Orange Cupcakes with Orange Crème Cheese Frosting

Summer brings in season a lot of fresh and delicious fruits. Oranges come in many varieties and each have a distinct taste of their own. I enjoy the flavor of this citrusy fruit and like experimenting with it. This time I made Orange flavored cupcakes with a slightly tart frosting to off-set the sweet from the cupcakes. It was a match made in heaven!

For the cupcakes I used my yellow cake recipe, adding the necessary flavors.

You will need:

2 ½ cups All-purpose Flour

1 ¼ cups Milk

2 ½ tsps Baking powder

½ tsp Salt

2/3 cup butter

1 ¾ cups Sugar

1 tsp Orange extract

2 tsp Orange zest

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a two 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl beat butter with an electric beater on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, vanilla and orange extracts and the zest; beat until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time and beat and beat one minute after each addition. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Using an ice cream scoop pour batter into lined pans; and fill 2/3rd way. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool the cupcakes upright before frosting. 

Orange Crème Cheese Frosting:

½ cup Unsalted butter, at room temp

1 cup Crème Cheese, softened

1 ½ cups Powdered Sugar, sifted

2 tbsp Orange juice, squeezed fresh

1 tsp Orange zest

Cream the butter and crème cheese using an electric beater or in the bowl of a stand up mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the orange juice and zest. Beat for 30 seconds and then slowly add the powdered sugar. Beat until well combined. Taste and add more sugar if needed. 

The icing can be spread on the cupcake using a small off set spatula or you could use a piping bag and tip #22 to pipe the icing.I also used silver dragees on top.

Purple Cabbage Rice

Purple Cabbage and purple potatoes, they fascinate me a lot…purple being my favorite color. These are something you don’t see often in India, so the first time I came across them I was quite taken aback. I was skeptical too about even trying them until a friend assured me they tasted the same though they looked different. So this time around instead of buying the good ol’ white cabbage I picked the purple one. 

I usually make Cabbage Stir Fry, but this time made Cabbage Rice. You can make this rice using White Cabbage too, the taste remains the same. But there is something about the flecks of purple running through this green aromatic rice which is not only a visual treat but one for the taste buds too. 

You will need:

2 cups shredded Purple Cabbage

2 tbsp Oil

½ tsp Mustard seeds

½ tsp Urad Dal

½ tsp Chana Dal

Few curry leaves

1 onion, sliced

To grind into a paste:

3 cloves

½” piece Cinnamon

6 Green chillies

2 cloves Garlic

1” piece Ginger

A Handful cilantro

1 Cup Basmati Rice, washed and cooked in 1.5 cups water

Heat the oil in a deep pan. Add the mustard seeds and when it begins to splutter, add the urad and chana dals. Add the curry leaves and onions, sauté until done. Add the shredded cabbage and cook for 5-6 minutes until soft. Now add the prepared paste and sauté for a minute until fragrant. Season with salt and add the cooked rice. Combine well and serve hot with a cucumber raitha. 

You can increase the number of green chillies if you like your rice to be spicier.