Peach Pie!

Okay, so I know this is not cupcakes, but today I baked a peach pie! It's peach season right now and we love the peaches at Eckert's so Heath wanted me to bake a pie! My Grandpa also requested one, but I wanted to test it out on us first! It was actually very simple to make!

Peach Pie

8 medium peaches
1/2 cup of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of nutmeg
2 tblsp. of butter
1 beaten egg
2 ready made pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the peaches and slice them. Mix the peaches with the flour, sugar and spices. Grease a glass pie pan. Line it with a pie crust. Add in the peach mixture. Dot it with butter. Brush the crust with a beaten egg. Cook for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Let the pie cool for at least ten minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes

We are going to a BBQ tomorrow and I wanted to bring cupcakes. I tried to find a recipe that I think Heath would like since he doesn't like cake and I think I found one. I decided to make Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes! I actually combined 3 recipes to get the look that I wanted. I originally had a recipe that used Orange Cake Mix, but I couldn't find it in any store, so I decided to use a recipe from scratch. I also made a yummy vanilla cream filling. I did use a Wilton round tip to pipe the filling in, but next time I may cut the top off to get more of the filling in.

The frosting is a bright orange (I used Wilton Orange Icing Mix) and if I make it again, I think I may try and soften it up so it doesn't look too bright orange. The orange I made kind of reminds me of Halloween!

This was a fun recipe to make, and it tastes like summer! It DID take me about 3 hours to make, but that is because Hayden woke up halfway through and I had to give him lunch and get him settled. And I did take my time a little with the frosting!

CREAMSICLE (ORANGE-VANILLA) CUPCAKES (From the blog Cupcake Rehab)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. orange extract
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. For the Cupcakes: Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and orange extract.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost.

The batter was pretty thick, so it was hard to make them “level” in the pans, but they worked out just fine.

Vanilla Cream Filling (From the blog Single Guy Chef)

Ingredients
3 T all-purpose flour
½ cup milk (low-fat is fine)
½ cup butter (or trans fat-free shortening)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ scraped vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract (I just used the extract, vanilla bean is expensive!)

Whisk together the flour and milk and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until thick. This will only take a few minutes. Stir continuously to prevent the mixture from clumping and do not bring all the way to a boil. When thickened (consistency will be that of a thin pudding or custard), strain with a mesh strainer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely to room temperature.

When the milk mixture is cool, cream the butter (or shortening) and sugar together in a medium bowl until light. Add in the milk/flour mixture and the scraped vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla extract) and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 7 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, or a large Ziplock bag with the corner cut off, and set aside until ready to fill your cupcakes.

Orange Frosting (From the blog Dulcedo)

1 cup butter, room temperature
6-8 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/4 cup orange juice (preferably fresh)

To make the orange frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium-high speed until creamy. Add half of the sifted sugar, the vanilla, the orange extract, and the orange juice. Beat until combined. Gradually add the remaining sugar until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. (I added another 1/4 cup of orange juice to this!)

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!

I'm starting this blog off with some delicious cupcakes! I made Pink Lemonade Cupcakes (From the blog Confections of a Foodie Bride) and they were so yummy! Even Heath, who is not a cake/sweets person liked it!

This was actually the first time that I made cupcakes EVER, hence the title of this new blog, The Cupcake Novice! I have found that baking is very relaxing and fun with me and I need some relaxment with a toddler running around the house! I'm glad I didn't start out with basic cupcakes, because who knows if I would have kept going!

For the following recipe, I reduced the amount of lemonade concentrate to make it less tart and I think it was perfect! I also added about 3 tablespoons of milk to the frosting, which made it perfect! Enjoy!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

1 1/8 cup (9 oz) frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate, thawed*
White cake mix (yes, the boxed stuff)
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
Non-stick spray
1 recipe Lemon Buttercream Icing (recipe follows)

* For a less tart cupcake (and these babies do pack a punch), try reducing the amount of pink lemonade. 3/8 cup water and 3/4 cup pink lemonade will cut the tartness.

In a stand mixer, add the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, and the pink lemonade concentrate. Mix on low for about 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed for 90 seconds (the batter will still be a bit lumpy; take care not to overmix so you don’t end up with dry cupcakes).

Spray each cupcake liner with the non-stick spray and spoon the batter into a prepared muffin pan (fill the cups between 2/3 and 3/4 full). Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick registers “done” in the center cupcake. Remove the pan from the oven and cook 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and cool completely on a baking rack.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, make the icing and ice the cupcakes.

Lemon Buttercream Icing
3 cups + 3 Tbsp confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Red food color (to color icing and sugar, optional)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Add the butter, confectioners sugar, salt, lemon juice, and food coloring (if using) to the stand mixer and mix on low using the paddle attachment until combined. Turn the speed to med-high until the icing is fluffy and uniformly pink. Add the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a 2D tip and ice the cupcakes.

Optional - Add the sugar and a couple drops of the food coloring to a food processor. Process until the sugar turns pink. Spread the sugar onto a plate and let dry for 15 minutes. Sprinkle onto freshly-iced cupcakes.

Source: Adapted from Wilton