Orange Cream Frosting

orange cream cupcakeOrange cream always makes me think of summer. It’s the middle of winter right now and we’re just digging out from a snowstorm, but how else would we appreciate the summer without the winter?

This frosting originally appeared with orange cream cupcakes and would yield enough for 2 dozen miniature cupcakes or at least 1 dozen regular-sized cupcakes. You could very easily double the recipe for 2 dozen cupcakes or a two-layer, 8-inch round cake.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract*
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • About 3 tablespoons orange juice
  • Yellow liquid food coloring
  • Red liquid food coloring

*Substitute orange juice if you don’t have orange extract.

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on low speed for about 1 minute. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, orange extract, and vanilla; beat on low speed until well-combined. Add second cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon orange juice and beat until well-combined. Add additional orange juice, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, to reach a smooth (but not runny) consistency.

With your mixer running on low, add about 3-4 drops of yellow liquid food coloring, followed by 1 drop of red. Beat on medium speed until color is well-distributed, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, to achieve a pale orange color.

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

honey cupcakesLet’s take a moment to thank the bees of the world for making honey. I love that there are so many varieties, and that honey from bees in Maryland will taste different than honey from bees in Pennsylvania. My favorite honey can be found at the market at Soergel Orchards in Wexford, just north of Pittsburgh; they stock locally-made wildflower honey that is excellent for baking.

I first made this frosting for honey cupcakes a few years ago at Rosh Hoshannah, but you certainly don’t have to reserve this recipe for the Jewish New Year. It would go very well on spice cake, or just a regular vanilla cake. The recipe below will frost at least 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 dozen cupcakes and a single-layer 8-inch round.

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until well-combined and fluffy. Add honey and vanilla extract and beat until very well-combined. Add powdered sugar, one half-cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Note: various web sources claim that you can store cream cheese frosting in the fridge for a few weeks, but I’d use it quickly, within a week at least.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

cinnamon roll cupcakesCinnamon is among my favorite spices, and when you add it to cream cheese frosting, something magical happens. Besides cinnamon roll cupcakes, you could use this delightful frosting for spice cake, gingerbread, or an orange spice cake (note to self: find recipe for orange spice cake).

Cream cheese frosting is easy to work with, but it does need to be refrigerated once it’s made to keep from spoiling. Unlike buttercream, which you can store at room temperature, the sugar to butter ratio in cream cheese frosting isn’t high enough to prevent bacteria growth. You can bring your treats to room temperature before serving them if you like, but this frosting is also delicious when it’s cold.

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons cinnamon

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and cinnamon and beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl often.

Marshmallow Creme Frosting

cherry cola cakeI love old cookbooks, especially the kind that feature recipes from church picnics and community potluck suppers. My Aunt Liz has a few amazing ones, and I bet somewhere in there, we’d find a recipe like this.

Marshmallow creme frosting packs a serious wallop of sugar, and while this is going to sound counter-intuitive, I need you to trust me: if at first taste it’s too sweet, add a bit more powdered sugar. I don’t know why, but it mellows out the flavor a great deal.

This frosting originally appeared on the cherry cola cake pictured on the left. I tinted that frosting pink, but you could certainly leave it plain or choose another color depending on what you’re baking. This recipe made enough to frost the top and middle of a two-layer 8-inch round cake; to frost the whole cake, I’d increase the ingredients by half.

Ingredients

  • 12 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme

Preparation

Beat butter and powdered sugar until completely combined.

Add marshmallow creme and beat until well-combined.

Butter Pecan Frosting

butterpecancakeThis frosting will change your life. Seriously, folks – it’s among the most delicious I’ve ever made.

Originally featured on this butter pecan cake and cupcakes, this frosting would pair very well with a vanilla cake or cupcakes and offers an old-fashioned, go-visiting-on-Sunday kind of flavor. I suspect my grandmothers would have loved it.

The batch below can frost a three-layer cake or at least three dozen cupcakes, but you could cut it in half for a smaller batch.

Ingredients

For the butter pecans

  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 tablespoon salted butter

For the frosting

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

For the butter pecans:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, extending the foil over all four sides.

Place pecans and butter onto the baking sheet; bake for about 8-9 minutes, stirring frequently, until pecans are toasted and fragrant. Be careful not to burn them – pecans can burn easily after several minutes in the oven.

Remove pecans from the baking sheet and place on a platter to cool completely before using. Chop to medium-fine pieces.

For the frosting:

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for about 1 minute.

Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and beat on low speed until the sugar is completely incorporated into the butter. I cover my mixer with a towel to prevent a sugar storm.

Add vanilla and beat until combined; check your consistency and if it is too thin, add another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Stir in butter pecans.

Chocolate Ganache

bostoncreamcupcakesEvery baker should have a good recipe for chocolate ganache. This one uses bittersweet chocolate, an essential ingredient for the right flavor profile of a Boston cream pie (or as pictured here, Boston cream cupcakes). You could substitute other types of chocolate depending on what you’re making; semisweet chocolate and milk chocolate will yield a much milder flavor and would be good for things like chocolate cake or peanut butter cupcakes.

Heavy cream is a must for ganache-making, and if you have some left over you can always whip it up (literally) for topping, or use it to make pastry cream.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, combine heavy cream, corn syrup, chocolate, and vanilla over medium heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Remove from heat and allow to cool, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches room temperature; mixture will thicken and become glossy.

Spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.

Almond Buttercream

burnt almond torteAlmond buttercream is a great go-to frosting because it pairs well with a range of other flavors, from chocolate or vanilla to lemon or orange. The recipe below plays a big role in burnt almond torte, which you see here on the left.

If you don’t have heavy cream, you can substitute regular milk to thin your frosting and help make it fluffy. Remember, always add liquids sparingly, especially when working with frostings. You can always add more, but you can never take it away.

This recipe can enerously gfrost one single-layer 8 x 8 square, 8-inch round, or about 18 cupcakes. You can easily double it for a two-layer cake, sheet cake, or two dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon almond extract
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, beat butter for about 1 minute, then add salt and beat another minute.

Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until all of the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter; this will take a few minutes.

Add vanilla extract and almond extract, beating well to combine.

Add heavy cream and beat for about 2 minutes until fluffy.

Lemon Raspberry Loaf

lemon raspberry loafThis lemon raspberry loaf, while tasty, didn’t turn out at all like I wanted it to. It’s not quite as lemony as I hoped for, nor are the raspberries distributed evenly throughout the loaf. Fear not, lemon-raspberry fans: I have solutions for how to fix this.

The original recipe was written for lemon raspberry muffins, rather than a loaf, which might explain why this turned out differently than I’d hoped. I used an 8-inch loaf pan, but should have either used one larger or two smaller pans because the loaf rose quite a bit during baking. In addition to the pan sizes, the next time I make this, I’ll use 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon extract in the batter, and I’ll either use regular lemon yogurt if I can find it, or I’ll thin out the Greek yogurt much, much more. I’ll also make a raspberry puree to fold into the batter, instead of just using whole raspberries.

Ingredients

For the loaf

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • zest of 1 medium lemon
  • 8 ounces lemon yogurt*
  • 1 cup raspberries

For the streusel topping

  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

*If using Greek yogurt, I’d recommend about 6 ounces, thinned out with milk to equal 8 ounces total. Greek yogurt and regular yogurt will yield very different textures, as Greek yogurt is much thicker.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a loaf pan with baking spray; I used an 8-inch loaf pan but highly recommend either a 9-inch pan or two 8-inch pans for more even baking.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large glass measuring cup, combine eggs, vegetable oil, lemon zest, and yogurt; mix well, then add all at once to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined; be careful not to over-mix. Fold in raspberries.

For streusel, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan and cover with streusel topping.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Pay close attention to your topping; you may need to cover your loaf with foil to prevent it from over-browning.

Cool completely in the pan and store at room temperature.

Apricot Kolaches

apricot kolaches 1Apricot kolaches are my new nemesis. This is my second failed attempt, but I’m posting them anyway in the hope that some savvy kolache maker can help me figure out where I’m going wrong.

Kolaches are a traditional Hungarian cookie also found in Polish, Slovak, Croatian, and other Eastern European baking traditions. Each culture pronounces and spells them differently; I believe my Hungarian grandma, Zella, said ko-latch, whether she meant one cookie or a dozen.

I thought my Hungarian blood would automatically equal kolache baking prowess, but I’ve been wrong twice now. My primary problem is that most of them pop open while they’re baking; the photo at left is one of about 12 or so that actually stayed closed. I also suspect that using pastry filling, rather than preserves, would help maintain the structure of the treat, so I’ll give that a shot next time.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • About 1 1/2 cups apricot preserves

Preparation

In a medium bowl, sift together flour and salt; set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently, for about 3-5 minutes until light and creamy.

Add flour mixture in three batches, beating well between each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl well. Dough will be soft, but not sticky.

Divide dough into four equal portions, roll into balls, and flatten into discs. Wrap in plastic and chill dough for at least 2 hours; I chilled mine overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and move the rack up one position from the center. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

Dust your counter top with granulated sugar and dust both sides of each dough disc with flour. Roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness.

Using a 2-inch square cookie cutter, cut dough into squares and place on prepared baking sheets. Spoon a dollop of apricot filling into the middle of each square; I used a generous 1/4 teaspoon from my measuring spoon set.

Fold two opposite corners in and press together to seal; I found that tucking one corner all the way under the opposite side helped prevent them from bursting open while they baked, but only in some cases.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until tops are light golden brown. Cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Oreo Cheesecake CookiesMy mom stayed at our house over the weekend to watch Millie while we were in Maryland, and our nephew Roman stayed with her. In my kitchen, they left behind two half-eaten jars of peanut butter (why two? I have no idea!), a pack of hot dog buns, about a quarter of a bag of potato chips, and a package of Oreo cookies. And because I can’t just eat the Oreos like a normal person, I wondered: what can I bake with these?

Oreo cookies are a popular addition to other desserts. Think of cookies and cream ice cream, milkshakes, pies, and cheesecake – these are all based in the Oreo cookie, or at least something very near to it. I found this recipe for Oreo cheesecake cookies on Pinterest from Baker By Nature; I tweaked the recipe just slightly because I didn’t have salted butter, so I added some salt to the mix. While these cookies don’t exactly remind me of Oreo cheesecake, they’re quite tasty and have a nice chewy texture.

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 8 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
  • 10 Oreo cookies

Preparation

Place Oreo cookies in a large zip top bag and place a kitchen towel over the bag. Using a rolling pin, gently break cookies so that some medium-sized pieces remain and cookies aren’t totally crushed; set aside.

In a mixer, cream together cream cheese, butter, and salt until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl well.

Add sugar and beat until well-combined, then add flour in three batches, beating until totally combined and scraping the sides of the bowl frequently.

Add cookie pieces and stir to combine well; use your hands to mix if necessary. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll into balls, then flatten slightly. Place on prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until edges are just golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.