Tasty Thursday – Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Today I am going to share with you the world’s simplest cupcake recipe, which is a hit with both the little ones and adults of the family.  In fact they are such a hit, that I often get orders from hubby’s staff too:

Ingredients

115g / 4oz Butter (softened)
115g / 4oz Caster Sugar
2 Eggs Lightly Beaten
115g / 4oz Self Raising Flour

Instructions

1. Preheat tye oven to 190 C or 375 F (Gas Mark 5) and line two x 12 hole bun tins with 16 paper cases.  (I often double the mixture to make more)
2. Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs
3. Sift the flour and fold into the mixture
4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases

Add caption

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

If you want to make different flavours you can adapt:

Orange – Add the grated rind of 1/2 orange to the cake mixture after beating in the eggs.
Lemon – Add the grated rind of 1/2 Lemon to the cake mixture after beating in the eggs
Chocolate – Replace 25g of the flour with two tablespoons of Cocoa Powder (nake sure this is sieved)
Coffee – Dissolve two tablespoons of Instant coffee into 3 tablespoons of Boiling water.  Add two thirds to the cake mixture after beating in the eggs.  (Save the remainder for the icing)
Vanilla  – Add a teaspoon of Vanilla Essense after beating in the eggs

Once the cakes are completely cool, they are ready to be iced.  I use Buttercream:

Ingredients

1. 225g / 8oz Butter, softened
2. 1 Tbsp Cream or Milk
3. 350g / 12oz Icing Sugar

Instructions

Place the Butter and Cream into a bowl and beat together.  Gradually Sift in the Icinig sugar and beat until smooth.
Variations

• Orange or Lemon: substitute fresh Orange or Lemon juice for the cream and add a little Orange or Yellow food colouring.
• Chocolate Buttercream:  Replace 55g / 2oz of the icing sugar with Cocoa
• Coffee:  substitute the Mil with the remaining coffee mixture used to make the cakes

To Ice, I use a disposable icing bag and a large nozzle.  Make sure you twist the open end tightly shut (or it could get messy) and swirl the icing on from outside into the middle to make a peak.

And just because it’s almost Valentines Day, I have added some dark chocolate sprinkles for added induldence!!