Cranberry Orange Cupcakes

These cranberry orange cupcakes were a complete multi-sensory experience. The moment I open the Tupperware containing the cranberry orange cupcakes, the aroma of orange fills the air and makes me feel like I'm back in the orange packing plant that I got to tour last week in California. Can I just say that an orange packing plant is such a happy smelling place to be?

As I move the cupcake closer to my mouth to take a bite, the more subtle smell of the ring of cranberry (it looks kind of like a ring of fire, but I keep resisting calling it that because that just isn't a good thing) tickles my nose. I can't help but take a quick lick before biting into the cupcake. Once I bite in, the texture of the nuts and cranberries in the cupcake provides a nice crunch sound and I struggle to not eat the whole thing in one big bite!

The Cranberry Orange Cupcake Recipe

I used Cranberry Orange Tango from Nutorious in this recipe. I'm giving some away this week and it's not too late to enter. However, if you can't get your hands on some, you can just as easily make the recipe using any chopped nuts and some dried cranberries.

makes 18-20 cupcakes

• 2/3 C sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 C orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 C sugar (for the orange syrup)
• 2 C flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 3/4 C butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 C plain yogurt
  
• 4 oz of Cranberry Orange Tango or 2 oz chopped nuts of your choice and 2 oz dried cranberries

1. A few hours before you are ready to bake, combine the orange zest and the sugar in a bowl. This will let the orange flavor infuse into the sugar.
2. While you are waiting, prepare an orange syrup by bringing the orange juice concentrate and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Stir continuously until it is thoroughly combined and gets slightly thicker (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and return to room temperature.
3. With a fork, whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
4. Beat butter and the sugar with grated orange zest in a large bowl for 1 minute, until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs and yogurt until blended.
6. Alternately fold in flour mixture and 2/3 cup of the orange syrup (that should be pretty much all of the syrup) in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.
7. Fold in the Cranberry Orange Tango or nuts and dried cranberries.
   
8. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
   
9. Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

Cranberry Brown Sugar Frosting Recipe

The cranberry brown sugar frosting recipe did not taste very cranberry-esque, but it was the perfect compliment to the cupcake.

• 1/4 C jellied cranberry sauce (This is the kind that you may be subjected to on Turkey day that isn't nearly as good as the homemade stuff, but somehow works on a cupcake. You'll use up the rest of the can if you pipe the ring of cranberry like I did.)
• 1/4 C butter
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 2 T milk
• 1 C powdered sugar, sifted

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter.
2. Add the cranberry sauce and brown sugar.
3. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
5. Cool to lukewarm.
6. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar. I would highly recommend sifting this powdered sugar. It's such a pain to sift, but it ensures that the frosting will be extra smooth.
7. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water.

Putting It Together

Spread the frosting onto the cupcakes and let it harden just a bit. Then, pipe a ring of cranberry sauce around the edge of the cupcake and sprinkle on some orange zest for some added color.

Other Options

If you like the idea of a cranberry orange cupcake, you may also like:

• taking this cupcake and frosting it with orange buttercream instead.
• making mimosa cupcakes.
• making muffins instead. For those who may wonder what the difference between a cranberry orange cupcake and a cranberry orange muffin looks like, it just so happens (quite coincidentally) that How to Eat A Cupcake posted some yummy looking cranberry orange muffins yesterday.
  

Nutorious Nut Confections Giveaway

Eat. Walk two steps. Repeat for seven hours.

That was my day at the Fancy Food Show in California. To say it was an amazing experience would be an understatement. The show is held twice a year (one time in San Francisco and one time in New York) and if you can ever make it to one, I highly encourage you to go.

Expect to see several cupcakes here based on products that I discovered at the show - starting with one of the best things I tried there, Nutorious Nut Confections.

I love candied nuts in my salads and have made my own on occasion, but Nutorious takes the candied nut to a new level. I was lucky enough to get to sample the four flavors you see above - not only did I get to try them at the show, but samples were waiting for me when I arrived back in St. Louis!


Check out these descriptions:

• Ooo La La Original - Walnuts, almond, and pecans in a rich buttery confection.
• Cranberry Orange Tango - Walnuts, almonds, pecans, and dried cranberries in a refreshing orange confection.
• Cherry Vanilla Va-Voom - Walnuts, almonds, pecans, and dried and Montmorency cherries in a sweet vanilla confection.
  
• Blueberry Lemon Meringue -Walnuts, almonds, pecans, and dried blueberries in a delicate lemon confection.

I kid you not when I say that I loved all of them. They will all be used to top my salads, pancakes, waffles, and whatever else I can think of - all except for the Cranberry Orange Tango. I used up the whole bag of Cranberry Orange Tango making some delectable cranberry orange cupcakes.

You can look at Nutorious' website to see where it is sold near you. In the meantime, leave a comment letting me know which flavor sounds the best to you and what you would do with it for a chance to win some!

One winner will win all 4 flavors described above and two other winners will win a bag of the Cranberry Orange Tango to use in a cupcake or anything else! The winners will be chosen randomly on the morning of Wed., Feb 4th. You may enter up until the time that I post the winners.

Inauguration Cupcakes - Sweet Potato Pie Cupcakes

I took this photo at the St. Louis rally for Obama.

Note that I did not make up the quote.

I'm in California this week getting away from the freezing cold of St. Louis. Like all good media on vacation, I bring you a rerun.

When Barack Obama spoke in St. Louis earlier this year, he mentioned that one of his favorite desserts was sweet potato pie. It also happens to be one of mine!

With that in mind, if you are looking for cupcakes to make for your inauguration party, I propose sweet potato pie cupcakes.

Astute readers will note that the photo above is of my pumpkin cup-pies (mini pumpkin pie cupcakes). I did warn you that this was going to be a rerun. For the inauguration, I would suggest that you follow the cup-pie instructions from my post, but instead of making the pumpkin pie filling, make sweet potato pie filling.

It just so happens that I have a sweet potato pie recipe that is tried and true. I found it as a kid in the Williamsburg Cookbook and I have made this recipe probably more than any other recipe (that includes cupcakes!). Here is that sweet potato pie filing:

• 1 1/2 C canned sweet potatoes, mashed
• 2/3 C sugar
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T lemon juice
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 C light cream

1. Mix sweet potatoes and sugar.
2. Add butter, nutmeg, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice. Mix well.
3. Gradually add eggs and cream. Mix until smooth.
   

Enjoy the inauguration, and I'll respond to any blog comments when I'm back from California or if I decide to break my own rule and get on the computer during vacation.

Chinese New Year Cupcakes - Nian Gao

Sure, Chinese New Year Cupcakes are not the traditional dessert to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but the cake that I turned into cupcakes, nian gao, is. It's a sticky, glutinous cake that is filled with red bean paste. To make it more cupcake-like, I frosted the cupcakes with a red bean buttercream frosting.

Chinese New Year Cupcake Tasting Notes

You have to be a fan of Chinese cakes to like these Chinese New Year Cupcakes. Jonathan felt that these cupcakes tasted just like the sticky buns filled with red bean paste that you can get at dim sum. Since he loves those, he loved these cupcakes. If you are expecting anything with any kind of a crumb, this is not the cake for you.

Because the Chinese New Year cupcakes are so sticky, I would make one change if I were to make them again. Although I don't typically bake in silicone cupcake wrappers, I think I would opt for silicone for these cupcakes - way too much of the cupcake stuck to the wrapper. If you don't have silicone wrappers, you might also try spraying the inside of paper wrappers with a non-stick spray before pouring the batter in.

The Chinese New Year Cupcake (Nian Gao) Recipe

I got the recipe for the Nian Gao from Asian Eats. The traditional recipe is steamed, but the recipe on Asian Eats has been modified to a baked version. Below is that recipe from Asian Eats modified to cupcake form. After the recipe text, I have some step-by-step photos.

Makes about 24 cupcakes

• 1 lb (500 g) glutinous rice flour (I found this at an international supermarket. The flour came in a 1 lb bag, which made it easy.)
• 2 1/2 C milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 C vegetable oil
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/2 C (15 oz) red bean paste (I also found this at an international supermarket. They were out of the can, though, so I bought a bag of it from the refrigerated section. The clerk told me that it was the Japanese version of red bean paste, but that it would work just as well.)

1. Combine all ingredients except red bean paste.
2. Beat with beater, mixing well.
3. Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full. (As noted above, I would recommend silicone liners or paper liners sprayed with a non-stick spray.)
   
4. Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes or until just set.
5. Remove pan from the oven and put spoonfuls of red bean paste all over the baked batter. This doesn't need to look pretty, as you'll see when you get to my step-by-step photos below.
   
6. Pour the remaining batter on top of the red bean paste, filling cupcake liners to the very top.
7. Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.
   

Here I am filling the cupcake liners.
Note that the batter is much runnier than typical American cake batter.

Here, I have globbed on the red bean paste.
You can see that I made no effort to make it look like anything other than a paste turd.

When I said to fill the batter to the very top, I meant it.

The Red Bean Buttercream Frosting

The red bean buttercream frosting is a Cupcake Project original recipe. I wanted something that used the flavor of the red beans, but also had a buttercream feel to it. This did the trick!

• 1/2 C butter, room temperature
• 1 C red bean paste, room temperature
• 1 C powdered sugar, sifted

1. Beat all ingredients. (That's it!)
   

About the Ox

Astute readers, such as my Seattle friend who was there when the stuffed animal was purchased, may recognize that the "ox" in the photo at the top of the post is actually a Texas longhorn bull.

As it turns out, oxen are simply castrated bulls so I figured that the stuffed animal would do the trick. I think that my stuffed Longhorn is, in fact, an ox because I could find no male body parts whatsoever on it.

But, for the purists out there, I leave you with some real oxen to bring in the new year.

Sesame Honey Cupcakes

I wanted my sesame honey cupcakes to taste like sesame honey crunch candies. I know I was an unusual child, but sesame honey crunch candies were some of my favorite candies (I have always had a love for anything with honey). Perhaps, I wasn't as strange a child as my husband, though, who for some inexplicable reason called sesame honey crunch candies "chicken bones." Did anyone else do this?

Did the Sesame Honey Cupcakes Taste Like Sesame Honey Crunch Candy?

Yes, the sesame honey cupcakes tasted just like sesame honey crunch candies! Those (like me and Jonathan) who love sesame honey crunch candy loved these sesame honey cupcakes. Those who do not like the flavor of sesame and honey, like my mother in law, did not like these. Lastly, those who had never had anything with sesame and honey, like my friend who was in from Seattle, simply didn't know what to make of them.

You should know that like the candies, the cupcakes are not overly sweet and strike me as kind of mellow and cozy - a cupcake that you would have with some steamed milk rather than an espresso.

Groom 2.5 suggested that the cupcakes might go well with some kind of fruit filling. I agree, but I think that would in some way detract from their simple nature.

The Sesame Honey Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for the sesame honey cupcake from Curiously Ravenous. Her recipe was absolutely perfect for what I was looking for! I am reprinting it below with my notes.

Makes 12-15 cupcakes

• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/3 C unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C honey
• 1 egg
• 2 T tahini (you can use my homemade tahini recipe or use store-bought)
• 1 C buttermilk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 3 T white sesame seeds

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
2. In another bowl, cream together butter, sugar, honey, and salt until pale and glossy, about 3 minutes.
3. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk and vanilla.
4. With the mixer running, add the egg to the butter-sugar mixture, until well-blended.
   
5. Continue beating in the tahini.
   
6. In 3 additions, alternately blend in the flour and buttermilk, ending with flour.
   
7. Mix in the sesame seeds.
8. Fill cupcake liners almost to the top. These cupcakes do not rise very much.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top of the cakes are lightly golden.

The Sesame Honey Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Curiously Ravenous used a sesame honey buttercream frosting on her cupcakes. Since I'm not a buttercream fan, I opted for a Cupcake Project original cream cheese version. You might notice the absence of sugar in my recipe. Whenever I've added powdered sugar to a frosting recipe with honey it, the level of sweetness disgusts me!

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 C butter, room temperature
• 2 T tahini
• 1/2 C honey

1. Whip cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly mix in tahini and honey.
3. Spread on the cupcakes. You don't need to make them look pretty because they are going to get covered in sesame seeds.

The Dunk and Drizzle

Once the cupcakes have been frosted, simply dunk them in a plate of toasted sesame seeds. If you need a tutorial on toasting sesame seeds, see my notes in the tahini post. I used all white sesame seeds, however, I think it would look really neat to use a combination of white and black sesame seeds.

Once the sesame seeds were all in place, I drizzled some honey over the top of the cupcakes. The photo above is really just another opportunity to show off Jonathan's new macro lens!

Related Recipes

If you would prefer to make the actual sesame honey crunch candy instead of a cupcake recipe inspired by it, you might want to check out Alanna's recent sesame candy recipe. I haven't personally tried it yet, but it sounds fantastic.

If you would prefer a cupcake recipe based on another favorite candy, you might want to check out my Ferrero Rocher cupcakes.

Tahini Recipe

This tahini recipe is simple to make.
You just need sesame seeds and olive oil.

Tahini, like baker's coconut and dulce de leche, is one of those items that people often buy pre-made without even thinking about the option of making it at home. It turns out that the homemade tahini recipe is really easy to make and tastes just as good as the store-bought kind - if not better. However, as I'll explain later, the texture of a homemade tahini is not quite the same. This didn't bother me (as tahini is typically mixed into something), but it may bother you.

Before I get to the tahini recipe, though, let's start with what tahini is and what it is used for.

What is Tahini?

Tahini is a paste of sesame seeds and olive oil used in all kinds of Mediterranean cooking. It's often found in the ever-popular hummus and the incredibly fun to say baba ghanoush.

In my case, the tahini was used for some sesame honey cupcakes.

What's the Difference Between Store-Bought and Homemade Tahini?

My homemade tahini looks like peanut butter.
Store-bought tahini is much smoother.

Faith from The Kitchn describes the difference between homemade tahini and store-bought tahini:

Commercially made tahini separates the bran from the kernel and only grinds the kernel, which is why it is so smooth and thin. At home you're grinding both the bran and the kernel in a home food processor that isn't as powerful, so the resulting tahini looks gritty and sticky... It's more like thick peanut butter with small flecks of the bran.

You can see in the photo above how thick my tahini turned out. Jonathan (who on an unrelated note just bought a new macro lens - I'm lovin' the closeup sesame seed shot he was able to take) felt that the bran added a complexity of flavor that he hadn't experienced in store-bought tahini. I honestly couldn't recall what jarred tahini tasted like and didn't have a can on hand to compare. You'll have to do your own side-by-side if you care that much about this issue.

Tahini Recipe

I got the tahini recipe from The Kitchn. It's so easy! The recipe is below along with my notes.

For about 2 cups of tahini, you'll need:

• 2 C sesame seeds
• 1/3 C olive oil
  

First, you'll need to toast the sesame seeds.

1. Heat a heavy, wide-bottomed sauté pan over medium-high heat.
   
2. Add the sesame seeds and toast lightly - about 2 minutes, shaking the pan so they toast evenly. Two tips here: a) I am a messy cook with limited arm strength. I have a great fear that if I toss a pan, food will end up everywhere, therefore, I tend to just vigorously stir rather than toss. b) Keep a careful eye on the sesame seeds as they go from toasted to burnt really quickly. As soon as they start to brown, they are done.
   
3. Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely.

Next, you'll process the toasted seeds with the olive oil.

1. Put the toasted sesame seeds in a food processor and drizzle in the olive oil. As you can see, I poured rather than drizzled. It worked just fine!
   
2. Pulse for 3-5 minutes, or until it's as smooth as you can get it.
   
3. Add a little more olive oil if necessary.
   
4. Remove from food processor and store in the refrigerator.

Deep Fried Cupcakes You Can Make at Home

To imagine deep fried cupcakes, picture biting into a piping hot funnel cake. As you bite into the hot doughy goodness, you hit a layer of melted chocolate and then a layer of hot chocolate cake. Your bite finishes with a final hit of funnel cake dough and a splash of powdered sugar. After licking your lips, you bring them to a big smile!

I've been thinking about making deep fried cupcakes for at least a year. I thought about deep fried cupcakes last Chanukah since I always make doughnuts (sufganiyot) on Chanukah and thought frying cupcakes would be a nice substitute for that. Last year, however, I ended up finding an awesome linzer cookie cutter and thoughts of frying fell by the wayside in favor of linzer cupcakes.

When Chanukah came around this year, though, deep fried cupcakes were still bubbling in my brain - and now I had a deep fryer. I highly recommend the mini Cuisinart deep fryer that I bought to make the Toasted Ravioli Cupcakes.

To say that the deep fried cupcakes were worth the wait would be an understatement.

Here's how to make deep fried cupcakes.

Step 1: You'll Need Cupcakes To Fry

You can deep fry any cupcake. I opted to fry mini-cupcakes so that the end result would be bite-sized fried cupcakes that you could pop in your mouth. I also opted to choose cupcakes frosted with a chocolate ganache. While a buttercream or cream cheese frosting could also work, if I were going to melt something, chocolate seemed like the perfect choice.

The chocolate cake I used was the one that I featured in my Better Than Sex Chocolate Cupcakes. The original recipe came from Chockylit's cupcake blog.

Makes about 50 mini cupcakes (Cut the recipe in half if you don't have lots of people eating. Although, you will probably have people lining up to try them.)

• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 C sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 C flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 C milk
• 1 t vanilla

1. Beat butter until softened.
2. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
6. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine.
7. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
8. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 1/2 full.
   
9. Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frost the cupcakes with the following ganache recipe:

• 3.5 oz of dark chocolate broken into small pieces
  
• 1/3 C heavy cream

1. Place the chocolate in a small glass bowl.
   
2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just starts to boil.
   
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted and integrated with the cream.
   
4. While it is still warm, spread a thin layer of it over the cupcakes. It will harden when it cools.

Step 2: Make the Funnel Cake Batter


The next thing that you will need is some funnel cake batter to dunk your cupcakes in. I got the funnel cake batter recipe from MomsWhoThink.

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 C milk
• 4 T sugar
• 2 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t baking powder

1. Beat egg and milk.
   
2. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth.
3. Set aside for dunking. I do not recommend keeping this mixture in the refrigerator at all. I made some in advance and stuck it in the fridge and the texture changed. It became much thicker and not as easy to use for dunking.

Step 3: Deep Frying

I'm not going to give too many instructions on exactly how to do the deep frying. It will vary depending on what brand of deep fryer you are using or if you are just using a pot to fry in. However the basic instructions are:

1. Remove the cupcake wrapper. You do not want charred paper.
2. Dunk your cupcake in the funnel cake batter, making sure to cover all sides completely.
3. Follow the instructions on your fryer (You could also fry in a pot. It works, but it's much more messy.). I used peanut oil, but any vegetable oil will do.
4. Fry until all sides are golden brown (about 3 minutes).
   
5. Remove from the fryer and dust with powdered sugar.

Step 4: Eat the Deep Fried Cupcakes Immediately

You must eat deep fried cupcakes when they are hot. It's just not the same after they cool down - and yes, I'm wearing dreidels on my head. I go all out for Chanukah!