♥ CHOC ORANGE CUPCAKES ♥

Two posts in the same month! I know, right??!!

Today I left work at midday because I had a washing machine service person coming to look at my sick washing machine "some time after lunch". Once he left at around 2:30pm (after informing me it was going to cost $220 to replace an electrical coil that makes the washer spin :/), I got inspired to bake.

This morning when I got to work there was a package waiting for me, and low and behold, it was the coloured silicon cupcake cases I won from MonnieCakes!, simply for commenting on one of Monnie's posts :)

So anyway, I got the idea to make some chocolate-orange flavoured cupcakes, and decided to be creative and make up my own recipe. I pretty much just used a standard cupcake recipe & added some personal tweaks.

Here's the recipe:

CUPCAKE BATTER (18 small cupcakes):

165g softened butter (I put it in the microwave for 15 seconds)
3/4 cup of caster sugar
3 lightly beaten eggs
1 & 1/4 cups self raising flour
Grated rind of 1 orange
1/2 cup of milk
red & yellow food colouring

Pack of maltesers & orange-flavoured m&m's for decorating
orange coloured sugar (I put a few drops of yellow & red food colouring in to a lidded container with about half a cup of caster sugar & shook it)

CHOC-CITRUS FROSTING:
2 tblspoons of butter
1½ cups of icing sugar
1 tablespoon of cocoa
1 to 2 tablespoons of warm water
1 tblspoon freshly squeezed lemon & orange juice

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius conventional or 170C fanforced. Beat butter & caster sugar until creamy. Add eggs, beating between adding each egg, stir in milk. Sift flour 3 times & fold flour, orange rind & food colouring through mixture. Spoon batter into cupcake case-lined small muffin pans (fill to half, at most 3/4 of cases). Drop one malteser into each cupcake, pressing right down.



Place into oven for 15-20 minutes until cupcakes spring back when you lightly touch them. Cool completely before icing. Spread or pipe on frosting, decorate with m&m's & sprinkle coloured sugar over cupcakes. Store in an airtight container or on a plastic covered tray in the fridge until required.

Frosting: Mix all ingredients, beat until well combined.

The finished product (they don't look fantastic, but they taste delicious - I need to practice my decorating hehe):

What they look like inside (after the malteser's been eaten out of it ):

I'm still such a big kid, I love licking the spoon....

I'll be taking these to a BBQ on Sunday, hopefully they'll create a few smiles!

Happy baking ♥