Z as in Zebra

In September, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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Halloween?! Yes, I know it’s April now. I didn’t choose the names for the cupcakes I make…I’m just working my way through the book. Never mind the timing, or the title for that matter, if it bothers you that much. Besides, the finished product doesn’t look Halloweeny at all. So there.

First, of course, I creamed together butter and sugar.

If you EVER need to zest something, get yourself a microplane zester. It will change your life (at least in the kitchen). Promise.

I zested the living daylights out of this orange, being careful not to shave down into the bitter pith.

Then, I squeezed the juice from the zested orange,

added some lemon juice,

and then added some water to make 2/3 cup.

I gathered together my dry ingredients, including the orange zest.

Dry and wet ingredients were alternated into the mixer with the butter/sugar combo to make the batter.

The zest was folded in,

and red food coloring was added to make the batter a deeper orange color.

Now, if these aren’t the most fun papers…makes me feel like singing and dancing around in the summer sunshine! (oh, wait, it’s only April.)

The final batter reminded me so much of the orange sherbet push-up-pops from my childhood.

And the color was so pretty after the cupcakes baked, too.

Next, orange juice and powdered sugar formed the basis of the “icing”, which you’ll soon see isn’t much like a frosting at all.

In fact, after it boiled, it was more like a jelly.

Few things make a cupcake cuter than a jellied fruit slice.

Each cupcake had a corresponding slice and they waited to be merged using the jelly topping.

Again, to deepen the orange color, food dye was added.

THAT’S more like it!

A dollop here, a dollop there, here a dollop, there a dollop, everywhere a dollop dollop.

Ta Da! Looks like a tropical drink of some sort!

So many neon orange cupcakes…

and they just looked so cute, I couldn’t stop myself from posing with one of them.

Nor could my husband avoid jumping in the shot after I peeled the paper in preparation for the “bite shot”. Ha!

The jelly topping definitely made for a different experience, but if you like orange-flavored foods or jelly-filled donuts, you’d probably dig these.

Boo! (had to get some sort of Halloween reference in there!)

In September of 2009, I started a cupcake adventure. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can do so here.

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What could malted milk balls….

and bendy straws have to do with cupcakes?

You’re about to find out!

Yet again, I failed to remember to get my camera out at the beginning of the process (oops!) I did manage to snag a pic of the batter before it was all gone!

And as you can tell from the baked version, the batter contains little hunks of crushed up Whoppers!!

See?! Yum!

The only thing better than a Whopper cupcake, is an iced Whopper cupcake with a Whopper topper and a bendy straw!

Are those not just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?! ((I can say that because it wasn’t my idea…the cookbook author came up with it and I just followed along. hee hee))

They look even cuter side by side with their friends, who, despite being cupcakes, are more fashion-conscious than I am…at least they make sure their accessories coordinate with their outfit.

The best part was being able to share these with friends at Stephen and Melissa’s housewarming party. Someone has to be responsible for balancing out all the healthy snacks, right?

That someone is me.