Hello and happy Monday! Let’s kick this week off with something sweet. These Blood Orange Cupcakes are a last hurrah as blood oranges go out of season and we welcome more spring/summer fruits. If you can’t find blood oranges, no worries, just use your favorite oranges and it will be delicious!

So let’s get started, here’s what you’ll need:

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 Cup AP Flour
• 1/2 Cup Cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 Cup Butter, unsalted
• 1 egg & 1 egg white
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• 2 tsp blood orange zest
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 Milk

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8oz, (1 block) of cream cheese
• 1 stick butter, unsalted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 Cups of powdered sugar
• 1 tbls Milk

Begin by preheating your oven to 350F. In a bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, & baking powder. Set aside.

In in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy, add the sugar and mix until pale yellow. Add egg and egg white and mix to combine. Follow with extracts, zest, & oil.

Now alternate adding the dry ingredients with the 1/2 cup of milk until all ingredients are combined. Using a scoop, fill a paper lined cupcake pan 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean from the center of the cake. (This recipe makes 12 Cupcakes)

Remove cupcakes from oven and carefully remove from the pan. Cool on a rack.

To make the cream cheese frosting; mix the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, & salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar to the bowl and mix on low speed to combine. Add milk as needed to loosen the frosting as desired. Beat the frosting with your mixer until fluffy and light.

{Side note: If you are making Candied Orange slices (recipe here!) then use the blood orange syrup to “soak” the cupcakes before frosting by using a brush to apply the syrup to the top (pictured below), if not — keep going and frost those cupcakes!}

Frost those cupcakes with as much or little as you like! Garnish with candied oranges and mint and serve!

To store: keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature before eating.

Enjoy!