Who can resist a chocolate cupcake, baked from scratch, and topped with chocolate cream cheese and orange zest? The orange zest may throw you a little. But orange flavored chocolate is absolutely delicious, and very European.
The English Mum challenged her fellow food bloggers to a cupcake contest earlier this week. Of course, I couldn’t in good conscience pass up such a challenge! In order to minimize chaos in my kitchen, I baked my chocolate cupcakes Wednesday, and made my frosting for them yesterday.
If you’d like the recipe, get out your trusty Joy of Cooking cookbook, and look up Devil’s Food Cake Cockaigne. Let me tell you, the butter, buttermilk, and cake flour in that recipe makes for some scrumptious cupcakes!
Even though the recipe is for a cake, it makes 12 cupcakes and two baby cakes (baked in mini bread pans). Yes, I only have one cupcake pan, and didn’t feel like cleaning it only to use it again and repeat the process. So I used my mini bread pans to use the rest of the cake batter, and now I also have some delicious chocolate cake in the freezer that I can pull out when unexpected guests arrive.
I made Cream Cheese Frosting to top my chocolate cupcakes, paired with the Chocolate Cream frosting recipe (see Joy of Cooking). 
Basically, you take 8 ounces of cold cream cheese (I used reduced fat cream cheese) and cream it with 5 Tablespoons unsalted (room temperature) butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 cups powdered sugar, and pulse it in a food processor just until combined. To kick up the flavor, add 1 teaspoon orange zest, and chocolate sauce.
Making the chocolate sauce for the Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting took about 10 minutes. Lacking a double boiler, I used a glass Pyrex bowl on top of a pot. I put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pot before placing the glass bowl on top, and setting the burner to medium.
Add 4 ounces (chopped up) semisweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli) and 2 1/2 teaspoons water to the glass bowl. Stir frequently until smooth. Although you’re supposed to let the mixture cool til lukewarm, I put the chocolate sauce straight into the cream cheese mixture and pulsed it until combined.
These chocolate cupcakes are divine paired with milk, tea, or coffee. What is your favorite kind of cupcake?
Photos by Kelly Estes
Sounds delicious. Does the cream cheese in the icing cut the sweetness a bit? Sometimes I get overdosed on sweet!
Mike,
Oh yes, the cupcakes are luscious. I can attest to their tastiness, having consumed one for dessert last night. The cream cheese in the icing does indeed cut the sweetness, which is good, because a cupcake tends to be quite sweet. My main complaint with grocery store cupcakes is they are very sweet cakes, topped with super sweet, over the top, sugary frosting which tends to not taste like anything but–sugar and butter. Oy.
Now, these cupcakes would be great to make for a supper party or birthday party, or perhaps to just satisfy a chocolate craving. These cupcakes more than deliver on taste. Chocolate, creamy and an orange flavor–how can you resist?
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I AM MAKING THESE ASAP! Drooling a bit!
Nom nom – have entered you into the cupcake challenge! They look scrummy! xx
It does make my mouth water, too! You just cannot go wrong with chocolate, more chocolate and cream cheese!!