Cranberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting
This recipe creates a light, tender cranberry cupcake--with just a hint of orange--that is then topped with a creamy, buttery white chocolate frosting. It's flavor heaven. You will have leftover frosting, as this recipe makes enough to generously frost 16 cupcakes, at least. Feel free to halve the frosting recipe, if needed.
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Recipe Summary
Ingredients
Directions
Cook's Notes:
I find it easiest to chop the fresh cranberries in a food processor to get relatively even pieces.
You can change the amount of orange zest in the cupcakes to suit your tastes.
You can also substitute 2/3 cup buttermilk or 2/3 cup heavy cream in place of the 1/3 cup buttermilk and 1/3 cup heavy cream in the cupcake recipe. Using all buttermilk creates a delicious tang that compliments the cupcakes well--while using all heavy cream allows for the cranberry-orange flavor to come through a bit more.
For the frosting, make sure your white chocolate is not too cool when you add it to the butter mixture. Otherwise, it will create lumps in the frosting. The white chocolate should be cool enough to not melt the butter, but slightly warm in order to incorporate smoothly.
Editor's Note:
Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of frosting. The actual amount of frosting consumed will vary.