• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Charlotte's Lively Kitchen logo

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • 🎄CHRISTMAS
    • Baking & Desserts
      • Biscuits & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Cheesecakes
      • Chocolates
      • Cupcakes
      • Icing
      • Jams, Curds & Spreads
      • Meringues
      • Savoury Baking
      • Scones
      • Sweet Sauces
      • Vegan Baking
    • Lunch & Dinner
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Conversions
    • Grams to Cups Conversions
    • Oven Temperature Conversions
    • All Baking Tools
  • The Food Calendar
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Home » Baking & Desserts » Cupcakes » Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Orange Buttercream

21 November 2017

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Orange Buttercream

25.8Kshares

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

Skip to the recipe

Chocolate orange cupcakes topped with chocolate orange buttercream, a slice of Chocolate Orange and orange sprinkles. There's a box of Chocolate Orange in the background.

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.

Chocolate orange cupcakes on a cooling rack with a box of chocolate orange at the side.

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.

Chocolate orange cupcakes topped with chocolate orange buttercream, a slice of Chocolate Orange and orange sprinkles on a cooling rack.

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.

Chocolate Orange Cake
chocolate orange cupcakes buttercream-3

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!
4.73 from 18 votes
Print Rate
Active Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 12 cupcakes

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.

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.


Chocolate orane cupcakes topped with buttercream, chocolate orange and orange sprinkles with a Chocolate Orange in the background.

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
  • Lupin-Free
Chocolate orange sponge topped with smooth chocolate orange buttercream and topped with a slice of Chocolate Orange - Chocolate Orange Heaven!

I’m sharing this recipe with the following challenges… #WeShouldCocoa with Tin & Thyme and #BakingCrumbs with Only Crumbs Remain

25.8Kshares

Filed Under: Christmas, Cupcakes Tagged With: Celery-Free, Crustacean-Free, Fish-Free, Lupin-Free, Mollusc-Free, Mustard-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Sesame-Free, Sulphite-Free, Vegetarian

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lj says

    15 April 2019 at 11:36 pm

    5 stars
    These are the tastiest cupcakes I’ve ever made!!
    Easy recipe to follow & timings were accurate. I need to work on my presentation but will definitely be making the again.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      18 April 2019 at 12:16 pm

      It doesn’t really matter what they look like as long as they taste good! 🙂

    • Julie says

      21 June 2019 at 1:04 pm

      Hello Charlotte
      I won’t to make a large cake, do I just split the mixture between 2 tins like you do for the birthday cake,

    • Charlotte Oates says

      24 June 2019 at 2:04 pm

      Yes. This mixture will make enough for a 18cm round cake. You’ll need to increase the cooking time to 30-35 minutes.

  2. angela says

    2 April 2019 at 10:27 am

    5 stars
    Fab recipe! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  3. Faye says

    29 March 2019 at 11:48 pm

    Wow these cupcakes are the best cupcakes I’ve ever made and tasted. The sponge was so light and the buttercream was delicious. I’m doing a bake off for stand up to cancer so these will definitely go down well. I’ll definitely be making these again . Thank you so much for an amazing recipe x

    Reply
  4. THE UNKNOWN says

    22 March 2019 at 12:05 pm

    LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE THIS RECIPE!!! BORED IN THE COOKING ROOM

    Reply
  5. Renee says

    2 March 2019 at 5:43 am

    1 star
    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.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      2 March 2019 at 1:50 pm

      It sounds like the margarine hasn’t been mixed in completely as this will cause the oiliness you said you experienced.

  6. Sue says

    25 January 2019 at 9:22 am

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply
  7. Roz Pollard says

    19 January 2019 at 5:37 pm

    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!

    Reply
  8. TOBIAS says

    26 December 2018 at 6:58 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      28 December 2018 at 4:05 pm

      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.

  9. sarah says

    15 December 2018 at 9:56 am

    If i wanted to use fresh oranges, how much juice or zest would i replace the extract with. thanks

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      16 December 2018 at 2:27 pm

      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.

  10. Sharon says

    2 December 2018 at 4:08 pm

    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

    Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Charlotte Oates about me

Hi, I'm Charlotte Oates. Welcome to my lively kitchen where I share delicious, simple baking recipes, baking tools and calculators, and lots of tips and tricks.

Find out more

LATEST RECIPE

Carrot cake topped with cream cheese buttercream and decorated with sugar carrots.

Easy Carrot Cake

FEATURED RECIPES

White-Chocolate-Buttercream-2

White Chocolate Buttercream

A close up of a coffee cupcake topped with a swirl of coffee buttercream on a cooling rack with more cupcakes behind.

Coffee Buttercream

caramel-cupcakes-3

Caramel Buttercream

A slice of chocolate birthday cake filled with chocolate buttercream and covered in white fondant icing with multi-coloured fondant dots.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Nutella-Buttercream-8

Nutella Buttercream

Buttercream-cakes-11

Easy Vanilla Buttercream

Yorkshire Puddings

American Pancakes (Quick, Easy and Really Delicious)

Sponge birthday cake recipe

Birthday Cake (All-In-One Vanilla Sponge)

Peppercorn-Sauce-11

Peppercorn Sauce

Copyright © 2019 Charlotte's Lively Kitchen