Friday, June 5, 2009

Cupcake heaven



So, today, I made some cupcakes for a friend's daughter's birthday party (my first paid catering job!). The pink ones above are mini cupcakes with buttercream frosting and sprinkles and the ones further below with little butterfly toppers are regular size. I use my favourite orange cake recipe for these cupcakes as it is so moist and the orange flavour is wonderful. Here is the recipe that I have been using for years from my dear sister. It is so easy and quick too. Two of my favourite words when baking!

Orange (Butter) Cake

Ingredients
175g (6 ozs) butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup orange juice (or milk for the plain butter cake version)

Method
Beat butter and sugar to a cream, add vanilla then eggs (and beat after each addition). Mix in flour and orange juice (milk) alternately and bake in a moderate oven for approx. 45 - 50 mins *. I usually line the tin with greaseproof paper if making the whole cake.

* This time is only if you do it as the full cake obviously. The cupcakes cook in a much quicker time. Just watch until they are a light golden colour and spring back when touched on top.

Other notes:
- Don't be tempted to use bought orange juice. Freshly squeezed is definitely best and I always squeeze enough to use for the frosting/icing as well.
- I also add the zest of about one or half an orange to give a little bit more flavour (I make sure it is fine zest if I am doing them for children). Thank you, my dear friend Emily, for showing me this!

These little cupcake toppers (below) are my first attempt at these. I haven't seen these in Australia (or elsewhere) but have been noticing them a lot in the US magazines I subscribe to. Anyway, I thought they would be a fun addition to these plainer cupcakes. They were dead easy to make. I just punched a bunch of butterflies out of three different papers (I would use more densely patterned papers next time), added a drop of glue to the back and stuck the toothpick to it. Quite effective!

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the recipe. Your photos look delicious--I hope mine turn out as well as yours.

    cheers!

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  2. Thanks for dropping by. I have no doubt that yours will turn out just as well! Send me a photo when they are done...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks delicious your cake heaven - I will try the recipe for my daughters first birthday next week. Do you think it'll work with strawberries instead of orange juice? Thanks for your lovely blog!
    Ula

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Ula!
    Thanks for coming by and for your kind words. It helps to know I am not just talking to myself! As for the recipe, I am not sure if it will work with strawberries but if you cut the cake in half and layer it with strawberries I think the flavour combo would be fantastic! If you do try the strawberries, let me know how it turns out. We could have a taste sensation on our hands!

    ReplyDelete

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