain flour
• 30 g cocoa powder

For the icing:

• 375 g chocolate spread.  The Waitrose brand excellent
• 100g Philadelphia Lightest
• 25 g grated white chocolate (do watch your fingers with the grater though)
• 25 g grated dark  chocolate

Which ever buns you are making, then initially you need to mix the sugar and eggs.  It takes  ages so you will definitely need an electric mixer of some sort.  As the buns are fat free the mixing of the eggs/sugar is crucial: continue until the mixture is almost mousse like, and a trail of it stays on the surface of the mixture for about 10 seconds.

Then gently fold in the flour and cocoa powder (mixed together and sifted)  using a metal spatula or spoon.

Spoon the mixture into 20 bun cases

Bake in the oven at gas mark 5 (190 deg.C) for about 10 – 12 minutes.  They are more moist with a shorter cooking time but the timing is really down to preference. Don’t over cook them as this can make the buns rather dry.  As the mixture is fat free, expect your lovely round buns to sink a little when you fetch them out of the oven.  This doesn’t affect the taste – just the appearance because they shrink from the edge of the bun cases.  So if you’re after perfect aesthetics, take them out of the bun cases when they are cool.  This will also make icing them less messy.

For the chocolate icing, simply mix the two ingredients together.   Once the buns are cooked you can add the icing and for the chocolate buns, don’t forget a generous sprinkling of grated chocolate on top of the icing. 

Here’s what you will need for the lemon buns:

• 115 g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 75 g sifted plain flour
• 110 g of orange zest (which is about 3 big oranges)

For the lemon icing

• 150g lemon curd
• 200g Philadelphia Lightest
• 25g cornflour

Mix up the eggs and sugar as before and then carefully fold in the sifted flour and the orange zest.  It doesn’t matter about any orange juice.  The bit of juice and zest together  just tends to make the buns a bit more moist, which is actually quite tasty.

For the icing you need to be a bit more careful when you mix the Philadelphia and the lemon curd.  There is a tendency for the Philadelphia to go a bit lumpy, so go steady with the mixing.  The resulting mixture tastes great but needs to be thicker, so add the cornflour.  I sift mine through a tea strainer to make sure there are no lumps.  The cornflour is completely tasteless but gives the icing a much better consistency. 

Now for the maths

I have reached my under 100 calorie figure by adding together all the calories, as per the values given on the packaging and dividing that figure by 20. 

The chocolate buns come in at 92 calories per bun:   53 for the buns, 24 for the icing and 15 for the grated chocolate. 

So you could make 10, dare i say it, cupcakes, which would come in at 106 for the bun, more than 24 for the icing (but nowhere near double) and about the same, 15,  for the grated chocolate.   Are you still with me?

The lemon buns come in at 97 calories per bun:  53 for the buns and 44 calories for the icing.  Borderline under 100 calories but very lemony.