Page 254 - Cupcakes

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

GARNISH:

Ground nutmeg

Candied Orange Zest (recipe follows; optional)

1. Prepare the cupcake batter: Place the currants and sherry in a small
microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high power to warm the sherry, 20
seconds. Stir, and let the currants soak for 5 minutes.

2. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24

cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

3. Strain the sherry from the currants into a large mixing bowl and add the cake
mix, flour, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla, and nutmeg. Blend with an electric

mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides
of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat
2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Blend in the currants
on low speed, 10 to 15 seconds. Spoon or scoop a heaping ¼ cup batter into each
lined cupcake cup, filling it two thirds of the way full. (You will get between 22
and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly
pressed with your finger, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and
place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the
edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups
using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your
fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

the CupcakeDoctor says...

Plumping dried fruit such as currants in liquid in the microwave is a fast