Lemon and Raspberry Heart Cakes

This is my second Valentine Bake and it's a pretty special one as I decided to make up my own recipe and it turned out better than expected!! If you don't already know, this month I am hosting AlphaBakes along with my lovely co-host Caroline from Caroline Makes.  AlphaBakes is a new blogging challenge where the idea is to bake with an ingredient that starts with the random letter chosen for the month. This month, the letter is "L" and the first thing to pop into my head is lemons. I know it's not very original but I love lemons and it was Valentine's so I came up with this recipe. I also have another "L" bake in the oven as I type so check back next week to see my second entry. 

Back to this recipe. I decided to be economical and used the whole fruit - skin, rind and all! I wanted to make it healthier so I used fat free yoghurt, less sugar and lots of fruit (lemon and raspberries).  The cake was really moist and smelled of lemons. It was quite tart what with the lemons and raspberries but everyone loved it! If you prefer a sweeter bake, I would advise adding more sugar.

Have you made your #AlphaBakes entry yet? If not, there's still time as the closing date is 25th February so go on.... you know you want to!

I am also sending these to Tea Time Treats hosted this month by Kate from whatkatebaked and co-hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.  The theme for this month is Romance and these little hearts fit the bill perfectly :) 

 cut up 1 lemon and blitz in a food processor... 

... until you get this 

 adding raspberries (which have been coated in flour) to the batter 

 cute little hearts

 I'm glad all the raspberries didnt sink to the bottom 

An original recipe by me, bakingaddict 

180g self raising flour plus 1 tablespoon
pinch of salt
150g plain fat free yoghurt
2 eggs
1 whole lemon
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
150g raspberries
135g caster sugar (add 150g-175g for a sweeter cake)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cut 1 lemon into small pieces, remove any seeds and blitz (skin, rind, fruit) in a food processor until fine as shown in picture above.
• In a large bowl, mix the yoghurt, eggs and oil. 
• Add the lemon pieces and stir.
• Add the zest and juice of another lemon (omit if you don't want it to be too lemony)
• Stir in the flour and salt. 
• Coat the raspberries with 1 tablespoon of flour.
• Fold in the raspberries.
• Pour the cake into desired moulds and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (small cakes) or 20-25 minutes (larger cakes).
• The cake should spring back from the edges and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.