Spanish Orange Syrup Cupcakes

After a long (but good) weekend and a sick day at work I finally made the cupcakes. It went well and they seemed pretty easy to make even though there was a few more steps to these than normal cupcakes. Here is the recipe:

for the cupcakes:
2 medium, seedless sweet oranges peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup sweet butter (I used regular sweet cream butter)
1 cup superfine sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup self rising flour

for the syrup:
1 peeled orange rind, from cupcake recipe (do this first before cutting the orange up, it saves so much time, believe me, I know)
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 cup water

heat oven to 325. Place 12 paper cups in a muffin pan. In a saucepan, cover the oranges with water. Simmer until tender, about 15 min. Cool. Drain the oranges and puree in a food processor. In a bowl, beat the butter sugar with an electric mixer until light. Slowly beat in the eggs. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, along with orange puree, until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the cups. Bake for 35 min. Remove pan from the oven and cool.
To make the syrup, thinly slice the orange rind, removing the pith. Cut the orange rind into thin strips (I used a potato peeler, it worked great). In a pan, bring the sugar and water to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the orange strips and boil uncovered for 5 min, or until tender. Spoon the syrup onto each cupcake.


More pictures hopefully to follow.

The cupcakes didn't rise much, and the texture was more like a corn muffin. I was surprised by the texture. They were dense and moist.
Overall they turned out great. They make a wonderful breakfast muffin/cupcake. I think that next time I make these I may try ham and cheese.

If you try other variations let me know how they turned out.

Sticky Orange or Chai?? Hmmmm . . .

I think I finally pinned down a project for this weekend. I looked through my cupcake recipes and it looks like it all comes down to two different choices. I have a Spanish sticky orange cupcake or a chai cupcake. Both look really good. So far I have a few votes for the orange, so that just may be the direction I head in. Altho I do love chai. I guess if it comes down to it, I may make both.

The orange one has a glaze, but the chai one doesn't have a glaze or a frosting just yet. What do you typically like with your chai? Honey? Vanilla? Plain? Maybe vanilla as a filling and no frosting/glaze?


Choices, choices, choices.


The boys came back from camping at the beach with my mom, sister, and Gramma. The boys said they had a good time, but my mom said it was horrible. It rained so hard the whole time that the camp site got a bit flooded, and the wind was whipping the tents around and all their clothes, pillows, and blankets got all wet. It got so bad that they came home a day early. It's a bummer it was so wet, but on the bright side my boys had a great time. That makes me so happy cause I don't think we will be able to squeeze anything in before they start school (Sept 2nd) Hopefully next year we won't pick the only 4 days in August that rain.

But that is Oregon. If I could spend my time between Oregon and Oklahoma/Texas I would be a very happy camper. I guess that's where my lottery winnings come in handy. (sigh)


Hope everyone has a good weekend, and I will post cuppy cake pics as soon as I get some!!

Finally the weekend is here!

I am so glad it's finally Friday! I get to pick up the boys from their dad's house tonight (he is baby-sitting them for me while they are out of school) and hang out with them before they leave with my mom on Sunday to go for a week camping trip down at the beach. We don't have any major plans for the weekend, just cleaning up a bit, doing laundry, packing the boys' stuff, and I think I am gonna try this cute little cupcake pop recipe I found from HowAboutOrange's blog from Bakerella. Looks fun and the boys will like to help coat them in the candy melts. I will try and post pics if I get it done right.
I can't believe that school is just around the corner. This summer went by so fast, way to fast in my opion. Altho I will be glad for slightly cooler weather.
Anywho, have a great weekend!!