Semisweet chocolate and orange are a great pairing, and I had an inkling that the hostess of a dinner party I was attending was a particular fan of orange and chocolate together. It also seemed a fitting flavor for the holiday season.
I used this recipe from Epicurious. Based on the comments, many of which indicated the cupcakes came out a little dry, I made some alterations. I used a stick of butter (8 tablespoons), instead of just 5 tablespoons, and I added the juice of the Florida Juice Orange I zested to the batter.
Getting the good stuff—orange zest!
They turned out dense and moist. I thought they had a good flavor of the orange without being overwhelming. The recipe made exactly a dozen.
The frosting was made by melting semisweet chocolate chips and stirring in heavy cream. It was very thin and required some time in the refrigerator, then the freezer, to get it to spreading consistency.
I finished them with a curl of orange peel, and packed them up for the dinner. My hosts—and their two-year-old son—seemed to think it was a lovely dessert!
I’ll be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner this year. Since this will be a first, a practice round was in order. I gathered some willing participants for this Thanksgiving-in-October over Columbus Day weekend. They made sides, my boyfriend and I did the turkey, dressing, and, of course, cupcakes.
I ran a poll on my Facebook Page to decide what to bake: What is your favorite fall ingredient? The top response was pumpkin (not surprised!), so I knew I had to include this classic fall ingredient in my Thanksgiving cupcakes.
I made the Pumpkin Cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen, though I gave them my own twist, adding cranberries to the batter. I love muffins with fresh, whole cranberries that burst as you bite through, but I couldn’t find any fresh cranberries. I used a dried version, so no bursting, but they did give a little something to the cupcakes.
Smitten Kitchen’s version uses maple icing, but I was set on doing cinnamon. I’d wanted to keep it subtle, so I used half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon in what was probably about a batch and a half of vanilla buttercream. Well, I can’t quite imagine it being more cinnamon-y. Subtle, it was not!
Piping the cinnamon icing with a 1M tip
Because I’d skipped the maple-cream cheese frosting in favor of the cinnamon buttercream, I considered drizzling maple syrup over the top. However, I decided that would be too sweet. When I tasted the plain cupcake, I knew what I needed—more of the tangy cranberry taste!
I let a handful of dried cranberries soak in hot water (just enough to cover) for about 30 minutes, then took my hand blender to them. I added this to 1/2 cup of sugar, a tablespoon of cornstarch, and some lemon juice, cooking until it thickened. I let it cool, then put it through a strainer.
I imagined drizzling the syrup artfully over the cupcakes, but it was a little thicker than I’d anticipated. Perhaps I should have skipped the cornstarch for this purpose, or used less. I first tried pouring the cranberry syrup from a pitcher, but it was just too thick. Spooning was worse. I finally settled on pushing through a small funnel.
Pouring, spooning, funneling
At any rate, I managed to get the syrup/sauce on my iced cupcakes. And I have a nice amount of cranberry syrup leftover, ready to go on pancakes or ice cream! Or more cupcakes…
I worried there would be too many components, but the sweet spiciness of the icing and cake melded well with the tangy sweet cranberry. I recommend giving these cupcakes a try, if you want an alternative to pumpkin pie at your Thanksgiving meal!
The day for “Fakesgiving” turned out to be unseasonably warm, I believe it hit the mid-80s. Not out of the ordinary in my home state of Louisiana, where I sometimes wore shorts to pick out my Christmas tree, this is unusual for New York. Hopefully the real Thanksgiving will be more seasonable.
The citrus zing of lemon and the spicy sweetness of ginger truly complement each other, and it’s a combination I love.
In the cooler months, I like to make a dark, spiced gingerbread that I serve warm with a generous dollop of lemon sauce. It’s my maternal grandmother’s recipe, one of my favorites since childhood. It is a warming, comforting dessert for fall and winter.
Warming, however, isn’t right for summer. Luckily, ginger and lemon can also be a refreshing combination! I attended a wedding reception over the weekend with miniature cupcakes and was inspired to bake some of my own featuring ginger and lemon. Tiny bursts of these flavors seems fitting as a late summer treat.
For the cake, I used the Ginger Cupcake recipe from Julie Hasson‘s 125 Best Cupcake Recipes (recipe reprinted online here), which uses both ground and crystallized ginger. I picked up some crystallized ginger from Malko Karkanni Brothers, a Middle Eastern grocery in my neighborhood. I chopped it to bake into my cupcakes and cut strips to use as garnish.
I whipped up some lemon frosting based on the standard cream cheese buttercream I make. It went something like this:
Lemon Frosting for Ginger Cupcakes
3 ounces cream cheese
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
l lb. powdered sugar
zest from 1 small lemon
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add sugar, then lemon zest. Add lemon juice a little at a time until you reach desired consistency.
I wanted to try something a little different, branch out from my typical cake and frosting cupcake creations. While recently planning a get-together at my apartment, I remembered that some of my friends prefer pie to cake (I forgive them that). Not wanting to abandon my cupcake theme, I set out to bake cupcake-pie hybrids.
Vanilla cake base, fruit filling, pie crust lattice top
I mixed up some vanilla cupcake batter and filled the liners a little less than half full. I baked them only about 12 minutes, then let them cool while I made the filling.
Filled only half-way, leaving room for fruit after baking
I was concerned with making too much pie filling, so I made a batch with one cup strawberries, another with two peaches, and another with a small carton of blackberries. As it turned out, however, a little does not go a long way with pie filling. My strawberry mixture filled only two cupcakes, my blackberries about four. The peaches produced a better number, but I still needed to go back and make more filling with some leftover strawberries.
I must confess, I’d never really made pie crust on my own before. I’m a cupcake baker, not a pie baker! I was therefore pleased when it came out ok. I rolled it out, then cut strips to place over the fruit filling of each cupcake.
I realize now that I should have gone over/under on my mini-pie tops to create a true lattice, but I was crunched for time and was just so happy to have workable dough. I also might roll it out thinner next time. As a pie beginner, though, I’m happy with the results!
I popped them back in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the crust was slightly browned. I was less concerned with overcooking than I am with normal cupcakes, as I knew there was plenty of moisture from the fruit.
There is nothing like the smell of fresh baked pie! I was happy to welcome my guests with piecakes and their lovely aroma.
Photos by me this time. Yes, I miss my photographers, too!
When peaches come to mind, many of you probably think “Georgia,” but a peach in summer always says “Louisiana” to me. I grew up on Ruston peaches, and no peach tastes quite the same. I recently spent a week with family in the Bayou State, and what other special ingredient could I chose to include in a batch of cupcakes?
I chose two ripe–but not overripe–peaches for this recipe from Cupcake Project, one I’d not tried before. (I used a different frosting recipe than the one included there, see below.) I peeled the peaches and cut them in slices that I then chopped in thirds. I’d read that cutting the peaches up into smaller pieces decreased the flavor, and I wanted to avoid that! It turned out well, chunks of flavorful peaches and cake that was not at all heavy.
I used my stepmom’s KitchenAid Professional Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer to make these, and I have to say I like my KitchenAid Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer better. I am ok with being no professional, if that is what that means! I really like having a tilting head, and I found it difficult to add ingredients without one. Though perhaps I would get used to it, I disliked having to lower and raise the bowl–or remove it entirely. I also missed the pouring shield I often use at home. That said, it is still a great mixer, and it certainly got the job done!
Another change, I used an ice cream scoop this time. It’s a pretty standard method, but I don’t own this type of scoop myself. I still like my soup spoon method–I’m just so used to it!–but this works nicely, too. I tried a larger scoop, then switched to a smaller one.
For the frosting, I used a brown sugar recipe also found on the Cupcake Project website. It was simple to make. I melted butter and mixed in brown sugar, bringing to a boil, adding milk (I used 2%) and boiling for a few minutes. Once the mixture cooled to a lukewarm temperature, I whipped in powdered sugar. The frosting tasted like a sweet caramel with molasses, which is really exactly what it was.
This brown sugar topping was very sweet, as you might expect, but the peach cake was less so, and it was a successful mix.
“Is this the best cupcake you’ve ever made?” asked one satisfied taste-tester. I don’t know about that, but they certainly were good!
While all adults agreed, the kids–my nephews, 2 1/2 and 4–weren’t so pleased. They licked the frosting, then abandoned my cupcakes for M&M cookies. I think the molasses taste was a bit sophisticated for them, I’ll try again in a few years!
For the cake, I used the Ginger Cupcake recipe from 
Discussion