Cupcakes

I dream of one day having my own little cupcake shop, or at least some kind of cupcake catering thing going on! I seriously spend so much time just thinking of all the different possible cupcakes, fillings, and frostings I could do.

Recently I took a Strawberry Cake recipe that I love and made it into an Orange Cake recipe with just a couple of changes. Combine that with a White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe that created and you have a sweet summery cupcake!

Here's the Strawberry Cake Recipe with the Orange substitutions in parentheses:

2 cups white sugar

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin ****(Orange flavored gelatin)****
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs (room temperature, separated)
2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry pureed *****(1/2 cup of Orange Juice)****

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter for 3 minutes, add sugar and dry strawberry gelatin (or orange gelatin) and cream until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour (sift and then measure) and baking powder; stir into the batter alternately with the milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry (or orange juice) puree. In chilled bowl, with clean beaters, beat egg whites until fluffy. Fold into batter with wooden spoon. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3.Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a small knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in their pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, before tapping out to cool completely.

Once cooled, I prefer to wrap in saran wrap and then put in a Ziploc on the counter until I am ready to frost it. It helps keep it from becoming dense.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: (makes a ton, so if you go easy on the frosting then half the recipe!)

6 cups of sifted powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

11-12 ounces of white chocolate, melted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Cream butter for 3 minutes, mix in vanilla and chocolate. Add sifted powdered sugar and salt, 1/2 cup at a time. Mix in heavy whipping cream just until mixed.