I pondered my mind through my work day, wondering what on Earth I’ll fill this blog with. To be honest, my mind runs wildly 25 hours a day (notice that extra hour? Yeah, that much), so it seems impossible for me to be stumped. But let’s face it…someone might read this! And I can’t be that big of an emoticon on here, constantly babbling about my worries and wonders of the world.
So I figured I would entertain you (whoever you are…which is weird. Who are you?!) with my new found hobby of BAKING! It’s not necessarily “new found” because I have always loved baking, the art of it and the deliciousness of what the final product is (not to mention that it runs in my family), but I have really been experimenting with new recipes and have loved almost everything I have baked! The only problem is that if my husband and I aren’t careful (mainly him, because he eats everything in sight), we are going to gain weight! So I am trying to make everything as healthy as possible.
To start with, I tried a recipe that I found on one of my favorite blogs/websites (but also my demise since everything is so sugary and sweet!), called With Sprinkles On Top. The recipe is the Triple Citrus Cupcakes and they are so cute! The cupcakes themselves turned out awesome…like nothing I ever had before and almost healthy tasting! But the glaze for the top was unbelievably horrible. It is a mixture of lemon/orange juice (or whatever citrus you want to use) and confectioners’ sugar…making this glaze so overpowering and sweet that it almost tastes bad! I couldn’t eat these and ended up throwing them out…but hey, isn’t that what trial and error is all about?
After talking to a friend, she suggested I try a simple butter cream frosting next time and just adding a dash of citrus juice. I think it sounds like a great idea, and I will, of course, post my way through making them and how they turn out! For now, here is the recipe and what mine looked like in the final.
Triple Citrus Cupcakes
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 lb. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
3 tbsp. finely grated orange zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
9 large eggs, room temperature
Preheat oven to 325F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium/high, cream together butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add citrus zest. Reduce speed to medium and add vanilla extract. Add eggs, three at a time, beating until completely incorporated after each.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, for about 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Citrus Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tbsp. fresh citrus juice
Whisk together ingredients until smooth.
I took this photo with my phone because I was not yet a professional blogger 😉
Keep posted to see the alternate recipe that I make of these using butter cream frosting!
Bake On, Baker 