I did IMBC for the first time ever today! It was a corn syrup recipe, and it turned out fantastic. With a little orange sherbet and orange soda beat in, the buttercream was perfect with the orange dreamsicle cupcakes I tried this afternoon. Which also was a first time trying, fun new flavor!

I had done the Cake Bible's Neoclassic buttercream, but hadn't done with the lovely meringue yet. Thanks to all the great advice here on CC, you guys are awesome!!!!!

oh that sounds yummy! would you mind sharing the recipe?

tia

The Cake

1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder*
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted orange sherbet
1/2 cup orange soda

Beat the butter until creamy and fluffy. Add the sugar and cream for a good 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Do not cheat on time! Dump in the oranges, mix them in. The beaters will chop them for you and the longer you mix, the tinier the pieces will be. I wanted them tiny.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix your melted sherbet and the orange soda. Add both mixtures alternately into to egg/sugar stuff while beating. Don't over beat this part.

Scoop into cupcake liners, about 2/3's full. Don't be tempted to squeeze the last bit into a cup or two, they'll overflow and you'll feel silly. Stick it in a baggy in the fridge and bake it later! This recipe makes just over 24 beautiful cupcakes.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool completely, and if you want you can cover them and let them sit for a few hours. That sometimes helps the texture of a cake or cupcake. Sort of like when you let a roast sit before carving.



The frosting

This is fun. This frosting is a good old-fashioned Italian Meringue Buttercream. Not the powdered sugar stuff that has a tendency towards being gritty. I assure you, this is one you want to try! And don't panic, it will come together.

1 cup corn syrup
1 cup egg whites (about 8 large eggs)
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
1 lb butter, room temperature

Place corn syrup in a pan, heavy bottomed is prefferable, but if not then just keep a close eye on it. Turn it onto about medium.

Dump the egg whites into your mixing bowl. Beat on medium until frothy. Add the cream of tartar. Increase the speed to high and add the sugar. Beat on high until stiff peaks form. In my kitchenaid it only took a minute or two.

By this time your corn syrup may or not have bubbles, turn it up higher and let it come to a boil. Once it's got good, steady and decent sized bubbles, let it boil for about 1 minute. If your pan doesn't have a pouring spout, transfer the syrup to a glass measuring cup.

With the mixer running, pour the syrup in a thin, steady stream into the meringue. Try not to get it on the beaters or you'll have little whispies flying around. Keep beating until the mixture has cooled, body temperature is fine.

Once it's cooled, add your butter, 1 tbsp at a time. It may lose volume, that's fine. It may even curdle. That's fine too. Just keep beating and it will magically turn into frosting, right when you aren't looking! I promise. It may take a few minutes.

At this point, you can use it as is, which is delicious. Or what I did: Scrape off about 1/4 cup of frozen sherbet, add it a little at a time. Then I added about 2 tbsp of orange soda and beat that in. I didn't want really strong flavor, just a hint of orange cream.

After frosting the cupcakes, I topped them with a piece of mandarin orange. Nice little POW to the final mix of flavor!

**To quickly bring eggs and even butter to room temperature, place in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes. Not too warm though, or you'll melt the butter.

Even my son, who hated the neoclassic buttercream and told me I could never do "that butter frosting!" again, said it was really good. And when I told him it was "a butter frosting" his jaw dropped. Too cute really.

Apparently, CC took my whole blog post and put it on here. Huh...

Why corn syrup? why not sugar?

And what is the name of your blog? I see no reference for it here. Sorry I can't help with your question.

Corn syrup boils at exactly 238 degrees F, according to "The Cake Bible". She uses it in her Neoclassic buttercream. When you boil the regular sugar syrup, you have to keep the thermometer in it and boil it to 248. I was able to find this recipe that basically replaced the sugar and water with corn syrup. They have it come to a boil, so the 238, and boil it about a minute, raising it the last 10 degrees. It just seemed easier. You also don't have to worry about sugar crystals on the side of the pan and having to wash them down or not get them into your frosting.

I had originally posted the URL to the blog post I had written for my friends who wanted the recipe, and Cake Central somehow just took all the text and put it in instead. The blog is http:// gourmet - eats. blogspot. com, which was the title before I decided to focus more on just yummy foods. Being a mommy doesn't leave much time for gourmet... I just didn't feel like changing my blog address. The name now is "Fabulous Foods".

Do you have to refrigerate the cupcakes, or can they be left at room temperature? If they can be left out, how long?

Linda, I've seen a small amount of corn syrup added by top chefs. I think it has to do with keeping the crystalization down, but I've never had that happen. I would have to look it up for reference.

Yeah, I've seen a small amount add also. But what I couldn't understand was all corn syrup. That was what threw me off. I prefer to use sugar over corn syrup.

Which reminded me to tell m-Wilford that about 1 t of corn syrup added to a sugar cooking recipe will help to prevent the crystalization along the sides of the pan also. Thanks for reminding me.

Linda, I'm not at home (Mom in hospital), but I think it was Alton Brown and Gesine Bullock-Prado.... by the way, get that book, Sugarbaby. Excellent book with new approaches.

I would like to know if I could use glucose instead of the corn syrup, and if so, would it be the same amount? I've never gotten up the nerve to try Italian Merengue Buttercream But I guess at some point I will eventually

**BUMP Do you have to refrigerate the cupcakes, or can they be left at room temperature? If they can be left out, how long?

Sounds really good. Just may have to try this one. Thanks for posting!!