Aaron came home this weekend! ***Jumping for joy*** After 6 looong weeks working out-of-province he was able to get a 4 day weekend off! Needless to say, Mairead and I are incredibly happy to finally have him home. We spent our weekend doing nothing except enjoy our little family again and it was lovely. I cooked up a storm and tried out a few new recipes that I was waiting for Aaron to be home for (obviously they called for bacon); we ate more bacon than I care to admit in the last couple of days.
One request from Mairead on this weekends menu was cupcakes. It took three attempts making these before I got the results I was looking for. There is nothing worse than a dry, dense, tough cupcake. Well, I can think of a lot of things that would be worse, but I was going for light, airy and delicious. And b’ye Jesus I got it! Ha!
I strive to put food on my table (and yours) that is of excellent quality and taste. It effing infuriates me to spend money on food only to have it suck. I promise if I post it on here, it’s because I really do like it. I’m not just doing it for the clicks. After many trials this is one I am pleased to share with you. The flavors of the orange zest are perfectly balanced with the creamy vanilla flavoring in the buttercream. Good luck eating just one; I baked a big batch of these for Aaron to take back to work with him tonight and there are only 3 left!
Anyway, enjoy folks. I am gong to go enjoy one of these tasty treats with a hot cup of coffee with Aaron before he hits the road and it’s back to long distance co-parenting and functioning at a semi-conscious level for another 6 weeks. Have a good one 😉
Orange Cupcakes with Smooth Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp finely rated orange zest
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Directions
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Line muffin tin with liners, set aside.
In a small bowl, mix sugar and orange zest together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add butter to the flour mixture and stir until it resembles small crumbs.
In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together sour cream, canola oil, eggs and vanilla extract.
Add orange juice to the sour cream mixture and mix well.
Combine wet and dry mixtures and still until just combined.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups about half full.
Bake for 12-14 minutes, until better has set and cake tester comes out clean.
Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
4 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Using a hand mixer, whisk butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add icing sugar, cream and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until partially mixed. Then continue using the hand mixture until icing is smooth, about 2 minutes.
Pipe onto cupcakes and enjoy!
A sea of buttercream!
By Three Happy Folk
4 Comments
I am totally trying this!!
Do it! And then invite me over 😉
I only have a mini cupcake pan (which I prefer so I can eat more). How long do you suggest I bake these baby cupcakes for?
I would try 7-9 minutes but because every oven cooks differently keep an eye on them. You can always bake longer if needed 🙂