Tiger Cupcake

With National Cupcake Day and the SPCA's fundraiser just over a month away, I thought it would be fitting to post an animal inspired cupcake! I know that Tiger flavour is usually orange and black licorice, but  most people don't seem to enjoy the flavour of black licorice, so I used chocolate...besides, who's going to complain about getting a cupcake? For this yummy tiger inspired treat you'll need...

• Marble Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Orange Juice (enough to replace the Water your mix calls for)
• 2 tbs Orange Zest
• Orange Gel Food Colouring (optional)
• Store Bought Chocolate Icing 
• Butter (room temperate...around 1/2 cup or one full cup if you decide to make chocolate icing....but it's up to you)
• Icing Sugar (optional)
• Garnish Ideas: Orange Coloured Icing, Orange Candy

And now for the recipe...

Step 1: Kind of follow the direction of your Marble Cake Mix.  Go ahead and preheat your oven and add the eggs and oil to the cake mix, but replace the water with Orange Juice. Mix the batter well until smooth.

Step 2: Now, that the batter is mixed you can start following your cake mix directions again.  Portion off 1 cup of the batter into a separate bowl and mix in the cocoa package until smooth. In the remaining batter, mix in some Orange Gel Food Colouring (optional) and the 2 tbs of Orange Zest until fully incorporated.

Step 3: Alright, it's time to get the batter in the cupcake pan liners. Start by spooning in some of your orange batter.  Then add a spoonful of the chocolate batter and top with more orange batter.  To make it swirl together simply take a chopstick and stir it slowly to create a marble/tiger effect.  Place them in the oven and bake as directed on package. Once they are done baking, let them cool completely before icing.

Step 4: While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, why not move onto your icing.  Mix together the store bought Chocolate Icing and around 1/2 a cup of butter on high until smooth.  Mix well and add some icing sugar if it's not sweet enough for you or too buttery. Spoon or pipe the chocolate icing onto your cupcake and garnish with either some Orange Icing Zigzags or an Orange Candy.

Happy Faking!

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Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcake

Wondering what delicious treats I made with my Flower Pan?  Well, here is one of many to come!  I called it the Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcake for a few obvious reasons.  For this recipe I did get a little lazy with the icing and used store bought icing with no additions. But who's going to say something when they get a cute little flower cupcake.  No one... that's who.  For this SIMPLE but tasty recipe I used:

• Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake...usually eggs, oil, and water)
• Store bought Vanilla Icing
• 1/2 cup of Orange Juice
• Zest of 2 small Oranges (or one large Orange) 
• Garnish Ideas: Orange Chocolate Melt or Dried Orange Slice

On to the recipe...

Step 1: Kind of  follow the directions on your chocolate cake mix. Go ahead and preheat your oven and add the oil and eggs...but DO NOT add all the water.

Step 2: Replace 1/2 cup of the water it calls for with Orange Juice.  So, if your mix calls for 1 cup of water, then add 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of Orange Juice.  Then, add the zest of two small Oranges (or one large Orange).  Mix the ingredients together until it is smooth.

Step 3: Now it's time to spoon your cupcake batter into your cupcake pan liners.  I used my Flower Pan to make cute little flower shaped cupcakes, but you can just use a regular pan. Place them in the oven and bake as directed on package.  Once they are done baking, let them cool completely.

Step 4: As I mentioned I got lazy with my icing and just used the store bought stuff, but you can always add some butter, icing sugar, and/or orange liqueur if you wanted to jazz it up.  I opted for using piping tip 104 to make flower petals and used an Orange Chocolate Melt as the middle of the flower. And there you have it, my Chocolate Orange Blossom Cupcake.

Happy Faking!

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