A Tasty Halloween | Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
Halloween is always a fun time of year. So why limit that fun to sweets and dressing up? These cupcakes would be perfect to bring to a Halloween party or even to give the kids before they go out Trick-or-Treating!
Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Serves: 12
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes...
*150g self raising flour
*50g cocoa powder
*175g caster sugar
*175g margarine
*3 large eggs
*1 tsp. orange extract/orange zest
*1 tsp. semi-skimmed milk
For the Buttercream
*250g unsalted butter
*250g icing sugar
*50g cocoa powder
*1/2 tsp. orange extract
*A dash of milk
Method
For the Cupcakes...
1) Pre-heat the oven to 160C/140F/Gas Mark 3 and line the cupcake tins with cases.
2) Cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
3) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between.
4) Add the flour and fold in until well combined.
5) At this point, add the cocoa powder and the orange extract/zest.
6) Mix well until properly combined and divide across the twelve cases.
7) Put the cakes in the oven for 20-25 minutes. TOP TIP: To test the cupcakes are ready, skewer them and if the rod comes out clean they're done. If you don't have a skewer, press lightly on the tops of each one, if they bounce back, they're done, if not, put back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
8) Once they're cooked, take them out and leave to cool slightly in the tins. One they're cool enough to touch, take them out of the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely before adding any icing to them.
For the Buttercream...
1) Beat the butter, ensure it's at room temperature first, then sieve in the icing sugar.
2) Taste to see if it's sweet enough and doesn't just taste like sugary butter.
3) Sieve in the cocoa powder, a small amount at a time, beat in and keep tasting until you're happy with the richness of chocolate.
4) Once you're happy, add the orange extract and taste again. If it's not enough, add some more.
TOP TIP: When it comes to icing, ensure you add small bits at a time to ensure you don't ruin it with too much chocolate/orange etc. It's always good to do it a little bit at a time to minimise mistakes and having to recreate the whole thing.
Decorating your cupcakes...
1) I used a piping bag, if you want to use a piping bag, then ensure your icing is nice and thick, and able to hold it's shape. Don't add too much liquid, instead, thicken with a small amount of icing sugar.
2) I used a nozzle which had two spouts, allowing me to have one side black and the other side orange.
3) If you want to have a duo colour, then halve the ingredients needed for the icing and colour one half black and the other orange, then scoop the black icing down one side of the bag and orange down the other, turn the top of the bag so the icing doesn't ooze out and squeeze gently.
4) If you've never done any piped icing before, practice on some parchment paper before having a go on your freshly baked cupcakes.
5) If you don't have a piping bag, or if you feel you're no good at it, pick one colour icing (I'd go with orange), scoop on with a teaspoon, and with the back of a tablespoon, smooth out and around the cupcake to neaten the edges up.
6) Use any decorations you want to help jazz p your cupcakes
FYI: The cupcake cases I have here are from Sainsbury's!
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I hope you enjoyed this tasty post! Let me know if you gave it a go yourself! See you next time :)
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