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It is freezing here in Ohio and I mean a bone chilling, teeth chattering, freezing…a whopping 12 degrees. The bad part is that it’s not even snowing, my theory is simple…if it’s going to be this cold, at least gimme a snow day, but unfortunately I have not gotten a single one this year! In the midst of this Ohio deep freeze, I was craving a little piece of summer and just happened to have some gorgeous oranges on my counter. I adapted a very simple recipe from the Joy of Baking, tweaking it just a bit to tantalize your taste buds with a lovely burst of orange. I then piped on some cream cheese frosting and enjoyed a little bit of summer! Bake these little beauties in bright cupcake liners, top them with sparkling sugar and I am betting that you will make the special people in your life very happy! Have a fabulous day and stay warm!
Notes:
Cupcake Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking;
Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from The Repressed Pastry Chef
Cupcake liners from World Market
Icing Tip from Bake It Pretty
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Orange Cupcakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of pure orange extract
Zest of 1 orange (optional)
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Place the sugar and orange zest into the bowl of your mixer and blend until moist and fragrant. Add in butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and orange extracts.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. 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.
4. 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.
-Makes 12 cupcakes
Cream Cheese Frosting
(1) 8 ounce package of cream cheese; room temperature
2 tablespoon of butter; room temperature
1 tablespoon of shortening
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar; add more to reach desired consistency
Directions
1. Combine cream cheese, shortening and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until smooth, creamy and well blended.
2. Blend in the vanilla extract.
3. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar until you reach the desired consistency.
My family tends to enjoy citrus desserts, so I knew I had to try this one. Very yummy, and good orange flavor. I didn’t have quite enough orange extract left in the bottle so I substituted orange juice for half of the milk. Also, I would recommend using twice the amount of milk called for in this recipe (or use 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup orange juice) because I found these to be just a teeny bit dry or else I baked them too long. You really don’t notice it much with the icing, but I prefer cake to be moist. I also used only 3 oz. of cream cheese in the icing and there was more than enough frosting for the cupcakes.
The link for the baking tip no longer works. Do you recall which size/brand tip you used?
Josette-
The tip is the large French Tip from Bake It Pretty. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
Jamie, I love your picture, very pretty! I followed your recipe but my cupcakes came out dry….any ideas on why that may have happened?
Keri-
Sorry this recipe didn’t work well for you. This cake is definitely a bit more dense than a typical cupcake, but I don’t remember them being dry. Sorry I am not more of a help – I made these a really long time ago. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
could you please show or explain how did you pipe this beautiful frosting over the cupcake, and i noticed that you usually use shortining on your forsting can i omit it, i do have it but i don’t know why i avoid myself to use it for health issues lik the trans fat. thanks.
Amerma0b-
Check out my Piping How-To Video in this post – hopefully it helps you! Thanks for stopping by!
-Jamie
Could we replace orange extract with freshly squeezed juice?
I love zesty cupcakes!
love the way you pipe these orange cupcakes!! do you have a special tip for it?
Where did you get the cupcake liners? I tried goin to worlds market website and I can not find it anywhere. :)
Yum yum yum! Just made these- nice and moist and a lovely orange flavour. I used a simple orange icing on top (icing sugar and fresh orange juice) instead and added a few flaked almonds. Give it a go! :)
I made these cupcakes and they turned out dry. I followed the recipe exactly word for word. Next time I think I am going to make an orange simple syrup and brush those on the top of the cupcakes after they come out of the oven. I think that It will make them a little more moist.