Orange Dancing Sun Cupcakes
On the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, we remember the day the sun miraculously danced in the sky. These cupcakes are a fancy treat to celebrate this great feast of the Blessed Mother! Orange zest in the cupcake batter AND the frosting makes them taste like sunshine, but it’s fun to decorate them that way, too. We recommend dried pineapple “suns” for an elegant topper, but candy corns work for a less-involved decoration!
Ingredients
- For cupcakes:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup melted butter
- ¾ cup superfine caster sugar*
- ¼ cup whole milk room temp
- 2 large eggs room temp
- 3 Tablespoons orange juice
- Zest of ½ medium orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the orange buttercream:
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- Peel of 1 orange no pith, cut in strips**
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup superfine caster sugar*
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- For pineapple “suns”:
- 1 whole pineapple
Instructions
- Make the pineapple suns:
- To cut the whole pineapple, chop off the top and bottom first, then slice down the sides to remove the outer “skin” layer. Use a spoon (a small teaspoon works well) to remove the brown eyes from the pineapple, so that only the yellow flesh remains. Blot the pineapple with a towel and then turn it on its side and use a sharp serrated knife to cut it into 1/16 inch slices. (The thinner they are, the faster they will dry!). Blot the slices well with paper towels to remove as much excess juice as possible.
- Put the slices on a cookie sheet and place in the oven at 225° F for 30 minutes. After that time, gently turn the slices over and put them back in the oven for 30-40 more minutes, until very dry.
- Take them out and let them cool until warm, not hot, and then press the slices into an empty muffin tin. Press them gently at the center so they form a slight flower shape and let them cool that way.
- Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together. In a separate, large bowl, mix together the melted butter and sugar until just combined. Add milk, eggs, orange juice, zest, and vanilla and whisk well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir through gently with a spatula until just combined.
- Fill the cupcake liners with batter and bake for 20 minutes. Transfer immediately to a cooling rack.
- Make the frosting:
- Whisk the flour and a little bit of milk in a small saucepan until it forms a paste. Add the rest of the milk, ½ cup of sugar, and the orange peel.
- Heat over low heat, stirring constantly until the consistency is thick, like pudding. Be careful not to let it get stuck to the bottom!
- Press this mixture through a strainer into a bowl, and discard the orange peel. Cover the pudding with plastic wrap pressed to the surface and cool until it’s room temperature.
- In the meantime, beat together the butter and the remaining ½ cup of sugar until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add 1 spoonful of the pudding mixture at a time, making sure that each spoonful is entirely incorporated before adding more. Beat on low until all the pudding is added, and after that, continue to mix for 5-7 minutes on medium speed until the frosting is whipped and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and orange zest and mix gently with spatula. Add to a piping bag or use a knife to decorate the cupcakes, once they are cool.
- Once the cupcakes are iced, gently press the pineapple suns to the top (or use candy corns to create sun shapes on top).
Notes
*If you don’t have caster sugar, you can make your own by pulsing regular granulated sugar a few times in a blender or food processor. You’ll need 1 ¾ cups total for this recipe, so do it at the beginning so it’s ready to go. If you have to use regular sugar, it works, it just might make the frosting a little gritty. But, still delicious!
**Use a vegetable peeler to peel an orange to get just the peel, not the pith, which is the spongy white part between the peel and the flesh.
I used a cake mix from a box and frosting from the jar, so you may be wondering why I’m commenting on this recipe, but we had a lot of fun celebrating this Feast Day!
I added the zest and juice from one orange to the boxed stuff (swapping out some of the water from the instructions and replacing it with the aforementioned juice), and it turned out great. The “suns” were… delicious! Took a while to get the juice out, but delicious.
That’s great! I’m all for cheats. Sometimes mixes and store bought and takeout are what allows us to keep up our family traditions on busy or difficult days or seasons!