Cupcakes for our housewarming

 

Notes: Instead of making several large cakes, Dr. S wanted me to make some cupcakes for our housewarming. As I like variety, I embarked on a mission to make two dozen each of three different kinds. The espresso cupcakes with white chocolate frosting recipe comes from A Passion for Desserts by Emily Luchetti. This was the least successful of all the cupcakes, in my opinion. The coffee flavour was subtle and the frosting did not provide much contrast.

Next, I made a carrot cupcake following a recipe from Linda. In place of pecans, I used walnuts, and garnished the top with a whole nut. These cupcakes were a great success, moist and flavourful, but the icing was very soft and fluid, even after refrigeration.

Then, to appease all the chocolate fans, I made chocolate orange cupcakes following this recipe found on Leite's Culinaria. Instead of orange zest, I tipped in almost 3 tsp of orange oil. We had a bit of trouble getting the frosting to be at the right consistency, as we left it in the fridge too long. But the warmth of our hands on the pastry bag helped make it pipeable. I garnished the tops with some candied orange peels (the ones I bought in South Africa). Amidst all of the eating and greeting, I didn't manage to taste these ones, but I'm told they were very orange-y. A little less orange oil next time.

One bit of feedback I heard was that many people wanted to try these, but didn't want such a large cupcake. I used large muffin tins for these, so I'll put less batter in each one next time.