We enjoyed a great Sunday Night Dinner.
Slow Cooker honey garlic chicken thighs, carrot rice, and sweet rutabega. Can you believe I still had one left in my fridge? As delicious as it was, Valentine’s Day is not about the savory, it’s about the sweet. For dessert tonight I made vanilla cupcakes with an orange curd filling and vanilla buttercream.
Start by making a batch of your favorite vanilla cake batter. I threw in some sprinkles to make the cupcakes a little special tonight.
I use an ice cream scoop to help make sure cupcakes are similar in size.
I made these gluten free so my little guy could enjoy a treat today too, that is why the final cupcake looks a little pale. Place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.
While they are cooling it’s time to make the orange curd.
Ingredients:
The zest and juice of two oranges and half of a grapefruit
6 egg yolks, 1/2 a cup of butter
1 1/4 cups of sugar and a pinch of salt
Start by simply combining all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Place it on medium heat and stir constantly. The butter will all melt and the curd will begin to bubble. The biggest key to this it to keep stirring.
After it begins to bubble you need to continue to stir constantly for another 4-5 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. It will coat the back of a spoon.
Have a strainer and bowl set up ahead of time so you can strain the curd straight away when you turn your burner off. The zest has done its part with flavor and you need to remove any bits of egg that may have cooked in the curd.
Push the curd through the fine mesh strainer and discard the zest. Cool the curd completely.
Remove, or core, the cupcakes (keep the cupcake centers for a snack later).
Placed the cooled orange curd into a plastic bag, cutting a hole in the corner.
Fill the cupcakes with the cooled orange curd, almost to the top of the hole you cut in the cupcake.
Make a batch of your favorite frosting, this is a vanilla buttercream. I placed half of the frosting in the bag on one side, leaving it white. I colored half of the remaining frosting pink and the other purple. I placed the colored frosting on the other side of the bag. This will give the cupcakes a fun swirled pattern.
The pretty fancy decorating was done by my boys. They helped me with the filling, frosting, and sprinkles. The best Valentine’s day present was spending the afternoon with my family.