Staving Off Scurvy (Orange Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing)

I adore sweets, but actually don’t like things that are TOO sweet or rich. That’s why fruity or citrusy desserts are perfect for me. And when I ran across this recipe on Pinterest, I was intrigued because orange is less common from a baking standpoint.

Plus, I had (the most delicious) lemon cream cheese frosting left over from my lemon poppyseed layer cake experiment, so that seemed a perfect fit. I’d also been wanting to try out the new frosting squeezy bag (yes, I realize it has a name—Jorge, duh—but I’m going with this one). So onward and upward!

One note, I swapped homemade cake flour in for regular flour because it makes the cake really fluffy and light.  Super easy to make, directions here. But if you decide not to, regular flour is just fine.

Original recipe from My Baking Addiction

Orange Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

• 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 extract1/2 teaspoon of pure orange extract
• Zest of 1 orange (recipe says optional, I say totally necessary)
• 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour (I used homemade cake flour instead)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

Makes 12 cupcakes (…ish. Like 13 for me)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or line muffin cups with paper liners (I use Pam spray).

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.

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.

Should look something like this, so good! Maybe eat a little, just to make sure it tastes good.

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. Make sure they’re completely cool before icing.

Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing and devour! Mine kind of look like a five-year-old decorated, but that made them MORE delicious!

Pros:  Delicious, pretty easy, not too rich, and a little unique

Cons:  Not much really

Healthy quotient:  Vitamin C?? I mean, it’s dessert, but the butter and sugar content aren’t out of control like some cake recipes.