Chocolate orange sponge topped with smooth chocolate orange buttercream and topped with a slice of Chocolate Orange – Chocolate Orange Heaven!
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.
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Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Orange Buttercream
INGREDIENTS
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
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free (Chocolate Orange may contain nuts)
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Fish-Free
- Crustacean-Free
- Mollusc-Free
- Celery-Free
- Mustard-Free
- Lupin-Free
I’m sharing this recipe with the following challenges… #WeShouldCocoa with Tin & Thyme and #BakingCrumbs with Only Crumbs Remain
Renee says
I don’t know what I did wrong but i followed the recipe to a T and they completely failed and sunk once I took them out of the oven 🙁 also the cupcake cases are really oily.
Charlotte Oates says
It sounds like the margarine hasn’t been mixed in completely as this will cause the oiliness you said you experienced.
Sue says
We made these for my daughters work colleagues and we definitely weren’t disappointed. So easy to make and tasted delicious. So moist and felt very professional. These will be a regular bake, as now our favourites! 10/10!
Roz Pollard says
I have made these a couple of times now and they are absolutely amazing. Than you for sharing your recipe with us.
If you have any other amazing cake recipes you have discovered please share again!
TOBIAS says
Looks great…
The chocolate oranges you mentioned, did you not really use them? You mentioned to use orange oil extract instead?
Are the cupcakes not meant to look a bit orangey? or really chocolatey…..
I only ever use gluten free flour but not tried on cupcakes, do you think it will work?
Charlotte Oates says
I use orange oil/extract instead of using actual chocolate orange in the cupcakes as I find it works better and tastes just the same (as chocolate orange is simply milk chocolate with added orange oil). The slices of chocolate orange are used as a garnish. They’re supposed to look chocolatey. If you wanted the icing to be orange coloured then you could use my white chocolate buttercream recipe instead and add 1/2 tsp of orange extract and some orange gel colouring.
I’ve not tried them with GF flour but they should work just fine with a GF self-raising flour.
sarah says
If i wanted to use fresh oranges, how much juice or zest would i replace the extract with. thanks
Charlotte Oates says
I wouldn’t recommend using fresh oranges to make these. I tried it when I was developing the recipe and found that the flavour wasn’t as good as using extract.
Sharon says
Made these today for the first time and they were amazing ! The sponge is so moist ! The icing turned out really well too….I am not the best when it comes to icing but this turned out perfectly