The phone rang twice with good news today. First, a friend let me know that she and I were approved to attend a free pastry creations class that is normally restricted to food professionals or restaurant staff. I’m really excited, because the course will not feature a single technique, but will cover many areas of interest, for example: puff pastry, cake decorating, cosas saladas (que no hago en este momento) and other fun things. Call #2: Husband informing me that our local gelato store was placing another order for mini cakes! Yay!
I was going to make my entry for Iron Cupcake Earth today, but since I couldn’t find good berries this weekend, the cuppies plan turned orange. I really like fluffy whipped frostings like 7-minute or flavored whipped cream, so I decided to use one of my favorite frosting recipes to inspire today’s signature creation: Orange you laffing, Taffy? cupcakes. The cake is a vanilla chiffon with a light orange flavor, and the awesome frosting reminds me of sweet pulled taffy. Yum! I didn’t find the orange flavor in the cake to be exactly what I was looking for, so I added a couple of suggestions for how to make the flavor really pop. If you like sweet orange flavor and delicate, airy cake, this one’s for you.
Orange you laffing, Taffy? Cupcakes
yields 2 dozen
2 eggs, separated
1 1/3 sugar, divided
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. hot water
1/4 c. oil
1 oz. (1/3-3oz. box)orange gelatin I used about 1/2 t. and it didn’t flavor much at all.
Preheat oven to 325F. Line 24 muffin cups with papers. Beat yolks with 1 c. sugar for 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add 1T. gelatin to hot water and stir to dissolve. Pour all wet ingredients into yolk mixture and combine well. Sift in dry ingredients, then beat on high for 30 seconds. In another small bowl, whip egg whites to frothy and then add to them 1/3 c. sugar. Whip to stiff peaks and fold into batter 3x. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes. As cuppies cool, prepare frosting.
Orange Taffy Frosting
enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes liberally
1 oz. orange gelatin (1/3 box)
2 egg whites
1/4 c. water
1 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
Heat water on stovetop and add gelatin and salt to dissolve. Pour in whites and sugar and whisk on low heat 3-4 minutes, or until sugar is completely dissolved. Dip a finger in and rub it to see if grainy or dissolved. Remove from heat and whip 5-8 minutes until thick and similar in texture to 7 minute frosting. Add a bit of additional orange or vanilla flavoring and/or coloring at this point and decorate.
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