Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

So I had friends up for drinks for my birthday last week and I decided to make a selection of cupcakes for everyone to nibble on instead of making a cake, and guess what?... 
they were a hit :)

I made Chocolate Orange Cupcakes along with my favourite Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream & Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting... I'll share the other two cupcake recipes at the end of the post, but for now lets focus on the Chocolate Orange ones...

Ingredients

FOR THE CUPCAKES

115g Butter

115g Caster Sugar

115g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

2 Eggs

Zest of 1 Orange

1/2 tsp Orange Essence

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

100g Dark Chocolate (roughly chopped into chunks)

FOR THE ORANGE BUTTERCREAM

100g Butter (softened)

200g Icing Sugar

Half tsp Orange Essence

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4

2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer

3) When creamy, add in the eggs, one at a time and mix again

4) Slowly add in the sieved flour along with the orange zest & continue to mix until light and fluffy

5) Take half the mixture and put it into a second bowl

6) Add the orange essence to the first bowl, mix and leave to sit

7) To the second bowl, add the cocoa powder and chocolate chunks, mix and leave to sit

8) Line a cupcake tray with bun cases

9) Spoon one spoonful of the dark mixture into each bun case

10) Using a second spoon, put a spoonful of the white mixture on top of the dark in each case

11) Place the tray in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown

1) Cream the butter and icing suger togther in a mixer until light and creamy

2) Add the orange essence and mix again

3) Using 2 spoons, or a piping bag ice each of the cooled cupcakes & sprinkle flakes of chocolate on top or place an orange segment on top for decoration

For the other Cupcake Recipes click on the links below.....

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream