Farewell Orange Creamcicle Cupcakes

The title is kinda confusing I guess. I'm not bidding farewell to orange creamcicle cupcakes. I'm using these cupcakes to bid farewell to my sister. That's kinda depressing cuz shes practically the sunshine in my life . So that makes the orange cupcakes kinda symbolical (Orange=sun . Gettit? Non?)

Anywhoo , I've never really had orange creamcicle(or have had but posses no memory of it) but we discovered this creamy orange drink in Ruby Tuesdays once and it was honestly Dream in a Tall glass. Since then we've had the same orange drink (under iota of varying names) all over town . It's so nice and tangy yet creamy and comforting that It deserves a cupcake!

Now i know cupcakes are an Absolute rage on the internet. My favorite cupcake place has to be the CupCake Project. Her creativity in terms of flavour combinations is magnificent. Really inspires me to get my innovation garb on. Post hours of creamcicle recipe research later all I could find was OJ, Jello and Cake mix combos (cake mix is a no-no-nonono-nono-no)
I said to myself- screw that! I am a Prodigious enough baker to make my own recipe (of course I tooka lot of advice form various sources. But hey, not all secrets are told to the world)
I just realize I did share that secret to the world through a public blog . Sometimes I wonder if all that accidentally hitting head on random surfaces actually damages brain tissue. OoohSQUIRREL!

Result: I made a recipe < insert I'm king of the world dance moves>

Lately my kitchen has been filling up with amazeballs bakery utensils. I had my @)th birthday( and I demanded baking products form everybody) ,accidentally tripped into a lot of kitchen stores(I assure you there was nothing accidental about that), et al.
Thus collecting a bunch of loaf tins(breadmaking  I'm coming soon) and  A TWELVE CUPCAKE CUPCAKE TIN! If you hit your head on random surfaces too : I used the cupcake tin for today's cupcakes.

Sippin some juice . Got thirsty

I just realized how much rambling has been done above. Without further ado *teleporting to recipe arena*

Orange Creamcicle Cupcakes

Makes 18-20 cupcakes depending on your generosity( I was a little too generous and made only 17)

Preheat oven to 180 C

Line the love of your life with pretty cupcake liners

Ingredients

2 cups flour ( remove 2 tbsp from that)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup( 150 gm) butter

3 eggs

1/2 (1/4 +1/4)cup orange juice( I used packaged but i can bet fresh is better)

1/4th cup yogurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking soda

5(3+2) tbsp orange Tang 

Lets talk about Tang: For those of you who don't know, tang is an orange flavour drink mix.I've used it heavily in this recipe cuz i was too lazy to go buy real oranges and use their zest and i was out of orange oil and the shops nearby didn't have orange essence. HENCE tang.

Method

• Beat the bejeesus out of butter and sugar
• Beat in one egg at a time 
• Add vanilla
• Pour in 1/4 cup of Orange juice  and the yogurt . B-b-beat
• Sift in Flour , baking soda and 3 tablespoon tang. fold it in.
• Add in the remaining OJ. Mix it Lightly
• Fill up da cuppycake tray
• Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the top springs back on touch( I'm trying to look for alternates to the toothpick test . Apparently it compromises with the integrity of the cupcakes)

Sprinkle the reaming tang on the fresh hot cakelets . Ice . or eat

Tangy Yogurt Orange Icing

I just ball parked this entire thing but it turned out to be pretty damn awesome . I'm sure marshmallow frosting , buttercream or creamcheese frosting would rock creamcicle cupcakes' world too

DISCLAIMER: Only 6 cupcakes had to be iced so this ices only 6. Double treble or quadruple it to suit your needs. Also it's slightly runny. Doesn't reach stiff peaks

Thou Shalt Need

2 Tbsp Butter

4 Tbsp  Hung curd/ Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup Sugar

3 tsp Tang

What to Do

• Put it all in a bowl and whip it up
• Put a teaspoon each on top of a cupcake and swirl it away 

Now go give them tastebuds some citrus lovin

Strawberry Cakes Forever- Caramel Cake with Strawberry and Whipped Cream Frosting

Let me take you down

'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real

And nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

It was my Dad's birthday.
This caramel cake is my aunts old recipe. I had it once and was an instant fan .The lingering aftertaste of caramel is so beautiful and unexpected that I HAD to make it . Its a great cake in itself but a birthday cake deserves something more, so STRAWBERRIES! And that song played in my mind the entire time I was baking * yes my mind works in weird ways , hold back your judgement*

The Original Text

The recipe involves making a caramel and believe me when I say this , Caramel can be a nightmare! I have spent months and years trying to deal with sugar decorations and caramel and there's just too much precision involved for a broke teenager without a candy thermometer*This was 2 months ago . I now have a candy thermometer! wheee joy dance time  :D*. I could make a caramel sauce with butter cream and deliciousness , but never melt sugar in itself . That was until I saw my aunt do it with such ease and precision . Gave me hope in life and Ta-Daa . I can DO it ! and so can you *pom pom dance*

So the caramel is poured into the batter after cooling ( do cool it unless you want sweet butter soup . On second thoughts sweet butter soup does sound quite delicious.Mouth watering-drooool )

I mascerated some strawberries, cooked it with sugar and put it atop whipped cream icing.

The Strawberries complemented the caramel flavor amazingly! IT was a match made in culinary utopia. ATTENTION All strawberry and chocolate enthusiasts out there! This is the future of romantic desserts or otherwise. I can already picture hotels in 2024 offering Champagne and caramel strawberry packages *wink*.

My only problem was the whipped cream . Why? Here's the thing . I'm a firm believer in pure unprocessed products , so non dairy whipping cream is Just Not My Thing. Sadly the cream that we do get is only 20 % butterfat that is not right for whipping at all. Its doesn't go beyond soft peaks and weeps out a lot of water * boohoo* Then Sophia the explorer got to doing what she does best! exploring the internet- and found the magic ingredient! Drumroll Please -GELATIN! Not oodles and poodles enough to make mousse, But just a teaspoon dissolved in water to stabilize. And it oh so worked magic .

 Everyone at the Party RAVED abut this one . My poor Black-forest cake got little love :( . That's still a work in progress

Now lets get to the strawberry fields

Beat the butter

Pour some sugar

Beat

MMM caramel

Just Siftin

Caramel Cake

Preheat oven to 180 C

Grease and line a 9" cake dish( this makes a big cake. if you don't have a 9 inch use Two 8's)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar( divide in half)

1 cup( 200gm) butter

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup water(boiling)
1/4 cup milk

Method

• Take half cup sugar and melt it on low flame. Stirring with wooden spoon first and later just swirl. When it reaches a nice caramelly color pour in boiling water and stir. This will result in some fireworks but they die down. Once mixed remove from flame and let it cool
• Powder the remaining sugar. Beat with butter till light and creamy
• Pour in the cooled caramel( it doesnt have to be ice cold , just ensure its not boiling enough to give you scars)

At this point the butter will melt , cuz thats what butter does. If its too liquid you can place your bowl on top of another bowl filled with ice and cold water. As long as its relatively solid you're good to go

• Beat in 1 egg at a time . Add vanilla
• Sift in flour soda and powder and fold in batter
• Fold in the milk (The milk wasn't in the original recipe as this is more of a fruit cake- you can notice presence of nuts in original draft. But as i want a fluffy regular kind i added milk. Its still a thick batter but it works- Cake magic , go figure)
• Pour in tray , level it and bake for 50 -60 minutes  when toothpick inserted comes out clean 

P.s- this is a good teatime cake as it is . You can add nuts to it if you really really wanna

Macerated Strawberries

Ingredients

• 3 cups chopped Strawberries
• Sugar to taste

Method

• Muddle up the sugar and Berries. Let it sit for a while
• Put on heat , mash the berries for about 5 minutes

Stable Whipped Cream

Ingredients

• 200 ml Heavy cream ( I only get the 20 % butter fat one :|  so I have to make lemonade)
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 Tablespoon gelatin

Method

• Lightly mix the cream and sugar and refrigerate along with the whisk for an hour
• Soak the gelatin in 2 tablespoon water
• Whip cream to soft peaks
• Add vanilla and soaked gelatin
• Whip for hard peaks.

Now layer cream and strawberries and go wild .

This is honestly the top 3 cakes I've ever made flavour wise. Here's to caramelyy strawberriyy times 

Easiest Chocolate Cake

Everybody had someone to fall back upon. I have this chocolate cake . It has been my go-to cake since the past two years. Birthday's, anniversaries, sudden demands, sudden arrivals and chocolate cravings all melt down into this one easy-peasy gooey mess of chocolate- and you deserve no less.

It came into origin from my online bible of baking- Joy Of Baking. It is The most loved and cherished cake that I have ever come across and no matter how often I bring it ,them people dig it.

The cake is originally egg-less and for that follow the link above, but I'm a lil partial to my own adaptation. There are two methods of making the cake- the quick easy  way and the sophisticated baker way. For obvious reasons there is a marked difference between these cakes but that being said , both of them are still a Chocolaty cake fest in your mouth .

The chocolate ganache recipe that follows cannot be done without(actually it can but don't listen to me I'm rambling). It's perfect . I have no more words. Store it in the fridge for later. You can ball it up to make truffles, fill it in tarts, dip boring fruits into it or lick spoons of it with friends when hanging. But don't forget to pour it onto the cake, cuz that be COOL.

The Verdict: Too many great reviews to remember .Bake it , eat it. NOW!
( I apologize for the lack of photographs but i shall provide them as soon as I make this again)

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven at 180 C

Grease an 8 inch cake tin and line with Butter paper

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar (powdered after measuring) 

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

100 gm butter

1 egg

1/2 cup water( or milk- for longer method use milk)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 tsp instant coffee powder

Easy Quick Method:

• Put coffee powder in water and bring to boil
• Sift all dry ingredients in a bowl together.
• Mix all wet ingredients except the coffee water and mix into dry ingredients
• Pour hot coffee water into the batter and mix. The batter will be liquidy.
• Quickly pour the batter in the pan and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean

Sophisticated Baker Method:

• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy
• Beat in the egg until combined and then beat in vanilla essence
• Sift in cocoa,coffee powder, flour and baking powder .Add the milk and beat to get a smooth mix
• Mix the baking soda with the lemon juice and quickly fold in the cake batter
• Quickly pour the mixture in cake tin and bake for 30-40 min or until toothpick comes out clean
• Put on a plate and pour warm ganache.

You may now proceed to gobble it up like there's no tomorrow.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

200 gm chocolate(I usually use dairy milk, but anything goes)

3/4 cup cream

2 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

• Boil cream and butter in a pan
• Break the chocolate and pour the cream on it. Add Vanilla.
• Let it melt for a few minutes and the mix to get a creamy smooth ganache.

Subject it to whatever you like