Mandarin orange cupcake with love
jeroxie / baking, cupcake / 20 Comments
I received a $10 gift voucher from Coles in the mail from Nuffnang and amongst other goodies! One of the challenge was to spend the $10 in a creative, interesting or fun way. Since I have never ever baked cupcakes before, I thought it will be funny and pray that it tured out to be a good first attempt. Did a little research and settled for orange cupcakes with orange icing with cute toppings that I could find at Coles.
It was interesting to shop in a different supermarket. The lanes are different but most products sold are the same. Actually, the lanes are wider at Coles. But anyway, I headed straight to the baking area where all the goodies are. I thought that I would be piping the icing over the top of the cake so I got myself a cake decorating bag set. And I caught eye of some little hearts. So cute and I so I bought a tube of it. And on the way out, I caught eye of the mini m&m’s! Perfect. Chocolate and orange worked well together. Things got a little tricky at the counter where I had to swop things to get to $10. It was good that I had other required ingredients back home or I would have blown the $10.
Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that I have never baked any cupcakes before and I have atrociously bad baking skills. My skill lies in eating desserts & sweets.
Ingredients:
Cupcake (Makes 10)
- 200 grams flour
- 100 grams sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 large eggs, separated and whites beaten until stiff
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 mandarin orange
- 11/2 teaspoons of orange blossom
- 125 grams softened butter
Orange icing
- 180 grams icing sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon Mandarin orange zest
- 3 tablespoons or 10grams of soft butter
- 2-3 tablespoons orange juice (1/2 mandarin orange)
Method:
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees
- Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla in the mixing bowl
Mix flour, salt, and baking powder together in a separate mixing bowl. - Slowly add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to creamed ingredients 1/3 and alternate with adding portions of the orange juice to the mixture.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and gently fold into creamed ingredients - Spoon batter into cupcake liners until 1/2 full.
- Bake in oven between 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
Orange Icing Directions
- Mix all ingredients together and only use 2 tablespoons of the orange juice.
- Add more orange juice if the frosting is too thick
Playtime
- Leave the cupcakes to cool on cooling rack for at least 30-45mins
- Pipe the icing from the top of the cupcake or use a spoon to spread it all over the cupcake
- Decorate by sprinkling love hearts and M&Ms on the icing
Allow it to rest for 30mins and if you can’t wait, EAT it immediately. And that was exactly what I did. The cake itself was light, moist and packed with strong but delicate orange flavour. The icing wasn’t perfect and it took some time in the mixer but it turned out OK in the end. A tad too sweet for me but isn’t cupcakes suppose to be sweet? I love how I could still see little orange strands.
Overall, I am quite please with the results and it has given me a confidence to make more cupcakes and to be more adventurous and creative.
Does anyone have any stories to tell about their first attempt with baking? Please do share!
Aug 28, 2009 @ 20:23:49
Awesome cupcakes and "Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that I have never baked any cupcakes before and I have atrociously bad baking skills. My skill lies in eating desserts & sweets." = LOL!!!!
Aug 29, 2009 @ 21:25:27
Im motivated to do it again! Just because I want to eat it.
Aug 28, 2009 @ 21:20:53
these look yummy!
Aug 29, 2009 @ 21:26:06
Thanks amanda and your blog is so cute! I'm loving it.
Aug 29, 2009 @ 04:13:35
OMG *love* the mini M&M topping! hehe great idea
Aug 29, 2009 @ 21:26:37
Making another round today for a friend's birthday. Thinking of other cute toppings. Stay tune!
Aug 30, 2009 @ 04:39:47
What a great job you did!!! I love the way they look and even with the disclaimer I'm still wanting to eat them:) Well done.
Aug 30, 2009 @ 05:49:19
Thanks for the sweet comment! just finished backing another lot of chocolate cupcakes.
Aug 30, 2009 @ 08:15:12
i just woke up and saw this cupcake and hmmmmmmmm…now you make me crave for one. Great job and I'll try it now
Aug 30, 2009 @ 09:33:37
That looks awesome. I bet the whole kitchen is smelling great. Thanks for the recipe.
Aug 30, 2009 @ 10:05:00
looks pretty darn good for someone new to baking cupcakes!
Aug 30, 2009 @ 11:05:25
Dining with batali – Please let me know how you go!
Divina – Im made a batch of chocolate cupcakes as well. Will post soon.
Amanda – Those are the 3 best looking ones…. need more to practise on icing skill.
Aug 30, 2009 @ 11:12:35
yummy, very cute cupcakes. I can’t wait, so I'll EAT it immediately. just one question, 180 Celsius, yes?
Aug 30, 2009 @ 11:19:25
They are quite special since they are my firsts. And yes, 180 degrees Celsius.
I will make mental note to make sure that I add that in my future recipes.
Aug 31, 2009 @ 08:17:26
cute cupcakes! I love the toppings you used too
Aug 31, 2009 @ 08:37:24
Thanks babe. For the sweet tooth!
Sep 03, 2009 @ 01:12:29
Yum! Thanks for playing Penny!
Sep 03, 2009 @ 02:20:37
thanks for allowing me to play!
Sep 04, 2009 @ 00:11:04
it looks yummy
Sep 04, 2009 @ 02:18:24
Thanks jhermie. And Spring has arrived!