Sunday, April 15, 2012

Creamsicle Cupcakes: Sweet Delicious Nostalgia


I've been thinking a lot lately about what flavors the spring and summer will bring. When I was little, I used to love those little creamsicle cups (you know, the ones with the crappy wooden spoon). It got me thinking that it would be awesome as a cupcake for the warmer seasons - especially if it had a cream filling.



I loved how the creamsicle cups were half white and half orange, so I wanted to replicate that with my cupcakes. I did this with the frosting in the same way as I frosted my cabernet red velvet cupcakes. I filled one side of the bag with orange frosting, and the other side with vanilla. I even tinted the orange flavored one more orange. In case your wondering, filling the bag with two different colored frostings is not a particularly easy feat...


For the cupcakes, I added some orange extract, orange zest, and orange juice to a vanilla cupcake recipe. You might think this would make it taste way too orangey, but surprisingly it was just right. Here are the modifications I made:

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Follow the golden vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World with the following adjustments.

Instead of 1 cup of soy milk, use 2/3 cup soy milk (or other nut milk, like almond).
Instead of 1 teaspoon of vinegar, use 1/3 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is best).
Instead of 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, use 1 teaspoon orange extract.
Add about 2 tablespoons orange zest.

I added a vanilla cream filling in the center which was amazing (there's a couple great recipes in the cupcake bible). For the frosting, I made a regular batch of vanilla buttercream and set half aside. Then I added orange extract and natural red and yellow food coloring so that it looked and tasted like delicious orange creamsicle goodness. Topped them off with some orange zest and I must say, these were perfect for summer and spring! With a very refreshing flavor, these are easily one of my new favorite cupcakes!