Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Orange Cream Pop Cupcakes


I bought a cupcake magazine the other day, and this recipe was screaming at me to try it! I love orange cream-sickles, so I was super excited about this cupcake. But there are positives and negatives. Taste gets a plus! It's creamy, it's orange, and it's so yummy. On the down side, the cupcake itself is a little bit sticky. Which was disappointing, although it wasn't too bad. The other thing that kind of bugged a little was that the orange gelatin in the frosting doesn't completely dissolve. It's like having sugar granules in your frosting. Just overall the texture was not pleasing. So it might help if before you add the gelatin to the frosting, add a couple of drops of water just to dissolve it. Other then that these are amazing! The flavor is spot on with what you would expect it to be, if not a little better. Even with its flaws I would say try these recipe.

Ingredients
  • 1 3-ounce package orange-flavor gelatin
  • 1 2-layer-size package white cake mix
  • 1 4-serving-size package cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling mix
  • 1 1/4 cups orange juice
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 recipe Cream Pop Frosting
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line twenty-seven 2 1/2 inch muffin cups with paper bake cups. Set aside 2 teaspoons of the gelatin for the Cream Pop Frosting. In a mixing bowl beat the remaining gelatin, the cake mix, pudding mix, orange juice, eggs, oil, and vanilla.


Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Use the back of a spoon to smooth out batter in cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in muffin cups on wire racks for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from muffin cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

Cream Pop Frosting


Ingredients
  • 1 8-ounce package cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 teaspoons and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, divided
  • 5 1/2 to 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons orange gelatin from the cupcakes
  • 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
Directions
Allow cream cheese and butter to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.


In a large mixing bowl beat butter, cream cheese, and 2 teaspoons vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency.


Place one-fourth of the frosting in a separate bowl; beat in addition 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. To the remaining bowl of cream cheese frosting add the reserved orange gelatin from the cupcakes and finely shredded orange peel. If desired, add a few drops orange food coloring. Beat to combine.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Cupcakes

11 comments:

Jess said... Best Blogger Tips

Two questions:
1) Would you make any suggestions as to how to make them a little less sticky?
2) How, oh how, did you get the frosting swirls so perfectly half orange and half white?

FoodSnots said... Best Blogger Tips

Hi Jess- As per a quick fix to make the cupcakes a little less sticky, I'm afraid I don't have one that wouldn't sacrifice some of the taste. And I should add that it wasn't super bad, but they are stickier then a normal cupcake. You could try just making a orange-vanilla cupcake. You can get orange extract which could add more flavor then orange juice would. Just something you might wanna play with.
As per frosting, if you layer the different colored frostings and frost the cupcakes in a circular motion that will give you that half and half swirl. When I say layer, lay your piping bag on it's side with the tip already inserted, then spoon in one color then the other color on top of it, so when you stand up your bag the colors will be side by side. Get it as close to the tip as possible and try to keep pressure only at the top of the bag. The more you massage the bag, the more the colors will blend together.
Sorry for the really long reply, but I hope it was helpful! Thank you for commenting, and feel free to ask if you have any more questions.
P.S. You could also try the cupcake from this recipe and then change out the frosting. But I have never tried this recipe, so I couldn't tell you what it's going to turn out like. But just an idea. http://iheartcuppycakes.com/2009/09/20/orange-creamsicle-cupcakes/

Jess said... Best Blogger Tips

Oh wow, thanks for all the feed back! I think I am going to try this recipe as is. Though I do like the idea of using a white cupcake recipe and just doing orange extract instead of vanilla extract. If this recipe doesn't do it for me I might try that.
I read your "about me" section of your blog and we have a lot in common. My husband and I are food snots to I think. We are gourmets or anything but we are pickier than the average people. We only like about half of the recipes I make. We usually critique and change things or use certain parts of a recipe and match it with other parts of things I've made in the past. People I make desserts for always love what I make and half the time Richard (my hubby) and I think they're crazy! Were harder to please than anyone else. Haha!
We also married young I was 18 and he was 22. Just babies!
Thanks again for the input I am making these on Sunday for my Bible study group, I'll let you know how it turns out!

FoodSnots said... Best Blogger Tips

Jess- I hope the feedback helps you out. It really is a yummy recipe :) Also, I'm glad I have picky followers, or I should say I'm glad that I'm not the only really picky eater. I don't want to waste my calories on just anything, so I want to know honestly if the recipes is worth my time, and I figure other people would too.Thanks for commenting back. I hope you guys enjoy!

Jess said... Best Blogger Tips

I've been meaning to up date you. These turned out great!! I was pleasantly surprised how good they were. Normally I just think my desserts are ok, but I really loved these and so did everyone else.
I used your tip about dissolving the jello before putting it into the frosting and I had no issues with grittiness. Thanks for the recipe and tips!

FoodSnots said... Best Blogger Tips

Jess- I'm so glad that everyone liked them! I was kind of curious what you guys ended up thinking about the recipe, so thanks for the update!! And I'm glad that dissolving the jello before solved the problems with the frosting. Thanks for commenting back :)

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

I made these and took them to my bowling league. By the time I left that night I had a order for 6 dozen. I think that says it all. I really like the idea of the icing with the twist look.
Rudi

FoodSnots said... Best Blogger Tips

Rudi- I'm so glad to hear that and am so glad you guys liked them :) Thanks for commenting!!

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

I'm absolutely going to make these for superbowl Sunday! I have cute little orange football party picks to put ontop of the cupcake. Super excited and I'm going to try dissolving the gelatin before using as well!

usako92 said... Best Blogger Tips

Any suggestions of what I can substitute for the orange gelatin? I want to make these for a party; I know at least one vegetarian guest who would love these, but of course it can't have gelatin.

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

How many cupcakes does this make?