Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

A couple of weeks ago I decided to experiment with some new buttercream flavours. I thought it would be fun to create some along a Christmas theme and as it turned out I found not one, not two, but five new flavours. So this week is now officially Festive Buttercream Week 🙂 A week of different flavours, perfect for adding a festive twist to your cakes.

My first new flavour is chocolate orange. The reason these are first is that my parents were visiting last week when I was testing the recipe and my mum enjoyed it so much she’s been nagging me to share it so she can make some more.

It’s no secret that I LOVE the Chocolate & Orange combination – it’s my addiction – and I have had many people ask for a Cupcake version of my Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake so I thought I would oblige (and I seriously craved some anyway!)

After some research I found that a lot of Chocolate Orange Cupcakes consist of Chocolate Orange Buttercream – and this sounds amazing, however, I wanted to try something a little different compared to most of what I had seen! I did, however, compensate for the lesser amount of Chocolate Orange by adding chunks of the chocolate to the sponge – and this was an amazing idea. I LOVE it. They suit the taste of the sponge perfectly, and make it a little different! 🙂

Seeing as chocolate orange is such an amazing flavour, I thought that I’d go all out and make the sponge chocolate orange flavour too, and I topped each one with a slice of chocolate orange just to finish them off.

These cupcakes are super easy to bake, just like any other cupcake, but they definitely have the WOW factor! These went down an absolute treat with my trusted Taste Testers and they wanted more. Seriously, I’m not joking! If you are not a fan of the actual Terry’s Chocolate Orange, or you cant get access too it, you can use normal Milk/Dark Chocolate and add in Orange Zest to be a delicious substitute!

I personally utterly adore these cupcakes. They’re genuinely one of my most favourite cupcake recipes I have, and they’re suitable for all year round. These bad boys get more popular around Christmas time, but I am a Terry’s girl for life, not just for Christmas. Get it? Too far? Clearly not. I literally LOVE these! They’re definitely adaptable to what you prefer yourselves, but I love them just the way they are.

Ingredients

CUPCAKES:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2/3 cup hot water or hot coffee

FROSTING:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2-sticks)
• 7 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons orange extract
• Orange food coloring

Directions

CUPCAKES:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Add the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and milk to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Pour in the hot water and mix on medium speed with the hand mixer for about 1 to 2 minutes.  Batter will be very liquidy.
5. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake in the oven for 15 to 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middles comes out clean.
6. Remove cupcakes from oven, let cool for about 5 minutes. Then place cupcakes on a cooling rack to cool completely.

FROSTING:

1. Cut butter into cubes and put into a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
2. Add 4 cups of the sifted confectioners sugar, the milk, vanilla and orange extracts. Mix on low for 10 seconds so the sugar doesn’t fly everywhere, then turn mixer up to medium speed for 5 minutes.
3. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl in case any butter stuck to bottom or sides of bowl and didn’t get mixed in. Then add the rest of the confectioners sugar and mix again on low speed for 10 seconds. Add 2 drops of orange food coloring, then up the speed to high for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Prepare your piping bag with a large round tip, fill piping bag with frosting, then pipe large dollops onto each cupcake.
5. Top each cupcake with a chocolate orange slice and/or some orange peel, then serve!

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