Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Hello Everybody!

Earlier in the week I took to a bit of baking. Why? Because it’s fun and delicious and I felt like it, that’s why. I was craving a sweet and yummy treat but we had nothing in the house that fit the bill (story of my life). This recipe made 11 big cupcakes (because that’s all the cupcake cases I had) and 7 tiny baby cupcakes.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 150g of plain flour (or self-raising if you like)
• 150g of caster sugar
• 150g of stork
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 large free range eggs
• 1 large orange

For the icing:

• 150g of butter
• 300g of icing sugar
• 1 1/2 bags of Terry’s chocolate orange bites
• 3 tablespoons of double cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

What you have to do

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6
2. Line your cupcake tin with the cupcake cases of your choice (I used plain blue and white with blue polka dots)
3. Combine the stork, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until light and fluffy
4. One by one, add the eggs and mix everything together
5. Add the flour and the zest of your orange and mix until everything is nicely combined together
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool

For the icing:

1. Combine the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract together with an electric whisk  for about 5 minutes or until the mixture turns light and creamy
2. Melt the chocolate orange bites in a bowl over boiling water and combine with the icing
3. Add your double cream and mix everything until it’s a lovely beige colour

Then all you have to do is pipe the icing onto your cupcakes (that’s the bit I’m rubbish at) and decorate them whatever way ya fancy! Ta-dah, you’ve just made a deliciously, chocolate orange treat for you and your fam to enjoy (or just you- who said you have to share?).

I hope you enjoyed this lil’ recipe. I always think baking requires so much more effort than it actually does which is why I hardly ever do it but hopefully that will change now!

Until next time…

C.