Orange Vanilla Cupcakes With Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

The process: before yoga, have healthy dinner at Japanese place near the studio. After finishing meal, realise wallet is at home. Apologise profusely to shy Japanese waitress, throw anything of meaning still in bag at her (driver's license, Amex) and hotfoot it home to get cash. Miss yoga. Almost run out of petrol. Drive back home totally un-zen and decide to bake cupcakes.

Orange Vanilla Cupcakes
1.5 cups plain flour
3/4 Ts baking powder
Pinch of salt
125 g butter, softened
1 ts vanilla extract
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon orange juice or pure orange essence
1/2 Ts orange zest
3/4 cup milk

Orange Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
150g cream cheese, softened *not extra light Philly, as I made the mistake of doing*
60g butter
1 ts orange juice or pure orange essence
1 ts vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar
Pods of 1 vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 170C. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Cream the butter until pale, add the sugar and beat until incorporated and fluffy. Add eggs and continue mixing. Add vanilla extract, orange zest and juice/essence. Add milk and flour mixture in alternate amounts and beat on low speed until combined. Spoon into cupcake liners until 2/3 full. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter. Add the remaining ingredients and beat to combine. A drop of orange food colouring would look lovely. Refrigerate while the cupcakes cool, then pipe.