Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes

I’ve recently developed a gnarly addiction to watching the Kardashians.

It stemmed from being bored one day, done with work, house was cleaned and all I longed to do was watch crappy reality TV.  I’d seen all the Real Housewives junk, Jerry Springer was nothing special and House Hunters makes me homicidal, so Kardashians it was.  It was the first episode ever, and I was hopelessly, disgustingly hooked.

Kim was so young and had such a terrible taste in fashion.  Kendall and Kylie were still wearing kiddie clothes.  And Rob modeling in his Calvins was actually kinda swoon-worthy.  And as if I were reading a great novel, you can’t just read part and set it down without ever knowing the ending.  It’s like a crime against humanity, kind of like wearing socks with sandals or eating soggy cereal.  You just don’t do it, you know?

So I started Netflixing all of the episodes and am now in the middle of season 4, right where Khloe just married Lamar and Bruce is all spit-fire over the fact that Kylie’s wearing eyeliner.  And as disgusting as this addiction is, and even though I can feel my dad lose respect for me every time he enters the room, I just can’t tear my eyeballs away.

Remember those orange popsicles with white ice cream inside? These orange creamsicle  cupcakes taste just like those! Orange Crush Soda and Orange Jello give the cupcakes a wonderful orange flavor AND color!

They’re topped with a homemade orange butter cream. The orange soda serves as the milk component. If your icing is too thick add more soda. If too thin, add more powdered sugar.

And it makes me wonder: if there was an E! camera crew here right now, they would probably fall asleep behind the equipment.  They would get to film me hopelessly scrolling through awful messages on OkCupid while my dog, Mannie, barks incessantly in the background.  I’ll make a salad and a smoothie for lunch and eat it while watching Ladies of London, a show I only watch because I have serious Brit-envy for some weird reason.  And then they’ll film me pondering going to the gym for four hours before finally passing out on the couch yet again, settling in to watch another episode of Kardashians while my phone pings with another OkCupid message from someone with a neckbeard.

So there’s that.

Next comes that heavenly buttercream. I used the orange emulsion again, and loved how it turned out. You can split the buttercream into two colors again for the buttercream to give it that orange-white swirl effect – just use a little bit more of that coloring gel to get the flavor. You want to go easy on the coloring – more of a soft orange, versus a bright orange. I did the two-toned swirl on the first round of these, but had to scrape them off and re-pipe them.. didn’t like the way the smaller circle tip turned out. I used a larger tip for these, and although I love the shape they have here, I wish they had that two-tone swirl I originally had. Oh well – you learn something from every cake you make!

Lastly, I topped these little lovers off with another little dollop of whipped cream (Wilton 1M Tip in piping bag). These would be really fun with a wooden popsicle stick sticking out – I used a swirl straw and orange candy this time. My boys LOVED them, and my husband couldn’t keep away from the buttercream. It was an instant hit, and I can’t wait to share the cake version in my new 2010 cookbook.

Happy Baking! Make sure to tag @bakingwithblondie #bakingwithblondie on Instagram if you make them – I love to see your Baking with Blondie inspired treats!

Hope you have a fun weekend, and get to soak up one last month of summertime. 🙂

INGREDIENTS
Orange Swirl Cake:

• 4 Egg Whites
• 1 Tablespoon Mexican Vanilla
• ⅔ Cup Sour Cream
• ¾ Cup Buttermilk
• ⅓ Cup Vegetable Oil
• 3 Tablespoons Orange Emulsion
• 1-2 drops of Americolor orange coloring
• 1 WHITE Duncan Hines Cake Mix

Cream Filling:

• 2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
• ¼ Cup Powdered Sugar, Sifted
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste

Orange Creamsicle Buttercream:

• 1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter, left out of the fridge for 15 minutes
• 1 Tablespoon Mexican Vanilla
• 2½ Tablespoons Orange Emulsion
• Orange Food Gels/Coloring
• Pinch of Salt
• ¼ Cup Heavy Cream
• 6 Cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted

Garnishes:

• Swirly Orange Paper Straws
• Orange Candies
• White Nonpareils

INSTRUCTIONS
For the Orange Creamsicle Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg whites, vanilla, sour cream, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and orange emulsion until thoroughly combined. Sift in the cake mix, then stir until just combined.
3. Don’t overmix.
4. Half the batter, and dye one half a soft orange with the food coloring.
5. Using a small cookie scoop, add one scoop of white batter and one scoop of orange batter to each cupcake. Make sure it's a little over halfway full for each one, and that they're all even in height.
6. Swirl each cupcake with a toothpick/skewer/knife to give it that mixed swirl effect.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, then check and add more time if needed (one minute at a time). (This is a good time to start your buttercream and filling while they're baking!).
8. Remove from the oven, then let cool in the cupcake pan for a minute, then carefully place onto a wire rack to cool completely before adding the filing and frosting.

For the Cream Filling:

1. Chill metal mixer bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for at least 5 minutes.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the chilled bowl and whisk attachment, add in the heavy cream and mix on low speed for about a minute.
3. Increase the speed gradually over 5 minutes until the heavy cream has stiff peaks.
4. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste and mix until just combined. 
5. For the Orange Creamsicle Buttercream
6. In the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip up the butter until it's light and fluffy.
7. Add in the vanilla, emulsion, salt and heavy cream until thoroughly combined.
8. Slowly, about a half cup at a time, add in the powdered sugar. Add in any food coloring as desired (you can add it to half the buttercream in a separate bowl to get the swirl effect while piping, if desired). Turn the mixer to high speed for about a minute to add volume, then lower the speed for about 30 seconds to beat out any air bubbles.

Assembly:

1. Hollow out the center of each cupcake with a melon baller.
2. Fill each cupcake with a little bit of cream (using a piping bag for this step helps).
3. Swirl on (with a large circle tip) the buttercream, then add on more of the stiff cream filling on top if desired with a 1M star tip.
4. Top with orange candies, paper straw, and nonpareils.

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