Orange Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

So you have a bunch of extra citrus fruits languishing around your kitchen and aren't sure what to do with them?  Here, let me give you a suggestion.  Make candied citrus slices and then DON'T put them on these cupcakes.  Just eat them up all by themselves.  Yum!  They're a little syrupy, so be prepared for some sticky fingers.  I suppose you could drain them on a wire rack and then sprinkle with sugar, but seriously, forget the cupcakes.

I actually didn't set out to make these ones first, but I *did* happen to have a bunch of random citrus in my kitchen (a by-product of making this beautiful salad).  I had about four small blood oranges that were creeping my girls out (?), so I decided to use them instead of giant navel oranges, which, frankly, seemed like they'd be more a bedspread than a topping on a dainty little cupcake.

These cupcakes are fairly straightforward (cake, frosting, topping), but they actually ended up being really time-consuming, and I was pretty underwhelmed with the end result.  I hoped they'd be really orange-y and vanilla-y, but.....meh.  They LOOKED pretty, but they were definitely not worth all the effort.  First of all, the candied citrus slices.  I spent about an hour tending a simmering pot of oranges and sugar water a day before I made the cupcakes, which is a pretty big time investment already.  Anytime I have to spread a project over more than one day, my enthusiasm drops significantly.  The oranges can be put into a jar and covered with the syrup and kept for several days, which is good, because you can get this step out of the way before you bake.  But like I said before, I might just quit right there....

So the second issue I had here was the fact that the recipe only makes 12 to 14 cupcakes.  That's pretty much a half recipe, compared to most cupcake recipes out there.  Coupled with the fact that you have to make the damn orange slices......well, that's too much work for too few cupcakes.

The cake turned out nice, but another issue I have with it is that it called for the scraped seeds from TWO whole vanilla beans.  Now, I happen to have a ton of very nice vanilla beans right now, but two whole beans for a dozen cupcakes is kind of pushing the limits of ingredient sacrifice.  They ended up with a nice vanilla flavor, but it was still pretty subtle, and I think I probably could have made do with one bean.

All right.  Here's a picture of the ones I made.  Now remember, I used blood oranges, which turned REALLY bloody when I candied them.  Actually, once I got them on the cupcakes, I couldn't stop thinking that they looked like sliced tomatoes, and I even got kinda grossed out a time or two.  Maybe something nice like a Meyer lemon would have been a better, non-gory, non-vegetabley choice.

That's pretty, right?  A little tomato-y, but pretty.  Martha's version has much tinier dots of frosting, but I didn't have the right size decorating tip, so whatever.  Oh!  Speaking of frosting, let me also say this:  the recipe tells you to use Her swiss meringue buttercream, which uses a full pound of butter and yields 5 cups of frosting.  Do you remember I told you that this recipe only makes like a dozen cupcakes?  What does that work out to, almost a half cup of frosting per cupcake?  Ack!  You have my permission to cut the frosting recipe in half, people.  Half.   The frosting was lovely, though, smooth and silky like swiss meringue buttercream ought to be.  

Oh, and I can't believe I almost forgot this part.  Remember my speculation that when I bit into this cupcake the orange slice might come off in my face in one big piece?  I was right on the money.  That puppy came off in one big sweet and chewy chunk.  It's a good thing I wasn't trying to impress anyone.

Orange Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 12 to 14 

Preheat oven to 350º

Whisk together in a bowl:

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Combine in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup:

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 tbsp vanilla extract

In an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, cream together:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

seeds scraped from 2 vanilla beans

1 tbsp orange zest

Add, one at a time, beating between each one:

2 eggs

Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of the cream mixture, and beat just to combine.

Divide batter among lined cups.  Bake until cake tester comes out clean, 20 - 25 minutes.  Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool completely.

To finish, use a serrated knife to trip tops of cupcakes to make level.  Spread buttercream (don't forget to cut this recipe in half) over the tops in a smooth layer.  Place a candied orange slice on each cupcake.  Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small, plain tip and pipe dots around edge of each orange.

Cupcakes can be refrigerated up to 1 day in airtight containers.