Orange Cupcakes

I go through phases with baking — I’ll get really into it for a while, and then the ingredients sit in my cupboards for months untouched!

This weekend I had nothing planned so I decided to do a bit of baking. I had originally wanted to make orange shortbread (just shortbread with a touch of orange zest), but my butter was solid as a rock, so I went searching for a cupcake recipe instead — and came across one I just had to try.

Also, a quick side note — I treated myself to some lovely pastel measuring cups and spoons from Asda (£5 for the cups and £4 for the spoons). They’re so pretty and perfect for baking days like this!

Ingredients:

For the Cupcake Batter:

• 2 cups of self-raising flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 125g melted butter, cooled
• 2 eggs, beaten,
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 oranges, rind grated and juiced

For the Buttercream Icing:

• 280g softened butter
• 560g icing sugar
• 1-2 tsp milk (if icing is too stiff)
• Optional: food colouring, orange rind, or a dash of orange juice

Method:

For the Cupcake Batter:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a cupcake tray or muffin tray (I find these are better than cupcake trays) with 12 cases. I had some Christmas ones left so I used these.
2. You can either do this by hand or by machine - I chose to be lazy and use my mixer. In the bowl add the self-raising flour and caster sugar. I sifted both of these to get rid of lumps.
3. Melt the butter on the stove or in the microwave (on a low setting) you need the butter to melt but not get too hot. Let it cool on the side.
4. Add milk, eggs, orange rind, orange juice (you should get 1/2 cup from the 2 oranges you juiced), vanilla essence and the cooled melted butter.
5. Turn the mixer on but don't go crazy and over-beat it. If your hand mixing then gently mix until all incorporated. Once mixed start spooning the mixture into the cases - the mixture will fill all 12 very full but this is okay.
6. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown or when a skewer inserted comes out clean. Mine took exactly 15 minutes as they were quite pale when the timer went at 12 minutes - but I know every oven is different.
7. Leave in the tray for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let them cool completely before icing.

For the Buttercream Icing:

1. Using my mixer add the butter and beat in the mixing bowl until soft and pale.
2. Stop the mixer, add some icing sugar and start again, keep doing this until all the icing sugar is incorporated. Depending on thickness add some milk - you will be able to tell. You don't want it too stiff or you'll find it difficult to pipe.
3. Optional: Add this stage you can also add some orange juice or some orange rind. I added some orange rind I had leftover from the batter.
4. Get your piping bag ready and spoon into the bag. Pipe onto the cupcakes and voila! Done! Eat any remaining butter icing until you feel sick.