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2/06/2009

Orange Creamcicle Cupcakes

So I was in the mood to bake...I rarely get that feeling, so I decided to make the most of it. I decided that cupcakes sounded good, I could use my cupcake carrier that my wonderful friends Liz & Rob gave us for our wedding and take most them up to my parents tomorrow when I go to spend time with my parents.

I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to go with the cupcakes, because...let's face it, I could eat that stuff with a spoon! Anyway...I found that I had all the ingredients to make a vanilla cupcake and cream cheese frosting...except I wanted to flavor them with the orange extract I had but didn't have the confectioners sugar! Luckily, I did some investigative work via the wonderful internet and found that you can blend regular sugar into powdered sugar!

Unfortunately, I didn't blend long enough or something, it looked and felt pretty powdery, but it made the frosting very gritty...Paul didn't care for the texture, I thought it tasted good, just a little crunch to it. Next time I make these, I'll have regular confectioners sugar and they will be even more spectacular.
Vanilla Cupcakes (which I transformed into orange)
Recipe courtesy of www.joyofbaking.com

Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla extract (I substituted Orange extract)
  • Zest of 1 large lemon (optional – I omitted)
  • 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. Salt
  • ¼ cup milk
Directions
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
  • For the Cupcakes: Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
  • In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  • With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  • Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. If you want flat topped cupcakes then slice off the dome of each cupcake, with a sharp knife, before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe courtesy of Slashfood

Ingredients
  • 8 oz. cold cream cheese
  • 5 tbs. butter, softened
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract (I used 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. orange)
  • 2 cups confectioners sugar

Directions
  • Beat cold cream cheese (right out of fridge is fine), the butter and the extract together until combined.
  • Add the sugar a little at a time until all combined and uniform. You can add more sugar here until the frosting reaches the desired consistency.

3 comments:

Carrie said...

These look yummy, I love creamcicles. I too read somewhere to just blend sugar, I tried it and thought it was grainy too and I went for a long time.

kokocooks said...

All your posts look so delicious. I've become a follower.

Anonymous said...

These looks soo cute ... love the last photo .. Laila .. http://limeandlemon.wordpress.com/

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