Category: Cupcakes

Mini Orange Olive Oil Cakes

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
mini orange olive oil cakes

Ever since a certain celebrity cut a hole from the middle of her favorite olive oil cake back in 2020, the internet has been obsessed with olive oil cakes. I must confess that I was a fan of olive oil cakes long before that. I first tasted one at a restaurant years ago and fell in love. The flavor and texture was so delightful, that all it needed was a dusting of powdered sugar on top. Now that the dust has settled, I’m sharing my favorite orange olive oil cake recipe. Not because it’s trendy, but because it’s a really delicious recipe that tastes like spring.

I made cute little orange scented, personal cakes that are really just elegant cupcakes. The recipe is easily adapted to your tastes. You can switch up the orange flavor and substitute with lemon or any citrus of your choice. Even if you don’t like olive oil, you’ll still like these little cakes. I used light olive oil, rather than extra virgin olive oil, for a more subtle olive oil flavor. It’s also able to withstand higher temperatures. Feel free to use your favorite olive oil or replace it with the oil you prefer. Grape seed, avocado, canola and vegetable oil are some examples of oils you can use as a replacement.

This recipe contains almond flour. It helps with texture and flavor, so it’s a necessary ingredient. Almond flour can be pricey, but it’s good to have on hand. Adding it to your baked goods will make them more moist and tender. To find almond flour click here,

 

Mini Orange Olive Oil Cakes

Mari Vasseur
Soft, tender mini orange cakes brushed with orange syrup & dusted with powdered sugar
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 12 mini cakes

Ingredients
  

Mini Orange Olive Oil Cakes

  • 1 cup (113g) cake flour, sifted
  • ¼ cup (28g) almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • â…” cup (133g) sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons orange zest
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (115ml) light olive oil
  • ¼ cup (59ml) whole milk
  • ¼ cup (59ml orange juice

Orange Simple Syrup

  • ¼ cup (50g) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • Powdered sugar for dusting the tops

Instructions
 

Mini Orange Olive Oil Cakes

  • Heat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease and flour a 12 serving muffin pan.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.
  • In a large bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, orange zest and vanilla extract together until smooth. Gradually mix in the olive oil and beat until creamy and well blended.
  • Stir in the dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with the milk and orange juice. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix.
  • Fill the prepared muffin pan cups 2/3 full with batter. Do not overfill or cakes will be more difficult to remove.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops look light golden, but still moist and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. They bake very quickly, so check them a few minutes early to avoid over baking.
  • Cool the cakes in pan for 5 minutes. Remove them from pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Brush the warm cakes with orange simple syrup and allow to cool completely. When the cakes have cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

Orange Simple Syrup

  • In a small saucepan, stir together the sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, and orange zest. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until the sugar is dissolved.
  • Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Keyword cake, olive oil, orange

Lemon Buttermilk Cakelets

Posted on by Mari Vasseur

Sending sunshine your way with these cute, delicious bite-size mini cakes. Lemon Buttermilk Cakelets are tender and moist with a burst of fresh lemon flavor. They’re easy to make and they bake up quickly. They make an adorable addition to a spring teatime, baby shower or summer picnic.

Lemon Buttermilk Cakelets

by Mari Vasseur
Soft, tender mini lemon cakes with lemon icing
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 24 cakelets

Ingredients
  

Lemon Simple Syrup

  • Juice of 1 medium lemon
  • ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest

Cakelets

  • 1 ¼ cups (142g) cake flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup (115ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
  • ½ cup (118ml) buttermilk

Icing

  • 1 ½ cups (180g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 3-4 tablespoons (45-60ml) fresh lemon juice

Instructions
 

Lemon Simple Syrup

  • Measure the juice of 1 lemon. Add enough water to equal 1/4 cup (89ml). In a small saucepan, simmer the lemon juice and water mixture with the sugar and lemon zest, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool, then strain out the lemon zest.

Cakelets

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease and flour a 24-serving mini muffin pan* or use liners.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well blended.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, oil, eggs, lemon zest and extracts together until smooth and well blended. Mix in the flour mixture in 2 additions alternating with half of the buttermilk after each addition. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix.
  • Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. (I used a portion scoop). Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 8-10 minutes. Be careful not to over bake to avoid drying out the cakes. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and transfer them to a cooling rack. (Repeat with any remaining batter.)

Icing

  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, melted butter and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add additional lemon juice as needed to achieve the desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Spoon the icing over the cooled cakes.

Notes

*To find the mini muffin pan I used, click here.
Keyword cake, cupcakes, lemon

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The Nutcracker Land of Sweets Cupcakes

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
Nutcracker Land of Sweets Cupcakes

The tradition of enjoying the Nutcracker Ballet at Christmastime has been in my family for over 20 years. The Nutcracker Land of Sweets is a magical theme that has me mesmerized. Gingerbread, candy canes, gumdrops and billowy clouds of pink frosting are what dreams are made of. And that’s exactly what these dreamy cupcakes are made of. The cupcake flavor is a subtle spice cake. The recipe is adapted from a Martha Stewart cake recipe I made last summer. The original cake was paired with blackberry jam, but I knew plum jam would be perfect for these cupcakes. I topped them with a mildly sweet, fluffy Swiss meringue buttercream.

Part of the fun of making these cupcakes began at the store as I collected the sweets to decorate the cupcakes. Another perk of the job is taste testing the candy. I discovered that purple spice drops are licorice flavored and red spice drops are cinnamon. Who knew?

You might also like my Nutcracker Land of Sweets inspired candy bark. It’s a delightful holiday bark I designed that is often imitated. To view it, click here.

The Nutcracker Land of Sweets Cupcakes

Spice cupcakes filled with plum jam, topped with fluffy pink frosting, gingerbread men and Christmas candy, and dusted with sugar snow
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
  

Spice cupcakes

  • ¾ cups (3 1/4 ounces) all purpose flour, sifted
  • ¾ cups (3 ounces) cake flour, sifted
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • small pinch ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (6 1/8 ounces) fine granulated sugar or regular granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
  • â…” cup whole milk
  • ¾ cup plum jam I used red plum jam

Pink Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1 â…“ cups (9 3/8 ounces) fine granulated sugar or regular granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ cups (12 ounces) softened, unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract or pure vanilla etract
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 drops pink gel food color I used Americolor deep pink

Decorations

  • small gingerbread cookies
  • mini candy canes
  • assorted candies such as spice drops, gumdrops, peppermints,
  • sprinkles or sugar pearls
  • powdered sugar

Instructions
 

Spice Cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 12 serving muffin pan with disposable baking cups. (I used silver foil liners.)
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, spices and salt. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
  • Add egg, egg white, and vanilla, one at a time, mixing until well combined.
  • Add flour mixture in two additions, alternating with milk. Mix until combined.
  • Divide batter evenly into wells of prepared muffin pan, filling about 2/3 full.
  • Bake until light golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 16-18 minutes.
  • Let cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes. Gently transfer cupcakes to cooling rack to cool completely.
  • Core the center of each cupcake, removing a 3/4-inch deep circle. Fill with jam and replace the circle top.
  • Frost cupcakes with pink Swiss meringue buttercream. Decorate with cookies and candies. Lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Pink Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercreamgue Buttercream

  • Combine egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Set over a pan of gently simmering water.
  • Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and temperature of 160ºF is reached.
  • Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixture with a whisk attachment. Whisk on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high speed. Whisk until glossy, stiff peaks form and mixture reaches room temperature.
  • Turn mixer to medium-low speed. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, allowing the butter to fully incorporate each time before adding more.
  • Switch to paddle attachment. On low speed, mix in vanilla, salt and food color. Continue mixing on low speed for a few minutes until smooth.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Spice Cake
Keyword cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing and Candied Blood Orange Slices

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
Gingerbread Cupcakes with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing and Candied Blood Oranges

Every winter, when blood oranges come back in season, I start keeping an eye out for them at grocery stores and farmers markets. This year was different. I’ve been at home, having my groceries delivered instead of perusing the local produce aisles. If you’ve been entrusting strangers to do your shopping like I have, then you know delivery produce selections are hit and miss. So I was elated when a bag of perfectly beautiful, ripe blood oranges landed on my doorstep. This simple joy made my day. There was no choice. I had to make something worthy of the gorgeous red beauties!

I didn’t get enough of gingerbread this holiday season, so I decided to make a gingerbread cupcake recipe that I created a few years ago when I was experimenting with blood oranges. I used blood orange zest in the cupcake batter and brushed the warm cupcakes with the blood orange syrup left over from making the candied oranges. If you don’t make the candied oranges, you can easily make a batch of the syrup* or skip this step altogether. They will still be delicious. I topped the cupcakes with cream cheese icing made with more orange zest and some blood orange juice mixed in. The juice makes the icing turns a soft shade of pink.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing and Candied Blood Oranges

Candied blood orange slices are so stunning, that I can’t bring myself to just lay them on top of a dessert. They remind me of stained glass windows. I like to place them on toothpicks so they can stand up in regal style! Many recipes out there will instruct you to boil the orange slices, then let them air dry. This is perfectly fine if you don’t mind floppy candied oranges. For this recipe, boiling the slices, then letting them dry in the oven on low heat will give them enough stiffness to stand up.

If you can’t find blood oranges where you live, here’s a link to get blood oranges shipped to you. This recipe will also work with other types of oranges. You won’t get the deep scarlet color and the flavor will have a bit more tartness, but it will still be beautiful and delicious!

 

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing

by Mari Vasseur
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
  

Gingerbread Cupcakes

  • 2 ¼ cups (287g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
  • â…› teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons blood orange zest or orange zest
  • ¾ cup (245ml) molasses
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup (174ml) buttermilk

Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing

  • ¾ cup (170g) cream cheese, softened
  • 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon blood orange zest or orange zest
  • 1 pinch fine sea salt
  • 3 ½ cups (450g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3-4 tablespoons (45-59ml) blood orange juice or orange juice

Candied Blood Orange Slices

  • 2 medium blood oranges or oranges
  • ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (177ml) water

Instructions
 

Gingerbread Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray the wells a 12-serving muffin pan with non-stick spray.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, baking soda and salt until well blended.
  • In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and orange zest with an electric mixer at medium speed, until pale and fluffy.
  • Add the molasses and beat until combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. On low speed, mix in the flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat just until combined.
  • Scoop the batter into prepared the muffin pan, filling the wells 2/3 full.
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool in pan for 7 minutes, then remove them from pan and place them upside down on a cooling rack.
  • Brush the warm cupcakes generously with orange simple syrup. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing

  • In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, on low speed with an electric mixer, until smooth.
  • Add the butter, orange zest and salt and beat until smooth and well blended.
  • Add the powdered sugar. Beat on low speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat until smooth.
  • Beat in the blood orange juice, one tablespoon (15ml) at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

Candied Blood Orange Slices

  • Slice the oranges into thin 1/4 inch slices.
  • Combine the sugar and water in a shallow saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the orange slices to the saucepan. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Drain the oranges, reserving the syrup.
  • Preheat the oven to 175ºF (80ºC). Place on a large baking sheet lined with a baking mat in a single layer and bake until the orange slices begin to stiffen, about 2 hours.
  • Remove the orange slices from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet. If desired, insert toothpicks when the slices are cool enough to handle. The slices will continue to stiffen as they cool.

Notes

*To make orange simple syrup,  combine the juice of one orange with enough water to make 1/2 cup. Combine mixture with the zest of one orange and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Let cool and transfer to a glass container. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Keyword blood oranges, candied oranges, cupcakes, gingerbread