Rich Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
25 mins + prepping 
16 cupcakes 
Food Thoughts worked with Great British Chefs, the team of top chefs and food bloggers behind the fastest growing food website in the UK that includes Richard Corrigan, Peter Gordan and Marcus Wareing. Sally Abe who is now a technical food editor at Great British Chefs, after a five-year stint in the kitchen at two Michelin-starred restaurant, The Ledbury, Sally, has created this beautifully rich chocolate orange cupcakes recipe for us. Whilst these may seem like any ordinary chocolate cupcakes, they hold a little surprise. This recipe hides a rich chocolate and orange flavour making it an indulgent treat, injected with orange caramel for an extra gooey finish. These rich chocolate orange cupcakes are topped with chocolate frosting that uses both Food Thoughts Organic Cocoa Powder and Food Thoughts Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips. The candied orange zest takes a little time to prepare, but makes an extra-special finishing touch for a special occasion.
 
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You will need
- FOR THE CANDIED ORANGE ZEST
- 2 large oranges
- 200ml of water
- 300g of caster sugar
- FOR THE ORANGE CARAMEL
- 2 large oranges, juiced
- 100g of caster sugar
- 150g of butter
- FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 150g of caster sugar
- 50g Food Thoughts Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips
- 3 eggs
- 80g of sour cream
- 150g of self-raising flour
- 60g Food Thoughts Organic Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 100ml of milk
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE ORANGE FROSTING
- 75ml of milk
- 2 tsp orange essence
- 50g Food Thoughts Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips
- 150g of butter
- 400g of icing sugar
- 50g Food Thoughts Organic Cocoa Powder
Method
Begin by making the candied orange zest. Peel the oranges with a peeler into long strips. Trim the pith to a thickness of 1mm – any thicker than this and it will be too bitter – and cut the strips into a julienne of 2mm.
Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the orange strips for 3 minutes. Drain and repeat.
Bring 200ml of water to the boil with 200g of the sugar and add the orange strips. Cook until the strips become translucent and the water becomes a thick syrup.
Drain well (the syrup can be reserved and used as a flavouring in cocktails) and toss through the rest of the caster sugar. Leave for around 15 minutes before dusting off any excess sugar and scattering over a tray lined with baking paper.
Leave to air-dry for at least 24 hours, until the peel is crisp. Store in an airtight container until needed.
To make the orange caramel, add the sugar to a pan and caramelise until golden brown. Add the orange juice, reduce to a syrupy consistency then whisk in the butter in 2 additions. Leave to cool and transfer to a squeezy bottle.
Preheat an oven to 175°C / gas mark 4.
To make the cupcakes, beat the sugar and butter together in a mixer.
Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and leave to cool before adding to the butter and sugar.
Whisk the eggs and add gradually to the mixture until fully incorporated before mixing in the sour cream.
Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix in the salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in 2 additions.
Add the milk a little at a time until the mixture drops from a spoon.
Divide the mixture between a muffin tin lined with 16 cupcake cases and bake for about 18 minutes, until a metal skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.
Remove the cupcakes from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, make the frosting. Bring the milk and orange essence to the boil in a pan. Place the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl and once the milk is boiling, pour over the chocolate and mix together until glossy. Leave to cool.
Place the butter in a stand mixer and beat for 1 minute before adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder in 2 batches. Fold through the melted chocolate mixture.
