justJENN recipes

Mini Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Glaze

January 29th, 2009

Posted by : justJENN

2 Comments »

      

January provides the most beautiful citrus here in Southern California. I like to take advantage of it by using it in baking and cooking as much as possible. Instead of going with a typical lemon flavor, I thought orange would be a little different but still that same yummy citrus-y flavor.

cupcake ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 Tablespoon orange zest

vanilla glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1-1/2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a mini cupcake pan with liners.

I like to prep ahead, I am big on mise en place, so I try to juice and zest the orange ahead of time so I can just toss it all in at the end, and keep on going.

In a bowl whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer cream the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time until blended.

Add the vanilla and almond extracts. If you don’t care for almond, you don’t have to use it but I think it brings out the orange in a nice way. Just leave it out if bothers you that much, sheesh.

To the butter mixture, alternate the flour mixture and the milk. Finally stir in the orange juice, and the orange zest.

Fill the lined cupcake pan, depending on the liners you use, for these, I like them to kind of puff up so they look like flowers, so I fill them more than I would a normal cupcake liner. The recipe should give you 24 mini cupcakes easily. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes depending on your oven.

Test with a toothpick and let cool on a wire rack. Start the glaze while the cupcakes are cooling – in a small bowl mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. You can add more milk if it’s too thick, but it should be a nice runny consistency. This is a glaze, not a frosting, so you’re going to drizzle it, not spread it.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, drizzle with glaze. These are the perfect size to pop in your mouth…one…after the other…then another. Yikes.