Orange Crush

If a watched pot won’t boil, then it’s probably safe to assume a watched baby won’t be born – or at least not any time soon. We all know that pot’ll boil eventually. You just might go a little batty waiting for it to happen.

Since not thinking about the soon-to-arrive beach baby is proving to be practically impossible, I’m directing my beach thoughts in another direction. Thinking about favorite beach treats and ways to cake-i-fy (yes, it’s a word) them is always fun.

The coconut muffins at Harpoon Hannah’s are at the top of my “recipes to re-create” list, but I haven’t yet replenished my coconut supply (see German chocolate cake truffles). There are the fried pickles from Dr. Unks, but only Oscar the Grouch would appreciate pickled buttercream. The crepes served with the ginormous omelets from Bayside Skillet fluttered around my brain for a few moments, but then the orange crush from Harborside stuck in my head.  

The orange crush is the specialty drink of one of my family’s favorite restaurants in West Ocean City. Freshly squeezed orange juice makes this drink particularly tasty.  The triple sec, vodka, and lemon-lime soda don’t hurt, either.

Because, as my sister says, the drink goes down so smooth you don’t realize how much it’s affected you until you try to stand, I opted for mini cupcakes with a light buttercream frosting.  Also, since I’m bringing these into work tomorrow, I thought it’d be best not to get my coworkers too liquored up with a big serving of cake.

 

Orange Crush Mini Cupcakes (adapted from epicurious.com)

2/3 c butter, softened

1 ¾ c sugar

2 eggs

3 c flour

2 ½ t baking powder

½ t salt

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

½ c whole milk

¼ c freshly squeezed orange juice

¼ c triple sec

¼ c lemon-lime soda

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and zest. In a measuring cup, combine liquids.

Alternately add liquids and flour mixture to butter and sugar, starting and ending with the liquids.

Pour into lined cupcake tins and bake approximately 10-12 minutes, until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

into the oven

Orange Crush Buttercream (adapted from Cake Central)

waiting for the buttercream

1 c butter

1 c shortening

1-3 T whole milk

2 lbs powdered sugar

½ t salt

1 t vanilla

1 t triple sec

1 t lemon-lime soda

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1 T freshly squeezed orange juice

Cream butter and shortening until light and fluffy.

Add 1 T milk, sugar, and salt and mix well.

Add vanilla, triple sec, soda, zest, and orange juice and mix well. 

If necessary, add remainder of milk to obtain consistency you want.