Posted on Monday, 19th April 2010 by Grace Massa Langlois
The Cupcake, you can dress it up and take it anywhere, especially these Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Icing and Sugared Orange Peel. The perfect gourmet cupcake that is sure to please!
My niece, V, is getting married this summer and a tradition in our family is for all the Aunts to host the Bridal Shower. In reality it is a mini wedding. So many things to do, choose a venue, invitations, decorations, flowers, decide on a menu and party favors. We bake cookies for months prior to the event, each of usually bakes 5 or 6 varieties. I thought it would be nice to have a gourmet cupcake for each of the guests.
Choosing a cupcake should be easy right? Wrong! Wow, when you sit down and think about it there are so many choices, almost too many, sprinkled, swirled, filled, glazed, piped not to mention all the different flavours, chocolate, lemon, orange, vanilla, strawberry, red velvet, mocha, the list goes on and on.
Making a choice has been difficult but I have narrowed it down to a few, Orange Cupcakes, Lemon-Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes, and of course I need to add a little chocolate to the mix, Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes and Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes. I will post about them over the next couple of weeks. How will I choose? I am reaching out to you in hopes that you will help with the choice and by all means if you have a recipe that you think will knock the socks off of our guests I would love to hear about it.
This past weekend I decided to make the Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Icing and I decorated them with sugared orange peel. I am so happy I did, these brought me right back to when I was a kid running after the ice cream truck, they taste just like a creamsicle. So moist, creamy and delicious and they couldn’t be easier to make. We are sure to please all the guests from the small children right to the adults.
Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Icing and Sugared Orange Peel
(recipe from Food and Drink)
- Orange Cupcakes
- Vanilla Cream Icing
- Sugared Orange Peel
Orange Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (250 ml) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (500 ml) sifted before measured cake and pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (50 ml) orange juice
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) orange zest
- Preheat oven to 375° (190° C)
- Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper or silicone liners. Place eggs in a small bowl; cover with hot tap water.
- Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time; then vanilla. Thoroughly mix sifted flour with baking powder and salt. Then sift or rub through a sieve again. Combine milk with orange juice.
- Alternately, in 2 batches, stir first flour mixture and then milk mixture into butter mixture. Stir in zest. Divide batter among cups.
- Bake in oven centre for 18 to 20 minutes or until light golden and a cake tester into middle of cupcake comes out clean. Cool on rack.
- Cupcakes keep well covered at room temperature for a few days.
Vanilla Cream Icing
- 1/3 cup (75 ml) regular or light block cream cheese, about 1/3 of a 250 g pkg
- 2 tablespoons (25 ml) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) honey
- 3/4 teaspoon (4 ml) pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cups (500 ml) sifted before measured icing sugar
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese on high speed until smooth.
- Add the butter and beat to well combine.
- Add the honey, vanilla, salt and beat to just combine.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and with mixer running gradually add the icing sugar, beating to combine.
- Increase mixer speed to high and beat until thick and fluffy.
Sugared Orange Peel
- 1 orange
- 3/4 cup (175 ml) water
- 1 cup (250 ml) sugar
- Using a vegetable peeler, remove coloured part of peel from 1 large orange. Cut into long, very thin strips.
- Stir 3/4 cup (175 ml) each of granulated sugar and water in small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and bubble gently for 2 minutes.
- Add peel; simmer 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place 1/4 cup (50 ml) granulated sugar into a small bowl.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove peel from syrup, drain and separate the strips, place onto waxed paper or parchment paper. Then roll a few strips at a time in sugar until coated.
- Let dry at room temperature for a few hours.
- Store in an airtight container in the freezer up to 3 months.
Enjoy!
Check back on Wednesday for a super easy treat.
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Tags: after school treat, afternoon tea, cake, cakes, cream cheese, cupcakes, dessert, desserts, food, food photography, food photos, frosting, gourmet cupcakes, icing, individual dessert, individual desserts, mini cakes, small cakes
Posted in Baking & Pastry, Baking Mise en Place, Fillings, Frostings & Dessert Sauces, Pastry Doughs & Batter, Recipes
Comments (19)
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April 20th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Grace,
Thank you for the comment on my blog post. I figured I’d respond to your questions here, in case you didn’t check back at the original post.
I made the Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting from my post into mini cupcakes and used the Wilton 1M tip to pipe the frosting. Had I made these regular size, I would have used the Ateco 829 tip. Both are open star tips. My trick for getting a pleasantly plump mound of frosting is to use a tip larger than you think you’d need. The Atecto 829 tip, for example, is almost comically large.
The flowers are made from gum paste. You can use a ready made gum paste, or make your own from a mix or from scratch. I have used Wilton’s ready-to-use gum paste as well as their gum paste mix. I use cutters from the Wilton Floral Collection Flower Making Set to cut the gum paste and then shape the flowers using one of their fondant/gum paste tool sets. If you get the flower making set, there is a booklet included that will give you some tips and techniques on how to shape the flowers. There are also a ton of great tutorials online.
I hope I’ve answered your questions! Good luck on the search to find the perfect cupcake recipe for your niece’s bridal shower.
April 20th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Thank you Amy for the wonderful tips. I will definitely look into the Wilton set, I think it will definitely come in handy, especially since it provides even more tips and techniques.
April 20th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
You are more than welcome! If you have a Michaels near you, I suggest purchasing the items from them since there are always great coupons available online. I purchased all of the gum paste tools I use there with 40% off and 50% off coupons.
April 20th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
That is exactly what I was going to do, thank you.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
hi Grace
very well written blog!! I love those cupcakes, and the frosting it sits perfectly…and I do love cream cheese frosting….
Keep up the good work
Dennis
April 20th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Thank you!
April 21st, 2010 at 6:58 am
Creamsicle cuupcakes are right up my alley. What else have you used the sugared orange peel on? It seems like it would be a very useful ingredient to have in my freezer.
April 21st, 2010 at 7:04 am
Actually Eddie this is the first time I have used it but I think I will use this technique more often. I just found a supplier of edible flowers and I am going to try my hand at that. Very similar procedure but the flowers are delicate so I won’t be simmering them but I will use the simple syrup and then sugar. I think they will be beautiful on what ever I use them on and some edible flowers have a flavour all their own. Thanks again for your words of wisdom.
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:59 am
OMGoodness! I stumbled across your blog and I’m loving it. Your pics are wonderful and I can’t wait to try some of the recipes. Cupcakes remind me so much of growing up in the 50′s and 60′s…it seems cupcakes were more “popular” then than cakes were. Thanks for the inspiration to try cupcakes again!
Blessings,
Dianne
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:30 am
Thank you Dianne, you are so very welcome!
April 27th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
[...] A little fyi, I will be back to cupcakes on Thursday, you won’t want to miss the chocolate lover’s delight, Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes. I am still on the hunt for the perfect gourmet cupcake for my niece’s bridal shower. If you missed the Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream you can find them here. [...]
April 29th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
[...] cupcake search is continuing, so far I think the Orange Cupcakes are taking the lead. Let me know what you [...]
May 5th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
[...] really don’t know how I am going to choose between the Orange Cupcakes, the Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes and now [...]
May 12th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
[...] am back to cupcakes, Boston Cream, in my next post. I will be choosing between Orange Cupcakes, Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes and Lemon-Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. Hope you’ll help [...]
May 14th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
[...] have decided that whichever gourmet cupcake I choose (Orange Cupcakes, Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes, Lemon-Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes or Boston Cream Pie [...]
May 21st, 2010 at 6:25 pm
[...] have actually decided to make not 1 but 2 different cupcakes, Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes and Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Icing. I think it will not only be a nice contrast of colour when displaying them on the cookie tables, [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 2:44 pm
[...] details. I’ll be busy baking in the kitchen for the next 10 days. I plan to bake the Orange Cupcakes and Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes tomorrow and freeze them until the night before when I will [...]
June 15th, 2010 at 11:15 am
[...] full of special treats. I promise to share some of the recipes over the next little while. The Orange Cupcakes and Deep-Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes were enjoyed by all. The contrast in colours was striking on [...]
August 19th, 2011 at 11:22 am
[...] Orange Creamsicle Frosting [...]