Dark Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
Hints of orange in a tender and rich chocolate cake frosted with a smooth chocolate orange buttercream and topped with a candied orange. These chocolate orange cupcakes the perfect way to use up some of those extra oranges. Citrus season will never be the same!
You know what I love about Californians? We complain about living in perpetual drought and beg for rain. But when it finally rains, we act like it’s a hurricane and the world is ending. It’s all anyone can talk about when we get real rain, myself included. It’s kind of hilarious.
So here I sit, listening to the rain and reveling in the coziness and short window of green grass we’ll get. And talking about the rain like it’s some big deal to anyone but a Californian.
And also dreaming of cupcakes! I have a red wine chocolate cake waiting for me at home, which is good because looking back through the photos of these dark chocolate orange cupcakes is enough to make anyone want chocolate cake now.
This is really just a variation of my double chocolate cake, with orange zest steeped in the dairy. The fresh orange gives such a bright, fresh taste that really does remind me of those chocolate orange candies.
You could use orange extract, but I don’t always love the flavor it gives. I’ve heard of people using orange essence or orange blossom water or orange essential oil, but I’ve never tried those and can’t speak to how they’d taste.
Plus, my goal was to share something you can do with all those oranges that are currently ripe!
How to make dark chocolate orange cupcakes
Be sure to plan ahead here to give time for the milk and orange zest to steep/infuse. If making my candied orange slices, make those the day before to save time.
First, infuse your milk. Wash then peel the zest of 2-3 large oranges with a potato peeler. Combine that with milk and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid scalding, until gently simmering. Remove from heat. I actually recommend pouring it into a bowl to steep then using the same pot to infuse the heavy cream you’ll need for the chocolate orange buttercream. Fewer dishes! Yay!
Once that’s steeped for at least an hour, add enough fresh orange juice to equal 1 cup of milk/juice (depends how much milk evaporated in the heating and cooling process). Let that sit 5-10 minutes while you prep the rest of the ingredients as well as your cupcake pans.
Sift then whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer. Don’t skip the sifting! It’s vital to creating the tender crumb. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, with a pour spout of possible, vigorously whisk the milk/juice mixture, eggs, oil, and vanilla until fully emulsified and combined, about 1 minute.
Combine your hot coffee with the chocolate chips. Whisk until the chocolate is melted.
While whisking quickly, very slowly stream the hot coffee into the egg mixture.
With the paddle attachment on, turn your mixer to low (or use a hand mixer). Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Immediately turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat on medium for exactly 2 minutes.
Divide evenly between prepared cupcake pans. Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with just moist crumbs and no wet batter. Let cool in the cupcake pans 5-10 minutes then remove.
While the cupcakes cool, make the buttercream. Frost (I piped mine using a 1M tip to make rosettes) and top with a half (or whole!) candied orange slice.
Enjoy!
Tips and notes for this recipe
Make the buttercream and candied orange slices ahead of time
I’m all about time saving. With a toddler, I usually don’t have a couple hours straight to bake and photograph the whole process. So I break it up. I always make my buttercream ahead of time and save the cake for last so it’s freshest. The candied orange slices also take a few hours (which is faster than most recipes) so make those a day or two ahead (they can be stored in the fridge for up to a month).
Bonus: make the buttercream a week in advance and refrigerate it to intensify the orange flavor!
Follow directions as written
I know I sound like your mom or your teacher (I mean, I am a teacher). But for baking—and especially cake—things like sifting, using room temperature ingredients, or spoon-then-level flour is vital. Sifting helps a cake be fluffy. Room temperature eggs and dairy help the batter come together and prevent it being dense and dry. Flour and cocoa should always be scooped with a spoon into your measuring cup then leveled off with the back of a knife (or the like) to prevent packing it in like brown sugar and resulting in a dry cake. And for my chocolate cakes, it’s important to use hot coffee, especially when using it to melt chocolate.
Don’t over bake
Check these early and often, as cupcakes can go from raw in the middle to over baked in just a couple minutes. As well, climate and individual ovens will affect how cakes and cupcakes bake. If you live at higher elevation or in a humid climate, you may need to adjust the ingredients slightly based on your own experience (or consult the experts of the internet).
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Dark Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
- prep time: 30-35 minutes
- steep time: 1 hour
- bake time: 15-18 minutes
- total time: 1 hour, 50 minutes (includes making buttercream; excludes candied orange slices)
servings: 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
- 2-3 large oranges
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 1 ⅔ cups sugar
- 1 ⅔ cups flour, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup avocado, grapeseed, or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot, good quality coffee
- 3 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate chips or chopped baking chocolate
- 1 batch chocolate orange buttercream
- 1 batch candied orange slices (make the day before--optional but so fun!)
Instructions:
- First, be sure to wash the oranges with fruit and vegetable wash or diluted white vinegar to remove wax, dirt, and pesticides, since you’ll be using the zest. Use a potato peeler to peel the zest of 2-3 oranges, trying to avoid getting a lot of the pith (white part). Juice half of one of the oranges (save remaining fruit or juice for another bake or to get your vitamin C boost!).
- Steep the zest. Place the peeled zest and milk in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, bring the milk to a simmer, stirring constantly to avoid scalding it. Once simmering, remove from heat and set aside. Stir frequently for the first few minutes after removing it so it doesn’t form a skin. Let steep 1 hour. This is a great time to take your butter and eggs out to warm up as well as to heat and steep the heavy cream and soften the butter for the buttercream.
- When milk is nearly ready, line 2 cupcake pans with liners and preheat the oven to 325.
- Once the milk has steeped and has a good orange flavor, strain the milk to remove the zest, pressing on the orange pieces to get all of the flavor out (this helps get a bit of the natural oils as well, which yields a more orange-y flavor). Add enough fresh orange juice to equal 1 cup milk and juice. Stir and set aside for 5-10 minutes while you prep the rest of the ingredients and make your coffee (make sure you’re able to keep it hot or else wait until you need it to make it).
- Sift then whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Don’t skip the sifting! Fit to the mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Vigorously whisk the eggs, oil, vanilla, and milk/juice for about 30 seconds until very well combined.
- Combine very hot coffee and chocolate chips. Stir vigorously until chocolate is melted. While whisking constantly and quickly, very, very slowly pour the coffee into the other wet ingredients.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Once combined, immediately turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat on medium for exactly 2 minutes.
- Fill cupcake liners ⅔ to ¾ full (no more than ¾). Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out with just moist crumbs. Check early, around 12 minutes, as bake time varies by oven and climate.
- Let cool in pan 5-10 minutes then remove to cool completely. While cupcakes cool, make the buttercream. Frost or pipe buttercream on cooled cupcakes. Top with half a candied orange.
Enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days.