Halloween Bake - Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

These are definitely cakes for the grown ups, and for chocoholics. If you’re a ‘take it or leave it’ kind of person when it comes to chocolate, then you’ll struggle to eat all of one of these. Having said that, these taste just as good without the frosting so it’s not a bad idea to make some with and some without if you’re having a gathering. Chocolate and orange seems like a Halloween flavour combo to me, but it’s also a very Christmassy thing to, so these will do for either celebration. I’m also going to be making some of these to sell at the chocolate festival in Frome this year http://www.lipsmacking.co.uk/chocolate-festival-2013/4566836238 I meant to do a blog about these last Halloween, but the first batch I made weren’t orangey enough so it was back to the drawing board. Hector was three weeks old then and I couldn’t face making another batch or writing the blog post anyway, He was not an easy baby in those first few weeks, he cried constantly. I wish someone else had made me a batch of these then. Cake is survival food for mums of newborn babies. Fact.

Ingredients:

3 ½ oz self raising flour

3 ½ oz light muscavado sugar

3 tbsp cocoa

75 ml sunflower oil

50ml tablespoons sour cream

1 egg

2 tsp orange essence
50ml water

for the frosting

8oz butter

175g dark chocolate

10 oz icing sugar

2 tsp orange essence

Method:

Preheat oven at 180C or gas mark 4 and line your tin with cases (12)

Put all your ingredients into a food processor and whizz till smooth. Then add water and whizz again till glossy. Divide into the cases and bake for about 15/20 minutes  (depending on your oven). Leave to cool completely on a rack

To make the icing melt the chocolate and add to all the other ingredients in a food processor and whiz till smooth. Pipe onto cakes and display at the centre of your Halloween tea, or give out to trick or treaters, or turn the lights off and eat them all yourself.