Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
photo by Redsie
- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Yields:
-
12 cupcakes
ingredients
-
For the Cupcakes
- 3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1⁄4 cup hot water
- 1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1 orange
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
- 1⁄2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
-
For the Frosting
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.
- In a small bowl, stir the cocoa powder into the hot water until it dissolves; set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl.
- Using the finest rasps of a hand held grater, grate the zest from the orange into the bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until well combined.
- Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla, then the dissolved cocoa.
- Whisk in the melted butter, then the dry ingredients.
- Using a tablespoon, divide the batter among the muffin cups filling each about half full.
- Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out clean 15-20 minutes.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Remove the cupcakes from the pan.
- To make the frosting, melt the chocolate in a double-boiler or in the microwave and let cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, using a stand mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar with the paddle on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Beat in the melted chocolate until combined.
- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip with the frosting and pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake.
- Refrigerate the cupcakes until 30 minutes before serving to set the frosting.
Reviews
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These were delicious. I didn't use the frosting though. I made the frosting from Recipe #42665 Orange Chocolate Marble Cake with Orange Buttercream Frosting. I also changed this just a tad. I didn't think there would enough orange flavor with just the zest so in place of the hot water I used orange juice. I didn't change the amount just replaced it.
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Tweaks
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I chose these, to be honest, not to make as cupcakes, but as a sort of muffin-alternative for breakfast. By that I mean I didn't frost them, reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and ate them for breakfast rather than dessert. They were still delicious, but I can't imagine how great they would be frosted. Extremely moist and tender, these little guys are just chocolatey enough to still taste orangey and just orangey enough to still taste chocolatey. I did, I admit, use hot orange juice instead of hot water to dissolve the cocoa in, because I had a skinned orange and figured it would up the orange taste a bit. These are perfect, though, Evelyn... some of the nicest textured cake that has ever crossed my plate! Oh- I made two more changes to help justify these as breakfast food. I substitued the AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour (I used 1 cup because whole wheat flour is more absorbant, so using equal amounts would make the baked good dry). I also used half butter half canola oil. So they're healthy, right!? Anyhow, thanks for posting- I would highly recommend these if you are looking for an excellent cupcake!!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
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OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages!
I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure.
So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call.
What did I do wrong?
Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths.
I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time.
That's all for now.