Anyway, healthy baked goods are for another day. This recipe is for incredibly light and delicious orange cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting. The use of cake flour (or its substitute...more on that later) makes the cupcakes light, while the oranges and cream cheese add enough tang to ensure that the cakes are sweet without inducing a sugar coma. On a regular day, butter and cream cheese in one recipe would be a strict no-no for me.....how easy it is to pile on the pounds with all that fat. But these cupcakes were a friend's birthday gift, so all indulgences were forgiven.
The original recipe for the cupcakes is here and that for the frosting is here.
Orange Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting(Makes 16-17 regular sized cupcakes)
For the cupcakes:
2 eggs
1 stick (or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour, sifted before measuring
2 teaspoons baking powder (NOT baking soda....it's different)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest (from 1 large orange)
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Ingredient notes:
1. If you don't have cake flour, here's how you can make it. Measure 2 cups of all purpose flour. Remove 4 tablespoons of the flour. Replace with 4 tablespoons of cornstarch. Then sift it all together. Alternatively, you could just use all purpose flour in a one-to-one substitution. The cupcakes will still be alright, but probably not as light.
2. Increase the amount of sugar to 1 cup if you like sweeter cakes.....I don't.
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Make sure the eggs and the butter are at room temperature before starting. Line the cupcake pans with liners and preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Add the baking powder and salt to the flour and sift again. Combine the milk and orange juice.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Then add the vanilla extract. Add half of the flour mixture to this followed by half of the milk mixture. Mix well. Repeat with the remaining half and mix again. Finally add the orange zest and mix well. Pour the batter into the pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
EDIT - Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting....or you're going to end up with a melted, drippy mess on the cupcakes.
For the frosting:
1 package of low fat cream cheese (8 ounces)
3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1.5 to 2 cups powdered sugar (also called confectioner's sugar or icing sugar)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2-3 teaspoons orange zest
Beat the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth (about 3 minutes). Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar in small quantities and mix until you reach the desired consistency. Finally mix in the orange zest. Then spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a blunt knife or use a piping bag.
Notes:
1. When you mix in the sugar, add it until you reach 1.5 cups. Then add more if the frosting isn't sweet enough, add more. If you want to pipe the frosting, you could need more than 2 cups of sugar to make the frosting stiffer. I don't have the time or skill for piping bags, so I just used 1.5 cups.
2. Sifting the sugar is a good idea to ensure that there are no clumps. Measure before sifting!
