Orange Cupcakes

Being a baker, you do a lot of bartering. Or at least I do. See these babies? I used them in a trade of services. One batch of cupcakes for a favor. Seems fair, right?

Honestly, I had forgotten I had promised to make these. After rushing around all morning baking a unicorn cake (more to come on that), I remembered well into the afternoon that I had one more thing to bake! Damn.

I did some digging around on the internet and found this recipe for Orange Cupcakes from My Baking Addiction. Simple, easy, tasty. Exactly what I was looking for. My modifications from the original recipe - didn't have any orange extract so I opted for almond instead, included the zest of one orange and the zest of 1/3 lemon, and split the liquid into 1/8 cup milk (hazelnut in my case) and 1/8 cup orange juice. And of course made them mini cupcakes (cute) with leftover store-bought frosting to decorate (I know, my bad). Enjoy!

Orange Cupcakes 
Adapted from: My Baking Addiction

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teas. vanilla extract
• 1/2 teas. almond extract
• Zest of 1 orange 
• Zest of 1/3 lemon 
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teas. baking powder
• 1/4 teas. salt
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1/8 cup orange juice 
• Extra Orange Zest for topping 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or grease enough mini muffin pans to hold 36 mini cupcakes.

Place the sugar and orange/lemon zests into a mixer and blend until moist and fragrant. Add in butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes (12-14 if using a mini cupcake pan) or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing. Use a little bit of orange zest for a nice finish.

-Makes 12 regular cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes