Honey Sunflower Cupcakes
Recipe by Terri Miller from Love and Confections
Yield 16 cupcakes
Ingredients1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons A Spoonful of Hope Palmetto Honey
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cups milk, room temperature
Honey Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tablespoon A Spoonful of Hope Palmetto Honey
2–3 tbsp milk
Egg yellow gel food coloring
Brown gel food coloring
- Heat oven to 350F. Prepare 2 cupcake tins with grease proof cupcake liners and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat until fully incorporated and light in color - approximately 2-3 minutes. Add in honey and sour cream and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of bowl as needed
- Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add half of the flour mixture into the batter and while on low speed, pour in half the milk. Mix until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Scrape down the sides of bowl to incorporate fully.
- Using disher or cookie scoop, pour batter into prepared tins, approximately 2/3 of the way up the liners. Bake 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool in tins for 10 minutes. Place onto cooling rack to cool completely. Frost when completely cool.
- Place butter and shortening into bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add salt. Mix until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
- Add 2 cups powdered sugar and mix on low to combine. Add in vanilla and honey then mix to combine.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and mix on low to combine. Scrape down sides as necessary. While on low, add in milk and mix to combine. Beat on medium for 5 minutes to whip. Scrape sides of bowl and re-whip if needed.
Honey Sunflower Cupcake Assembly
- Tint 2/3 of the frosting egg yellow. Tint the other 1/3 brown. Using an offset spatula, spread a small layer of yellow frosting on each of the cupcakes. Place remaining frosting in piping bag fitted with leaf tip (Wilton 366 preferably, or Wilton 352). Place brown frosting in piping bag fitted with #18 star tip.
- Pipe 2 rows of petals with the yellow frosting, overlapping and offsetting the petals slightly. Pipe brown frosting in the center.
A Spoon Full of Hope Recipe Contest
The Honey Sunflower Cupcakes recipe was submitted by Terri Miller from Love and Confections for our first A Spoon Full of Hope recipe contest.
The recipe was judged on taste, presentation and ease of implementation. Second Harvest Food Bank's culinary student, Maria, recreated it in our kitchen. Below are some photos of her in the Darden Foundation Community Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida during the fall of 2019.
