Chocolate Blood Orange Cupcakes

So you're probably wondering why I love blood oranges so much right? (Even if you're not, I'm going to tell you.)

The first week I was studying abroad in Italy, my roommates took a trip to the local grocery store. Now I didn't speak much Italian at that point so the whole experience was a little bit overwhelming. Fortunately we went during an off-peak time so there weren't people everywhere to make it even worse.

But the store was tiny and I couldn't read any of the labels so I stuck with fruits and vegetables and other such easily identifiable things... or so I thought.

Well I got home that night and went to eat an orange from the 5lb bag I bought. I started to peel it, and started to break apart the wedges, and then I notice that the orange was a weird color. Being in a different country and not knowing how fresh food was, etc., I figured the orange had gone bad. So I started to peel a new one... same problem.



It took me about 4 oranges before I realized that these weren't the same oranges I was used to. After giving one a try, I fell in love, and proceeded to buy one of those massive bags every few days.

Since they're so hard to find in the Northeast US, I gradually forgot how good they were. But when I saw a recipe on another blog about a year ago that used blood oranges, I knew I needed to find some and get baking. It took me a year, but here we are...

Chocolate & Blood Orange Cupcakes

(from Love & Olive Oil)

1c coconut milk

1/3c pure olive oil

1t vanilla extract

1t blood orange zest

3/4c sugar

1c flour

1T almond meal

1/3c cocoa

3/4t baking soda

1/2t baking powder

1/4t salt

1/2c butter, at room temperature

2-3c confectioners' sugar

1/2t vanilla extract

3T blood orange juice

1t blood orange zest

1-2T heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk together the coconut milk, sugar, olive oil, vanilla extract (1t), and orange zest.

Note: For this recipe, you'll need about one large orange for both the zest and juice.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and almond meal.

(I didn't have any almond meal on hand, and couldn't find it at the store, so I substituted corn meal.)

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes, then let cool.

While the cupcakes are baking/cooling, make the icing.

Cream the butter until fluffy. Beat in 1c confectioners' sugar.

Mix in orange juice, zest, and vanilla extract.

Gradually add more confectioners' sugar and heavy cream until desired consistency.

Can't find blood oranges? This recipe would work equally as well with any type of orange, but the frosting would obviously be orange instead of such a pretty pink color.

Green Velvet Cupcakes

I'm back! Sorry for the recent disappearance, but life (and by life I mean work) has been getting in the way of baking and blogging. But with a holiday coming up this week, I couldn't let the chance pass by to try something new.

This week at work my team somehow got into a discussion about red velvet cake. Ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Red velvet has always been one of my favorite flavors of cupcake, but I've never been corageous enough to try it. Something about the unique ingredients (vinegar and buttermilk) has always scared me. Like I've said before though, I'm trying to start incorporating new ingredients into my baking, so I figured there's no time like now to try these.

Why green velvet though? Well obviously - St. Paddy's Day! This holiday will always remind me of the lepruchan that magically dyed the milk green every year and left green cakes in hidden places (not to mention the stories my mom tells about my sister and her best friend running all over the house looking for the lepruchaun). So, in the spirit of the holiday, Green Velvet Cupcakes (makes 6-7):

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
To make the cupcakes:

To make the frosting:

Add green food coloring to the frosting until the desired color.

I learned a few tricks while making these that might help you too:

No buttermilk on hand? Don't need enough to buy a full carton of it? Just mix either white vinegar or lemon juice with milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Since this recipe already calls for white vinegar, I just used this to make my buttermilk. Pour 1T vinegar into a measuring cup, then fill to the 1c line with milk and let sit. (Since I only needed 1/4c buttermilk for this recipe, I used 1/4T vinegar and filled to the 1/4c line with milk.)

Looking to cut some calories? Try using Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese. Less calories and fat, but still just as tasty.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, decorate them with the frosting and sprinkles (I used light green sugar pearls), then enjoy! Keep these stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days... if you can manage to keep them around that long.

It's been a while...

I just realized it's been over 3 months since I last posted to here. I've still been baking and cooking, but every time I've sat down to post, I really haven't felt like it. But now with Christmas coming up, I'm finally motivated again... not that today's post will have anything to do with Christmas but those will be coming soon!

Over Labor Day weekend I was home and my parents decided to have a little party with some family and friends, and I couldn't have been more excited to try baking. Especially with my mom's big kitchen (and her help of course). We made lemon bars (see this post), and mini cupcakes.

Mini Vanilla Cupcakes

(from Magnolia Bakery)

1 1/2c self-rising flour

1 1/4c all-purpose flour

1c unsalted butter, softened

2c sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1c milk

1t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line mini cupcake pan with liners.

In a smal bowl, combine the flours, then set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.

Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake 12-15 minutes.

French Silk Frosting

2 2/3c confectioners' sugar

2/3c butter, softened

2 1oz squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

3/4t vanilla extract

2T milk

In a medium bowl, blend confectioners' sugar, butter, melted chocolate and vanilla.

Gradually add milk and beat until smooth and fluffy.

Cupcake Hero

One of the blogs I follow, I heart cuppycakes, holds a competition each month called Cupcake Hero. The competition is hosted each month by the person who won the previous month. Here's the link to this month's competition. The ingredient is raspberries, and since I just picked some really yummy ones up from a local farm (Wilson Farm) I thought it was time to get baking and enter the competition for once instead of just reading about it. I couldn't decide on one idea so I made two different kinds of cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Whipped Cream

For these cupcakes, I used this cupcake recipe, which I've used before.

For the raspberry whipped cream:

1c whipping cream

1T sugar

1T raspberry sauce

Whip the cream and sugar for about 2 minutes, until it begins to thicken. Add in raspberry sauce and continue to whip until soft peaks form.

For the raspberry sauce, I used some of the filling from my other recipe below. You can also mash the raspberries and use the juice and small raspberry pieces from that. More or less raspberry sauce can be added to taste.

Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes

Makes 6

For the cupcakes (adapted from Love and Olive Oil):

1/2 + 1/8c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4c sugar

1/8c light brown sugar

1/8c olive oil

1/2c 2% milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice

For the raspberry filling:

1/2 pint raspberries

1/3c sugar

3T lemon juice

1T cornstarch

For the butercream:

1/4c butter

1.5c confectioners' sugar

1.5T raspberry filling

1tsp lemon juice

1/2 T 2% milk

Preheat oven to 350. To make the cupcakes, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix into the dry ingredients. Fill cupcake liners and bake about 20 mins.

To make the filling, mash berries and add to a saucepan along with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Stir constantly as mixture boils and thickens. Allow to sit at room temperature until cool and thick.

For the frosting, cream the butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar 1/2c at a time. Add lemon juice, raspberry filling, and milk, and mix until light and fluffy. If too runny, add more sugar. If too thick, add milk.

Chocolate/Raspberry/Lemon Cupcakes

This weekend I tried making some chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling and lemon buttercream frosting.

I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, which I adapted from the cookbook Sweetness.

Chocolate Cupcakes

 2/3c dark chocolate cocoa powder

2/3c boiling water

1c cake flour

1 1/4c sugar

2tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

12 tbsp butter, softened

3 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cocoa powder and boiling water in small bowl, then set aside and let cool. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix eggs and vanilla, then add 1/2 of the cocoa mixture. Add the other half of the cocoa mixture and the butter to the dry ingredients. Finally, add the egg mixture to the dry ingredient mixture in two stages. Bake 17-20 mins.

 

I cut out the centers of the cupcakes to fill them - I cut them in a cone shape and saved just the top portion of the cone to replace the top.

Raspberry Filling

1/2 package frozen raspberries, thawed

1/6c sugar

1.5 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Drain liquid from package of raspberries into a measuring cup. Add water to fill the measuring cup to 5/8c. Combine all ingredients except raspberries in pot. Mix well as mixture heats to boiling and thickens. Let cool and then stir in raspberries.

I made a lemon buttercream frosting to top the cupcakes. I've tried several buttercream recipes and they always seem to come out too runny, even when I try adding more sugar/less liquid. It's still yummy, but I have to store these in the fridge.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

(originally from The Cupcakery)

1 stick softened butter

2 3/4c confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cream butter and salt together. Add half of the sugar and milk to the butter and beat until combined. Add the remainder of the sugar, vanilla, and lemon. Beat on high until frosting is fluffy.

This whole recipe made about 18 cupcakes for me. They were definitely very sweet, and a glass of milk was needed, but the flavors worked really well together.