Chocolate orange cupcakes

• light brown sugar↗140g g
• self‑raising flour↗100g g
• cocoa powder↗50g g
• baking powder↗1 tsp tsp
• eggs↗2 large
• vegetable oil↗135ml ml
• milk↗4 tbsp tbsp
• dark chocolate↗50g g

  finely chopped, plus extra for decoration

• oranges↗2 large

  with zest

• icing↗300g g
• unsalted butter↗150g g

  softened

• orange↗1

  with zest, plus extra zest for garnish

• cocoa powder↗25g g
• milk↗2 tbsp tbsp
• orange gel food colouring↗

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 180 °C/160 °C with convection/gas 4. Place the sugar, flour, cocoa, a pinch of salt and the baking powder into a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil and milk. Gradually fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones until you obtain a homogeneous batter. Gently fold in the dark chocolate and orange zest. Place 12 cupcake liners in a 12‑cup muffin tin. Distribute the batter into the liners, then bake for 20 minutes until they have risen. Let cool.

2. 2

   Meanwhile, prepare the icing. Beat the powdered sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. Incorporate 2 tbsp of hot water to loosen, and add orange zest. Divide the icing evenly between two bowls. Into one bowl add a few drops of orange gel food colouring and mix until the icing becomes bright orange. Into the other bowl add cocoa powder and 2 tbsp of milk, then whisk until smooth.

3. 3

   Fill one half of a pastry bag (using a bag with a large round tip) with the orange icing, and the other half with the chocolate buttercream. Pipe each cupcake using the pastry bag. Garnish with additional orange zest and grated dark chocolate.