This recipe is originally from Joanne Wheatley, from
the Great British Bake-Off. It has a
mixing method I haven’t tried before in a cake batter, where you blend the dry
ingredients with the butter in a food processor, kind of like you would for a
pie, then you mix in the liquid ingredients.
I think I didn’t blend the butter in quite enough because the batter had
butter lumps in it, but they weren’t a problem in the finished cupcake.
I made her version today and it was a little too sweet for my taste. I’d prefer a more tart orange flavor and darker chocolate. So here is what I’d do the next time around.
I made her version today and it was a little too sweet for my taste. I’d prefer a more tart orange flavor and darker chocolate. So here is what I’d do the next time around.
Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
For
the cupcakes
120g/4oz (1 cup) all-purpose
flour
140g/5oz (2/3 cup) sugar
1
tsp baking powder
40g/1½
oz unsalted butter
50g/2oz unsweetened
chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1
free-range egg
125ml/4fl
oz (1/2 cup) milk
For
the orange drizzle
2
Tbsp orange juice concentrate
2
Tbsp orange juice
2 Tbsp
granulated sugar
1 tsp
orange liqueur or 1/2 tsp orange extract
For
the white chocolate and orange buttercream
125g/4½oz
unsalted butter, softened
250g/9oz icing
sugar
2-3
tbsp milk
50g/1¾oz white
chocolate, melted
1 orange,
zest only
1
oz dark chocolate
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Mix the flour, sugar and baking
powder together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until combined.
Stir the chocolate mixture into the
flour mixture until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into the cases and
bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and and a skewer inserted into the
middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10
minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the orange juice,
concentrate, liqueur and granulated sugar together in a bowl. Carefully pour
the orange juice mixture over the warm cakes and set aside to cool completely.
For the white chocolate and orange
buttercream, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Carefully stir
in the icing sugar and continue to beat for five minutes. Beat in the milk,
melted chocolate and orange zest.
Decorate the cupcakes with the
buttercream.
Use
a sharp knife to make chocolate shavings from the dark chocolate and use them
to decorate the cupcakes.
I am going to try these even though I know it is very unlikely my finished product will resemble your finished product. :)
ReplyDeleteEven if they don't look good, they'll still taste good! But here are some details about how I decorated, in case it helps:
ReplyDeleteI used a #1M decorating tip, which is fairly large, and twisted the bag as I went around. I did a couple tester cupcakes and then scraped the icing back off and into the bag to do it again. Here's a link to the original recipe, which includes a video at the end with a demonstration of three icing methods, one of which you can do without any tips at all. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_orange_69109
Rather than using a knife to shave the chocolate, I let the chocolate warm slightly (on the warm oven after baking), then used a vegetable peeler to shave the chocolate. If you get the chocolate to the right temperature, you can get nice curls, but mine just kind of splintered. I also used an orange zester to get the orange zest strands. I was thinking they would taste better if I candied them, but then decided it wasn't worth the effort. Good luck! I'd love to hear how they turn out for you.
Ahh -- that method of making cake batter was one pioneered by Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of "The Cake Bible." Her cookbooks are remarkable in their precision and sophistication -- and they the ingredients are always listed by US standard and by weight. She's spent a long time trying to get her fellow Americans to measure with a baking scale, and nearly has me convinced. :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I actually have found that measuring with a baking scale saves me time because I don't have to wash all the measuring cups.
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