needs more sugar

I made these moist and zingy orange  poppyseed cupcakes as a “fare thee well” for someone in our office going on maternity leave.

Oh, how I wanted to make them pretty – but I kinda went a bit nuts with the passionfruit when I made the frosting.. then I started to freak out so frosted them like a maniac instead of letting the frosting set a bit.

Urgggh… anyway, they came out looking okay in the end – and they still kicked serious ass in the flavour department, so I can’t complain hey?

These would have been awesome with an Earl Grey – why didn’t I think of this when I was nomming one!

Ingredients:
(Makes 30 – I halved it the below quantities – our office only has 10 people, and I don’t want to be responsible for making them too squishy in the middle).

2/3 cup poppyseeds
1 1/4 cups milk
3 3/4 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
300g softened unsalted butter
zest of 2 oranges
2 1/2 cups caster sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

1. Soak the poppyseeds in the milk for at least half an hour
2. Preheat the oven to 170°C
3. Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt
4. In another bowl cream butter for 2 mins, add the orange zest and beat for 1 minute
5. Add the sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes in between each additon – after the last third beat until light and fluffy, making sure all the sugar has dissolved
6. Add the eggs one-by-one, beating for 1 minute after each egg is added
7. Add the vanilla and beat until combined
8. Add a third of the flour mixture into the creamed mix and beat on a low speed until combined
9. Add a third of the milk/poppyseeds and beat until combined
10. Repeat with the remaining thirds of the mixes, making sure you scrape down the sides – don’t overmix
11. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases in tins and bake for 15 minutes

Ingredients:
(Frosting)

120g softened unsalted butter
350g softened cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups icing sugar

Method:

1. Cream the butter for 2 minutes
2. Add the cream cheese, vanilla, passionfruit and half the sifted sugar and beat for 4 minutes until fluffy
3. Gradually add the remaining icing sugar and continue to beat  until fluffy – you really can’t beat this stuff too much, if you want a really light airy frosting just keep on keepin’ on
4. Frost the cupcakes using a palette knife or piping bag – up to you
5. Decorate with a sprinkling of poppy seeds

ENJOY – Thanks to The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook.

Tags: cream cheese, oranges, passionfruit

This entry was posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:21 pm and is filed under cupcakes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.