blue moon cupcakes. for realz.

I remember when I first discovered that there was more to beer than Natty Light and the occasional treat of a Miller Light (oh, college!). The beer that specifically changed it for me was Blue Moon, and to this day there is nothing I love more than squeezing that orange slice in there and taking that first sip of orange-y goodness. I have come to love many other beers (Abita Strawberry comes to mind), and branched out into the world of smaller breweries and craft beers, but I will always remain loyal to my trusty Blue Moon for showing me the light. And NO, Shocktop does not taste the same. So don’t ask.




Alright, la-de-da, I was all up in Pinterest one day when I saw this recipe in the Food + Bev section – BLUE. MOON. CUPCAKES. My rational mind told me it was probably a gimmicky way to rename some sort of orange flavoured cupcake, but whatever, I was still intrigued, and pinned the recipe. Fast forward to this past Friday. I was sitting at lunch, scrolling through my Pinterest boards, looking for an appie to bring to a friend’s 30^th birthday bash, boring the fiancé to death with my musings, when there it was. The cupcakes. I had forgotten all about them. Boom. Making those. Done. Off we went to Whole Foods.

What can I say, they were a hit. I had two myself. Some drunk guy came up to me with crumbs falling from his mouth and prettyyyyy much professed his love for me. No big deal. I don’t think the beer really impacts the taste, but the texture was definitely different. They were not as dense as normal cake, and just, I dunno, fluffier. Definitely worth trying. Plus, you only use about ½ a bottle for one batch, so you have an excuse to drink while they’re cooking. Win.

So, everyone knows by now that I hate measuring shit, but when it comes to baking, I’ve learned the hard way – MEASURE SHIT. And follow the directions. It’s usually not pretty if you don’t.

And on we go!

For 12 cupcakes, you need:
- A stick of unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 2/3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking POWDER
- 1/8 tsp of salt (aka a freakin pinch or whatever)
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 orange, zested
- 2/3 cup Blue Moon
- 2 tbsp whole milk




Preheat the oven to 375.

Put the stick of butter in the stand mixer, and cream it for about a minute. Add in the sugar, and mix for another 3-4 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each one.




Add vanilla and orange zest and mix until just combined. (PS, can I add here that a microplane is the best $12 investment I’ve ever made, and if you don’t have one, let this recipe be a reason for you to go out and purchase one post haste. Citrus zest is amazing. I love it. The end.)




Add salt and baking POWDER.

In a bowl (orrrr your measuring cup, like me), mix together the beer and milk. Add this mixture and the flour to the butter-sugar-egg mixture slowly. I personally used my 1/3 cup measuring thingy and just added the flour 1/3 cup at a time. That’s just me.

Pour the batter into your cupcake pan (if you don’t have liners, like I didn’t, use the wrapper from the stick of butter to grease the cups), and pop it in the over for 15-18 mins. When tops are golden brown and a toothpick/butter knife/whatever comes out clean when inserted, they’re done. Cool completely before frosting.




Ahhh yes, frosting. The best fucking part. Funny story, when I first started dating my fiancé, he was gross and dipped (eww sick right?), and he told me that he would give up dipping if I gave up eating spoonfuls of funfetti frosting straight from the container. I did (and he did), but I still love frosting. Anyway…

For the orange cream cheese frosting, you will need:
- Another stick of butter, softened
- 4 oz of cream cheese (1/2 of one of those small containers)
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh orange juice (I just squeezed all the juice from the orange I zested, which was probs more than 2 tbsp, but whatever)

Alright, clean out the bowl of your stand mixer (because I don’t recommend doing this by hand), and cream together the cream cheese and butter. Once combined, add the powdered sugar a ½ cup at a time. Scrape sides of the bowl each time you add it. Squeeze in your orange, and mix again until all the juice has been combined.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, ice those bad boys. If you remember, save a little orange zest for garnish. Enjoy!




(Don’t worry if you end up with extra icing. You will. Embrace it. Own it. Save it for the next morning and then creepily stick your finger in the bowl and eat it with your morning coffee).

Oh and my reward for bringing these and some bloomin onion bread to the party? Mudbugs and strawberry abita. Fuck yeah Texas.