Lemon Drop Cupcakes

I'm sure by now we all know Pinterest is both a blessing and a curse. I really have done more crafts and tried more new recipes due to having a visual bookmarking system. But I also get those images stuck in my brain and I just can't seem to get them out. A cleaning solution can fly out of my head quicker than a wasp; but a picture of a dazzling cupcake has me hooked.

Ever since I saw these babies on someone's Pinterest board, my mind's been swimming with lemon. Well, I finally clicked through the link and found out ... there was no recipe. I had to do some searching, even, to find out these were mini-cupcakes from Tori and Dean's wedding vow renewals.  (They haven't been married THAT long ... right?)

So I had to settle for an easy recipe I found on another site. I made two dozen of these for the high-school boys we "dorm parent," and they disappeared extremely quickly. (Of course, they are high-school boys. So you might take that with a grain of salt.) The simple recipe takes almost no time to prepare, so I think these will be a go-to recipe of mine for feeding the boys or taking to a party. And they can be made very low-cal as well!

Lemon Cupcakes with Light Lemony Frosting

Adapted from Dashing Dish

Cake:
1 box lemon cake mix
12 ounces lemon-lime soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers. Mix cake mix and soda together until all is incorporated and there are no lumps. Fill papers about halfway full. Bake 18-20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Frosting:
8 oz. Cool Whip
one 8-oz. package instant lemon pudding mix
juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup milk

Fold pudding mix and lemon juice into Cool Whip and beat until creamy. Add milk and stir until uniform. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Add sprinkles and fresh lemon zest if desired.

Cranberry Orange Cake with Triple Sec Frosting

I don’t ever watch TV in real time anymore.

Occasionally, my husband and I get to watch The Big Bang Theory together on a Thursday. (Please don’t ask why we’re still watching it. I would have given up years ago.) During the summer, sometimes I caught Big Brother live. But with the school year full force and fall truly here, it just doesn’t happen. Our only shows are both on Thursday, and my husband is almost always in the dorm Thursday nights, so we watch them later.

All that to say, I never saw The Great British Baking Show until they aired it on Netflix. And as much as I love it, I can’t remember to watch the new seasons when they’re on. So chained to Netflix I am, and so recently I got to devour the new season they released.

While I truly missed the old hosts and Mary Berry, it’s the simple British-ness of the show that I adore. They’re so NICE. The people are not professionals. I just love it.

So when Laura from Little House Big Alaska announced she was going to do a Great British Baking Show Bake-Along, I was ALL IN! I have really enjoyed expanding my baking horizons lately, and an excuse to bake even more makes me thrilled. Not to mention to try some of the British-y bakes that I’ve seen on the show.

Our first challenge was to do a fruity cake. Simply, a cake that had fresh or dried fruit. I recently made an Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze that is incredibly good, but I wanted to try something new – well, kind of. A while back, I tested out a Williamsburg Orange Cake from the 1970s Betty Crocker Big Red Cookbook. (I’ve sang its accolades before.) It was OK, but I felt like the recipe needed some tweaking. It needed a little more height and maybe a little more interest.

Some minor changes and I had my fruit cake. I give you Cranberry-Orange Cake with Triple Sec Frosting, slightly adapted from Betty. It feels old-fashioned, with the fruit and walnuts, but the naked sides and three-layer style help modernize it. It was gobbled up right away, so I’m feeling like it’s a winner for fall! 

Cranberry-Orange Cake with Triple Sec Frosting
Yield: 12-16 servings 

Ingredients 

Cake 

• 2 3/4 c. cake flour 
• 2 tsp. baking soda 
• 3/4 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 c. butter, softened 
• 1/4 c. shortening, like Spectrum Palm Shortening 
• 1 1/2 c. sugar 
• 3 eggs, room temperature 
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 
• 1 1/2 c. whole buttermilk, room temperature 
• 3/4 c. dried cranberries, chopped and tossed in 2 tsp. flour 
• 1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts 
• 1 T. grated orange zest 

 Frosting 

• 1/2 c. butter, softened 
• 4 1/2 c. powdered sugar 
• 1/3 c. Triple Sec or other orange liqueur 
• 2 tsp. grated orange zest 
• 1 T. milk or cream 

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray three 8-inch cake pans with cooking spray; line with parchment paper and spray again. (I will swear by pre-cut parchment circles for cakes. They are seriously sent from heaven.) 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
3. With a mixer, beat together butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one a time, beating after each. Add vanilla and mix. 
4. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry mixture, just until incorporated. 
5. Fold in cranberries, walnuts, and orange zest. 
6. Divide between pans and tap pans down to distribute batter. Bake 25-30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. 
7. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then move to cooling racks. Cool completely. 
8. Frosting: With a mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar together. Add Triple Sec and orange zest. Slowly add milk until the frosting is to your liking. Beat a few more minutes to make it extra fluffy! 
9. For the naked cake look, place on cake layer on a serving plate. Spread frosting on layer, making sure there is extra around the edge. Repeat with remaining layers. Cover top layer well, then run an offset spatula around the sides of the cake to spread remaining frosting. (You can frost the sides if desired but you might need to increase your amount of frosting made slightly.)