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Saturday, November 22, 2008

IronCupcake_004: Pear Cupcakes w/ Cranberry Orange Filling




Iron Cupcake:Earth
Theme: Cranberry
My entry: Spiced Pear Cupcakes w/ Cranberry-Orange Filling
Voting begins: Sunday, November 30 at 8 pm Central @ http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com and will be open through Friday, December 5 at 12 noon Central.




After some major brainstorming and some careful consideration, I came up with an entry for this month's Iron Cupcake:Earth challenge! My mom brought some pears home from a roadtrip and they became my initial inspiration. I really wanted to stick with seasonal flavors, so I wanted to do a spiced pear cupcake. I'm a huge fan of cranberry and orange. I decided to use those flavors in the filling and frosting. My frosting came out a bit softer than I wanted (because I'm retarded and added a few tablespoons of heavy cream for some reason...???) But if you make it sans heavy cream, the frosting will be thick and gorgeous! These cupcakes are fantastic! They're perfectly moist. All of the flavors go well together, and how can you go wrong with cream cheese filling? They taste just like Thanksgiving! Here are my photos and the recipe.

Start by soaking your cranberries in fresh orange juice.Peel and core your pears.
Scoop the batter into the cups.
Here are the cuppies cooling!
Making the filling...
Mmmmm creamy cranberry-orange goodness!
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a visial runthrough of "The Cone Method."
After filling your cupcakes, you should have about 1/2 leftover to use in the frosting.
Then voila! Delicious Thanksgiving cupcakes!
How about an inside view!

Voting will begin Sunday, November 30 at 8 pm (Central) at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com/, and will be open through Friday, December 5 at 12 noon (Central).

Recipes were created by yours truly!

Pear Cupcakes with Cranberry Orange Filling
Makes 16-18

CUPCAKES
1 1/2 cups finely diced pears (1 1/2 - 2 pears)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
Pinch of orange zest
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, fresh ground if available
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

FILLING
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Juice of 1 orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

FROSTING
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup leftover filling
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Prep for filling: Combine cranberries and orange juice in a measuring cup and heat for 30-40 seconds in microwave, just until mixture is warm. Let sit until cupcakes are baked and cooled, at least 30 minutes.

Make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with 16 paper liners. In a large bowl sift together flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. Combine milk and vanilla in a measuring cup. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix until well incorporated. Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Add pears and mix just until incorporated. Divide batter into muffin cups. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Make the filling: Drain the plumped cranberries and reserve the juice. In a food processor, pulse cranberries until finely chopped. With an electric mixer, combine chopped cranberries, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of reserved orange juice, 1 teaspoon orange zest, and 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar. Cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake, keeping the top. Fill each cupcake with 1-2 teaspoons of filling. Replace top.

Make the frosting: With an electric mixer, combine 4 oz cream cheese, 1/2 of leftover filling, and 3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar. Mix until smooth. Keep frosted/filled cupcakes refrigerated for up to 3 days.


Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 4


Prizes provided by:
LOLLIPOP WORKSHOP
COOKIE SUNSHINE
A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
Also, IronCupcake:Earth is excited to welcome back CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice!
As an added bonus for November only we have a delicious apron complements of SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY.
Corporate prize providers:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
CUPCAKE COURIER
TASTE OF HOME books
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

If you want to be a part of Iron Cupcake:Earth, visit http://ironcupcake.blogspot.com/!

17 comments:

Snooky doodle said...

this looks so creamy and delicious. The combination of flavours is really interesting , Nice cupcakes. I ll have tough competition :) Good luck

Christine said...

I also love cranberry and orange together, and with pears it's probably tastier and more moist. Sounds like a great cupcake!

Megan said...

That looks so good. I love anything cranberry. Do you happen to have a recepie for Chocolate Chip Cookie dough frosting? There is a cupcake bakery in my town and I love there Chocolate Chip Cookie douch cupcakes. I thought maybe you'd know how to make it???

~~louise~~ said...

WOW! What an intriguing cupcake recipe. I hope you don't mind if I save this post for tomorrow when I include it on my blog for Eat A Cranberry Day!

Thanks so much for sharing...

Anonymous said...

Mmm they look so fluffy and moist; I especially love your presentation with the two little cranberries on top.

They looks so tasty, good luck :)

Anonymous said...

You really hit it out of the park on this one! so creative and perfect for thanksgiving!

-aubrey

CookiePie said...

Those look soooooo delicious! All the best flavors of fall in one cupcake - yum!

Perfect Pear said...

Yum! I bet you could use that same filling with pumpkin cupcakes. Love your blog!

Finla said...

Love the way you have filled them. I am just sitting here and imagining the wonderful feeling if i bit into one of those cup cakes.

Cheryl Wray said...

Those look absolutely delicious!!!

CB said...

Mmmm... pears. GL to both of us! I'll vote for you if you vote for me ;) HAHA.
/Clara

Adam said...

Nice pick on the pears... I always think they are underrated in the Fall :) Oh, and that cranberry cream cheese filling looks awesome... like it's spreadable happiness, I'm sure :)

Maria said...

Ok, those cupcakes look divine!! Good luck!!

A disney/doidas fashion said...

Mmmmm, this look so delicious.
I love cupcakes!!
(you could visit me?)
I'm so sorry if my english isn't very good,I'm Brazilian and I'm learning english!

Stephany Benbow said...

That frosting looks delectable!

McKenzie said...

I voted for you!

Anonymous said...

OMG, I HAD to make these! They are chilling in the fridge as I type. My daughter is munching on hers and gave it a big thumbs up. Thanks!!