It all started with an Orange Julius

Not many people know the real story about how me and the Mister actually met. I'm finally coming clean after 7 years. The fake story is that we met on a double date. I told my mom that my close friend had met a guy and she asked me to go on a double date with one of his friends. The truth is that I met Scott on the Internet.

Okay you must be asking yourself, why would you be ashamed of meeting someone on the Internet? Plenty of people have met over the Internet and on dating sites. Well for one, back then it was kinda nerdy to meet people on the Internet and I was the definition of nerdy (role playing games kinda of nerdy). Secondly, I just had just recently gotten out of a 5 year relationship that had started on the Internet and that didn't end so well. Did I really want to go there again? After my breakup, I was casually dating so I could figure out what I wanted in my next relationship. I had put up a profile on Yahoo Personals and my choice on a dating site just goes to show how serious I was about getting into another relationship (as opposed to a more serious site like eHarmony). Scott and I started chatting and decided to meet up at the mall one night. We actually had to try meeting up twice because the first time we missed each other. If you ask Scott about this first time, he'd tell you that I was hiding in a nearby store and checking him out from a distance. Truth is that I honestly couldn't find him. We met on the second try. Ask Scott about the this time around, he would straight up tell you that he gave me a hug so he could check our my butt. Everything was closing up and one of the only things still open was the food court. We both agreed that an Orange Julius sounded good so he bought us drinks and we sat and talked for awhile. Years later, whenever we go to the mall, we occasionally get an Orange Julius but only order one so we can share <3 At one point, we even considered getting a bunch of Orange Julius drinks so we can have it at our wedding...hehe. 

So what does this story have to do with baking? We met at the end of July and I thought what better way to honor the memory of us meeting for the first time than to bake something that is the same flavor. If you don't know what an Orange Julius is, it's a smoothie type drink that has orange juice and some vanilla cream powder. The best thing I can compare it to is an orange creamsicle. I started looking into recipes and I found the following recipe on the Women's Day Magazine website.

Creamsicle "Cupcakes"

cake
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups of sugar or sugar substitute
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice (you can use the oranges you zest. About 2 large oranges)
2 tsp grated orange zest

frosting
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp grated orange zest
orange food coloring (optional)
orange zest strips for garnish (optional)

Heat oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper or foil liners.
Beat butter, baking powder, vanilla, orange juice, and zest in a large bowl for about 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat. On low speed, beat in flour in 3 additions alternating with milk in 2 additions until blended. Spoon evenly into cups.



Uh oh...that doesn't look appetizing...looks like a sun burst though. Maybe there is a ray hope!



Okay that looks a little more like regular batter.

Bake 22-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and the tops are golden. Cool on wire rack before frosting.

For frosting, beat heavy cream, sugar, and zest in a chilled metal bowl on medium high speed until soft peaks form. Add food coloring if desired. Frost and garnish cupcakes.

Sueshine Notes about this recipe

1) Notice how I put "cupcakes" in quotes? The texture of the cake was not your typical light and fluffy cupcake cake. It was very dense and bordering on a bread but I think it still had a good, light orange flavor.

2) The frosting is more of a whipped cream than your traditional frosting which I was surprisingly pleased with. The orange whipped cream frosting was what really made this taste like an Orange Julius. Even the texture reminded me of the frothy drink.

3) You could probably use orange extract for this recipe but why would you if oranges are available to squeeze fresh juice and get zest which definitely made a difference in the frosting.

When I bake, I usually bring them to work so my co-workers can eat them instead of me eating all of them. The Mister had to put his foot down and say no, these ones were his. He ate 4 cupcakes in a row and said that it takes just like an Orange Julius. My memories inspire a lot of my baking and flavors and this is one memory and flavor that I will always cherish because that day in late July, I met my best friend and future husband :)