Orange and Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes | Halloween Recipe

Looking for something to bake for a Halloween party or even just a yummy chocolate recipe? These cupcakes will hit the spot. Chocolate and orange has got to be one of my favourite flavour combinations to ever exist. Bake these cupcakes and then kick it up a notch with spooky decorating for Halloween. Now I have to say I’m not much of a baker, so you’ll have to excuse my decorating. But practice makes perfect!

You will need:

Cupcakes

(Recipe from Chocolate: 100 Everyday Recipes. I halved the ingredients to make 10 cupcakes but they were on the small side in patty cases. The ingredients listed below are for 20 cupcakes)

200ml water

85g butter

85g caster sugar

1Tbsp golden syrup

3Tbsp milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

225g plain flour

2Tbsp cocoa powder

Buttercream Icing

(If you don’t like buttercream icing, use your favourite recipe!)

185g butter (softened)

2Tbsp milk

2 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture

1tsp orange essence

Some orange zest

Some orange juice (optional, squeezed from orange used for zest)

Red food colouring

Yellow food colouring

Black decorating gel

Now here’s what you do:

Cupcakes

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C fan forced and line a bun tray with 20 baking cases.
2. Put the water, butter, golden syrup and caster sugar in a saucepan. Heat on a low setting, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and cook gently for 5 minutes. Remove from the stove and leave to cool.
3. Put the milk and vanilla extract in a bowl. Add the bicarbonate of soda and stir until dissolved.
4. In a large bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Add the syrup mixture and milk mixture. Beat until smooth.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cases to two thirds full. Put in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. The cupcakes should be well risen and firm to the touch.
6. Leave on a rack to cool.

Icing

1. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter in a bowl until pale.
2. Slowly add the milk and icing sugar mixture, beating constantly until combined.
3. Beat in orange essence and orange zest. For a stronger orange flavour, cut the orange in half and squeeze some juice into the mixture then beat to combine.
4. Add in red and yellow food colouring until you reach your desired colour.
5. Spread or pipe icing onto the cupcakes and then decorate with black gel in Halloween inspired designs. You could do a pumpkin, spider, zombie, skull or bat.
6. Eat and enjoy!

The cake is really delicious and thick, as it is a fudge cupcake recipe. But if I had to make the recipe again I would use a different icing – I discovered today that buttercream just isn’t my thing!

What are your favourite recipes for Halloween?

Hannah x

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