Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Orange Buttercream

Chocolate orange sponge topped with smooth chocolate orange buttercream and topped with a slice of Chocolate Orange – Chocolate Orange Heaven!

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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.

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.

Rather than melting down actual Chocolate Oranges into my cupcakes and buttercream, I decided to add the orangey flavour using orange extract. The main reasons I did this is because Chocolate Oranges don’t like heat. The chocolate goes grainy and unusable far more easily than the chocolate you’d find in the baking aisle. This isn’t great to eat, and let’s face it, no one wants to waste Chocolate Orange. It would spoil the whole baking experience.

CAN THESE CUPCAKES BE MADE INTO A FULL-SIZED CAKE?

Absolutely!

After many requests, I’ve converted this cupcake recipe to make a full-sized Chocolate Orange Cake.

Not only can this cake be baked as a round layer cake; there’s also a handy calculator so you can work out the recipe for any size of round, square or rectangular cake.

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Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Orange Buttercream

Chocolate orange sponge topped with smooth chocolate orange buttercream and topped with a slice of Chocolate Orange – Chocolate Orange Heaven!

4.78 from 31 votes

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Active Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 12 cupcakes

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INGREDIENTS

Metric – US Cups/Ounces

Cupcakes

• 150 g self-raising flour
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 175 g caster sugar
• 175 g soft margarine - or softened butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 75 g milk chocolate - choose something from the baking aisle in the supermarket as it will cope well with the heat in the oven without going grainy
• ½ tbsp milk
• 12 cupcake cases

Buttercream

• 250 g unsalted butter - soft at room temperature
• 250 g icing sugar
• 150 g milk chocolate - choose a chocolate from the baking aisle as this won’t go grainy when it’s melted
• 40 g cocoa powder
• ½ tsp orange extract
• A little milk

To finish

• 12 pieces of Chocolate Orange
• Orange sprinkles

INSTRUCTIONS

For the cupcakes

• Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
• Put your cupcake cases into a muffin tin.
• Grate the milk chocolate (75g).
• Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl (150g self-raising flour, 30g cocoa powder, 175g caster sugar, 3 large eggs, 175g soft margarine, 1 tsp orange extract, ½ tbsp milk and the grated chocolate) mix on a low speed until fully combined.
• Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cupcake cases (I use a cupcake scoop to help split it evenly).
• Put the tin into the oven and cook the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes. After 20 minutes put a skewer in the middle and check if it comes out clean. If it does they’re done, if not pop them back in for a couple more minutes and check again.
• Once cooked, remove the cupcakes from the oven and leave them to cool in the tins for a few minutes.
• Remove the cupcakes from their tin and pop them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the buttercream

• Break the chocolate (150g) into pieces and melt it (either using short bursts in the microwave – stirring regularly, over the lowest possible heat in a saucepan – stirring constantly, or in a bain marie – stirring constantly).
• Once melted remove from the heat and pour into another bowl (this will help it to cool as it needs to be back to room temperature before mixing with the buttercream).
• Beat the butter (250g) until soft then add the orange extract (½ tsp), cocoa powder (40g) and icing sugar (250g) and beat until fully combined (it’s easier to avoid the cocoa powder and sugar flying everywhere if you add it a spoonful at a time).
• Once the chocolate has cooled to room temperature (DO NOT add the chocolate when it’s still warm as it’ll melt the butter and your buttercream will end up too runny) pour it into the buttercream and beat until fully combined. You should find that the buttercream is soft and spreadable. If it is a little stiff then add milk a tsp at a time until it is the right consistency.

Build your cupcakes

• Pipe your buttercream onto the cupcakes. Top each one with a slice of chocolate orange and some orange sprinkles.

NOTES

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a comment and rating at the bottom of the page to let others know what you thought.

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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 601kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 161mg | Potassium: 205mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 48g | Vitamin A: 1100IU | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 1.9mg

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.

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