Spiced Vanilla Cupcakes with Honey Nut Frosting

Lately, I've been experimenting with cupcake flavors. This one is definately a winner! You won't be dissapointed if you make these - my husband ate his in one giant bite and my daughter slowly licked the frosting off and then ate the cake. They both gave them 2 thumbs up. These cupcakes are moist and not too sweet so that the frosting on top is a perfect pairing, adding just the right amount of sweet. Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Insert cupcake liners in a cupcake tin - (11-12 cupcakes/tin)




Cupcakes:

3/4 cup of room temperature butter
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup of orange juice
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of apple pie spice

Start by creaming the room temperature butter until light and fluffy, slowly add in the sugar and mix until fluffy, then add in one egg at a time and continue mixing together, next add orange juice, followed by milk - mix well. Next, mix in the flour slowly and then the remaining ingredients until batter is light and fluffy (the more you mix, the lighter and fluffier the mix). Fill tins 3/4 of the way full and cook on 350 for 16-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Take out and allow to cool completely before adding the frosting.

Frosting:

8 oz of room temperature Honey Nut Cream Cheese
1/2 cup of room temperature butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla flavoring
5 cups of powdered sugar

Start by beating the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy, then add in vanilla flavoring. Next, cup by cup add in the powdered sugar. Frosting will become harder to mix along the way - but keep going - it will become smooth and creamy.

By the spoonful, give the cupcakes a nice dollup of frosting and sprinkle the top with some appe spice - enjoy!