10: Mary Berry's Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

I made these from the cupcake recipe in Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes, a small book that I bought from Amazon alongside some other small books on making cakes, biscuits, biscotti, macaroons and fairy cakes. I adapted it with orange extract and cocoa powder to make the chocolate orange cupcakes and I made a half recipe (six cupcakes instead of twelve) with elderflower cordial to try and produce that sweet, fragrant elderflower taste that is so enchanting. What more could anyone ask for - light, fluffy sponge scented with elderflower? It didn’t exactly work out as I had hoped, although the chocolate oranges were quite successful.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
I was doing so well until I put these into the oven without the milk in them. I was really cross with myself when I realised what I’d done. I am currently cooking them and they don’t seem to have done the usual mushrooming effect my cupcakes often do. Update: it was really difficult to blend entirely in the cocoa powder so there weren’t black spots of unmixed cocoa. I also added too much orange extract - half a teaspoon too much - into the buttercream, so to me it tasted a little bitter. There were two teaspoons orange extract, although Mary Berry’s cupcake recipe also calls for half a teaspoon of vanilla extract only. I thought the cupcakes tasted a bit bitter - the sponge was definitely dry, it would have been softer and moister with the tablespoons of milk, and the buttercream was a little bitter with the extra half a teaspoon of orange extract. However, Mum, Dad and Tid have now all had one to try and they didn’t share my objections; I guess that’s my irritating supertaster tongue again, whining to itself about tasting onion buried deep in mince and courgette and stuff like that. Next time I’ll be sure to put the milk in though.

Sponge Ingredients:
100g softened butter
150g selfraising flour
150g caster sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons orange extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the muffin cases into the muffin tin, so the cakes keep a good even shape as they bake. Cream the butter and caster sugar together in a large bowl. Add the two eggs, sift flour and the cocoa powder over them and beat until a smooth mixture is formed. Spoon evenly between the paper cases. Put into the oven for 20-25 minutes or until risen and cooked through, so a skewer comes out cleanly. Lift the paper cases out of the ten and cool completely on a wire rack before putting on the buttercream icing. If you can get hold of orange chocolate buttons, press them into the buttercream topping.

Buttercream Ingredients:
100g butter
225g sifted icing sugar
Half teaspoon vanilla/orange extract

Beat together all the ingredients to produce a smooth soft buttercream, then smooth over the cold cupcakes; if you can pipe it with a piping bag or syringe, that might produce a neater finish. To make chocolate or coffee icing: add two tablespoons cocoa powder or one teaspoon coffee essence to the butter icing. I used Bournville cocoa in the sponge and in the buttercream, so it might be different with another kind of baking cocoa e.g. Green and Black’s or Cadbury’s. I put a whole teaspoon of orange extract into the buttercream, it might have been less ‘bitter’ if I had only put in half a teaspoon like the recipe called for.

Elderflower Cupcakes (on a half recipe)
I used the same recipe as above, except with halved amounts, so I made six rather than twelve cupcakes. I used three to four teaspoons of elderflower cordial to achieve the tasting; I tried one at first, mixed and then tasted the batter, but the elderflower didn’t come through to me until I had added more cordial, a teaspoon at a time. Everyone’s preference is different. I made these while my dough for the Paul Hollywood simple Cob Loaf was proving (first time around). Unfortunately, when they were cooked, they didn’t taste of elder-flower; you could just about pick it up, but there was a sweet, golden syrup flavour instead. The sponge was perfect, though, soft in the middle and the top crisp and golden; I had to do the same thing as before, turning down the oven once they started browning on the top.

I was going to make them lemon and elderflower cupcakes, but I’m glad I didn’t. You simply wouldn’t have been able to taste anything else but the lemon. I might attempt to make spiced sponge cupcakes later in the week with ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg - or indeed a combination of them all, perhaps allspice.

50g softened butter
75g selfraising flour
75g caster sugar
1 and a half tablespoons milk
1 large egg
3 to 4 teaspoons elderflower cordial