Monday 14 March 2011

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Last week was my fab friend Alex's birthday week (Yes she gets a whole week for her birthday) and she had requested I make her some cupcakes to take into her work. It's always struck me as an odd tradition people bringing cake in on their birthday I mean surely they should be supplied with cake, not be the suppliers.

Any way either way there is cake involved so I'm happy. Alex had asked for 6 pretty pink or blue vanilla cupcakes and 6 chocolate orange cupcakes (however she gave into temptation and only 5 of theses made it to work)

Before I started making them I went shopping for cupcake cases as I didn't want to use plain white and when I got home I realised that recently I have been buying waaaay to many cupcake cases:



Any way onto the cakes, I wanted to make Alex's vanilla cakes super cute so I topped them of with a cherry, sprinkles and a sherbet strawberry straw! Here they are:



The colour doesn't come out to well in the pic but they were a really bubblegum pink colour.
And here are the chocolate orange cakes:




And here's how they're made

makes 12

Chocolate orange cupcakes:

100g Plain Flour
20g Cocoa powder
140g Caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Zest of 1 orange
40g Butter
100ml milk
1 Egg
Juice of 1 orange
2 tsp Orange extract

Preheat the oven to 170 degC. Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt, orange zest and butter in a mixing bowl and mix together or rub between your fingertips until you get a sandy consistency.

Add the Orange juice and stir.

Whisk the milk and egg together and add half of this to the mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated. Add the remaining milk mix. Stir in the orange extract then taste and add a little more juice or extract if needed.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave to cool on a wire rack whilst you make the frosting.


Chocolate Orange frosting.

300g Icing sugar
100g Unsalted butter
40g Cocoa powder
40ml milk
1 tsp Orange extract

Combine all the ingredients with an electric whisk until smooth, then pipe or spoon over cooled cakes.
Top with a slice of chocolate orange or some grated orange zest.

And that's it. hope you all had a wonderful week.

Cupcake Kris xx

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32 comments:

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

Chocolate and orange compliment each other so nicely. These look yummy!!!

Anonymous said...

Love the recipe and the cupcake papers! So cute!

Littlewillow said...

Oh wow they look amazing! Love chocolate orange, think I'll be making these :) How do you get the frosting looking so perfect like that? That's definitely one of my downfalls :(

Unknown said...

Corrr these look seriously scrummy! Love chocolate orange, and I agree with Littlewillow the frosting looks very professional!x

Manu said...

OMG chocolate & orange a perfect match

Catalina said...

The ones with cherry are super cute and the chocolate orange cupcakes look so elegant! Next time I'll try adding orange juice to my cupcakes, too - it sounds so great and refreshing :D I can't believe you have so many different beautiful cupcake cases! You could start your own collection :D

Chele said...

Hehe, I seem to be buying way too many cupcake cases at the moment too!! So pleased I am not the only one. Perfect looking cupcakes, I am sure your friends work mates were delighted.

cupcakegirl said...

Hi
willow thank you I recently got a new piping bag and even though it puts way to much icing for my taste on, it looks good.

Erika Beth, the Messy Chef said...

Lovely cupcakes! The orange flavor sounds lovely. (At my office, we bring cake in for other people's birthday.) :)

SL said...

They look just lovely and delish! :P

SL
ibakecupcakes.com

Choclette said...

Very impressed with your swirly topping - your cakes look lovely.

Littlewillow said...

Hi Kris

I've given these a go myself this afternoon - not done the all important taste test yet though - might leave that to my housemates lol :) I'm still having issues with the piping though, could you tell me which nozzle you used? I'm thinking that I'm either not using the right nozzle or there's something wrong with mine hehe - I know I know, probably shouldn't blame the tools!
Thanks

Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes said...

They look delicious! I wish I could have one of them with a cup of tea! Thanks for another great recipe!

grace said...

things to love:
-positively luscious chocolate frosting.
-adorable strawberry straws.
-cupcakes. period.

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

Wow! Gorgeous cupcakes! I'm a bit piping impaired so marvel at your lovely toppings :)

Anonymous said...

Just made the choc orange ones..firstly the method misses out when to add the sugar and a few other bits!
They didn't come out right in the taste test! :- ( smells, appears and breaks up good but the taste is a slight stodgy texture and not tasty enough.
Think this recipe might require abit of practice...

cupcakegirl said...

Have ammended to add the sugar sorry didn't realise I'd left it out. As for taste, I'm sorry but everytime I've made these they are positivley yummy and by far the most popular with my friends and customers, they are always very light and soft with a deep chocolate orange flavour. so I probably wont be adapting the recipe

HerbyCarny said...

Hi!

Visited your website for the first time last week through searching for a Chocolate Orange Cupcake recipe for my Boss's birthday (and general weekend treats).

The cakes went down really well, however as I use self-raising flour I decided not to add the baking powder. Big mistake, they rose at first but then sunk when they'd cooled down.

I'll be following the recipe exactely next time!

Anonymous said...

best choc-orange cupcakes I have ever made! Amazing that they don't use any real chocolate and still taste so good.

cupcakegirl said...

Hi AC thanks for popping by! and def yes Iurgeyou to try them again with baking powder and plain flour.

I make a few mistakes sometimes it just makes the cakes that turn out great even better

Anonymous said...

I tried these for a work colleague's birthday and they went down so well! They were so easy and quick. Thanks heaps! Will definately use again!

Anonymous said...

Have just made these for the first time, they are absolutely gorgeous, the kids love them. Will be making lots of these from now on, thanks

Deco Diva said...

Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I love the Terry's choc orange flourish, but I think I'm going to use one of those fruity soft sweet orange decorations for mine - some extra colour would look cool.

Too many cupcake recipes I see have a really stupid amount of butter, so I'm very glad to see yours has a sensible ratio - it means you can eat more cupcakes without feeling totally stuffed! :)

Anonymous said...

loved the thought of doing a cupcake of chocolate and orange. tasted amazing and looked it too (from your picture) my batch didnt turn out great. i feel that there wasnt enough flour which im going to experiment with. other than that great recipe, easy to follow and despite not being enough flour, tasted great still too!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this amazing recipe! I made some Choc Orange cupcakes a few weeks ago but nothing compares to this recipe. So orange and chocolate and great texture and consistency. Thank you so much!

alybongo said...

Can you use melted chocolate in these? If so how would I incorporate that into the recipe? I have a very big sweet tooth you see!!

cupcakegirl said...

definitley. I'd just probably reduse the milk and cocoa a little and add melted chocolate swirled in at the end

Alil Country Sugar said...

I love those chocolate slam oranges found in the candy isle. I bet these cupcakes taste just like them. Thank you for sharing at Foodie Friends Friday. I am pinning this one.

Lois Christensen said...

They look so beautiful! I hope your friend enjoyed them for her birthday! Thanks again for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!

Unknown said...

These look delicious... and wish that I was your friend :)... Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday
marlys-thisandthat.blogspot.com

MummyAshley said...

Thank you for sharing this recipe,I am told that these are the best cupcakes I make! Every time I make them though, the paper casing always peels away from the cake when peeling... Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?! This only happens to me with this recipe?! :o)

cupcakegirl said...

Hi mummy Ashley, erm I'm not sure, ive had it happen to me on other recipes before or when I haved trialled different cases , but not on this recipe. In other cases when i ice the cake it tends to then keep the cases in place but I'm really not sure why it happens