These Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes are the perfect balance of chocolate and tart, blood orange flavours – a small but mighty twist to the well-loved classic. The soft and fluffy cupcakes are topped with a smooth, extra-orange-y buttercream that is quick and easy to make, and versatile to use!
I’ve added blood oranges to tangy yogurt cakes, to winter salads with cardamom dressing and to galettes with cinnamon whipped cream. But I’ve failed to add blood orange to its OTP… chocolate.
Until now.
Like oranges, blood oranges and chocolate are a beautiful flavour pairing, the same citrus flavour you know and love but with hints of raspberry. These cupcakes are fragrant, rich and decadent, and completely delicious.
Why you’ll Love these Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes
- The chocolate cupcakes are soft and fluffy.
- The buttercream is smooth and rich, with a strong blood orange flavour.
- It’s easy to make too, and whips up in no time!
- Piping skills not required! By all means, pipe away if you prefer that look, or simply swirl on some buttercream for a more rustic look by using a butter knife or palette knife.
- The recipe uses fresh blood orange zest and juice, so you don’t have to shop for any essences or extracts you may not have other uses for.
- You can easily substitute blood oranges for oranges if you can’t get any or if they’re not in season and you need a chocolate-y orange treat!
Tips and Tricks for Making Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes
The full list of ingredients and directions are in the recipe card below, but here’s a quick rundown on some tips and tricks that’ll lead to better cupcakes:
- Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature before you start baking.
- But make sure the butter isn’t too warm. If it’s started to get a little oily, chill it for a little bit before you begin.
- Spoon and level your flour. Don’t scoop it out with a measuring cup as it compacts the flour and ends up adding more flour to your cupcakes than you need, making them heavy and chewy. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with flat edge of a knife.
- The amount of salt in salted butters varies from brand to brand, so you’re best to use unsalted butter for this cupcake recipe and add in the salt. A little salt in baked goods is necessary and delicious; an overly salted buttercream, on the other hand, is not very pleasant.
- Try to not overmix your batter. Once you stop seeing streaks of dry ingredients like flour and cocoa powder, stop mixing.
- Cupcake liners come in many shapes and sizes, which can make it hard to judge how much you should fill them. If you have smaller cupcake liners, you only want to fill them half way, and if you have bigger, almost muffin sized liners, you only want to fill them to 2/3 full. This will help keep a nice rounded top without the filling mushrooming over the top, or worse, spilling out all over your oven!
- Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Frosted cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container and in the fridge for 4-5 days. Make sure to bring the cupcakes to room temperature before serving.
Looking for more sweet treats? Try these:
Pancake Spaghetti with Strawberries and Lemon Glaze
Peach Fritters with Cointreau and Orange Glaze
Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes
These Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes are the perfectbalance of chocolate and tart, blood orange flavours – a small but mighty twistto the well-loved classic. The soft and fluffy cupcakes are topped with asmooth, extra-orange-y buttercream that is quick and easy to make, andversatile to use!
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Servings: 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons fresh blood orange zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh blood orange juice
- ½ cup milk, room temperature
- Fresh, glace or candied blood orange slices to decorate, optional
For the Chocolate and Blood Orange Buttercream
- 200 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 300 g icing sugar
- 70 g cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh blood orange zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh blood orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Chocolate and Blood Orange Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line two, 6-cup muffin pans or one, 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients – flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk quickly to mix. Set aside.1 cup flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
- In a separate, medium mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients – the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla and the blood orange zest and juice. Whisk together until thoroughly combined.¾ cup sugar, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons fresh blood orange zest, 2 tablespoons fresh blood orange juice
- Pour half of the wet batter and half of the milk into the dry ingredients, and whisk gently to incorporate before adding the rest of the wet batter and milk. Whisk until just combined – once you can’t see anymore streaks of flour or cocoa powder, stop!½ cup milk
- Pour the batter into the cupcake liners – ½ full for smaller cupcake patty pans and 2/3 full for muffin sized liners. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
For the Chocolate Blood Orange Buttercream
- To make the buttercream, use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or handheld electric beaters. Start by beating the butter on medium speed until pale and creamy. Add in half of the icing sugar and beat.200 g unsalted butter, 300 g icing sugar
- Once incorporated, add in the rest of the icing sugar, cocoa powder, blood orange zest and juice and vanilla, and just a pinch of salt. Start beating at medium speed before increasing it to high speed for a full minute until the buttercream comes together and is thick and creamy. Use straight away to frost the chocolate and blood orange cupcakes or store in the fridge for 3-4 days.70 g cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon fresh blood orange zest, 2 tablespoons fresh blood orange juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, Pinch of salt
- Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them however you prefer. I don’t like a lot of frosting on my cupcakes, so I use a butter knife or palette knife to swirl the frosting on top. I’m also not the best at piping, so I tend to avoid it. But this buttercream recipe makes enough to frost or pipe decorative icing on all 12 cupcakes. The Wilton 1M Open Star Piping Tip will give you that characteristic tall and neat cupcake frosting.
- Decorate with fresh, glace or candied blood orange slices, if you like, and enjoy!Fresh, glace or candied blood orange slices to decorate, optional
Cook along with me
Did you make this recipe?Mention @food_daydreaming or tag #fooddaydreaming on instagram. I love seeing what you all come up with!
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 394.86kcal | Carbohydrates: 51.07g | Protein: 3.97g | Fat: 21.92g | Saturated Fat: 10.34g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.28g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7.21g | Cholesterol: 64.34mg | Sodium: 132.78mg | Potassium: 248.27mg | Fiber: 2.73g | Sugar: 37.9g | Vitamin A: 140.09IU | Vitamin C: 0.63mg | Calcium: 43.26mg | Iron: 1.58mg
