It has come to my attention that I need a new clock. My current one simply doesn't have enough hours on it to allow me to do everything I want to do in a day. If anyone know of one that does, please tell me where they got it from. I need to find more time to blog and more time to bake!
The other night I came home from work and just had to make cupcakes. Of course, I didn't go to the store, so I had to work with what I had in the pantry. I did find a recipe for dark chocolate cake on he back of my Hershey's Cocoa box. That sounded good, but needed a little umph. I have noticed some food bloggers adding pudding to their cake mixes lately and thought, well why not try Jello. I had some orange flavored jello on hand and some orange marmalade. Mmmmm....dark chocolate and orange, how can I go wrong? Time to experiment.
Dark Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
(adapted from Hershey's Kitchens)
Ingredients
-
2 cups
sugar
-
1 3/4 cups
all-purpose flour
-
3/4 cup
Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
-
1 1/2 tsp.
baking powder
-
1 1/2 tsp.
baking soda
-
1 tsp.
salt
-
2
eggs
-
1 cup
milk
-
1/2 cup
vegetable oil
-
2 tsp.
vanilla extract
-
1 cup
boiling water
-
1 pkg. (3 oz.)
orange flavored Jello
-
1 jar (12 oz.)
Smucker's Sweet Orange Marmalade
(reserve 3 tbsp. for frosting)
Cooking Directions
-
Heat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
-
In a large bowl or stand mixer, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
-
Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and orange marmalade. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
-
Stir in boiling water and Jello (batter will be thin).
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Pour batter into prepared muffin tins using a small ladle. If you use a regular scoop like I did, you will make a mess.
-
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
-
Makes about 36 cupcakes.
OH. MY. GOD. The cupcakes came out delicious. They were moist and dark chocolaty, with a hint of orange. Just perfect symmetry. So next I had to come up with a frosting. Although, hubby and I did eat a few cupcakes just as they were. I thought about a cream cheese frosting, but hubby doesn't like cream cheese, so I made a buttercream frosting instead, inspired by the orange in the cupcakes.
Orange Spice Buttercream
by The Sweet Chick
Ingredients
-
2 sticks
butter, softened
-
3 tbsp.
reserves orange marmalade
-
1/4 tsp.
pumpkin spice
-
5 cups
powdered sugar
-
2 tbsp.
orange juice
-
2 tbsp. or more
milk
Directions
-
Using an electric or stand mixer, mix together butter, 3 tbsp. marmalade and pumpkin spice on high until well blended.
-
Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until mixture is thick and creamy.
-
Add orange juice and milk. If needed add more milk until consistency is fluffy.
I wanted to add just one more element to the cupcake, something fun and different. So I tried my hand at candied orange peels. I found a basic recipe online and went with it. They are actually not hard to make.
Candied Orange Peel
Ingredients
-
3 medium
oranges
-
1/2 tbsp.
salt
-
2 1/2 cups
water
-
1 cup
sugar
(plus extra to roll peels in)
Cooking Directions
-
Remove peel from oranges with an orange peeler or a spoon. Also remove most of the pith or white membrane from the peel.
-
Add salt to 2 cups water. Soak peels in the salty water overnight.
-
Drain and rinse peels thoroughly. In a pot, cover peels with cold water and heat to boiling. Then drain and repeat process 3 times to remove any bitter taste.
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Cut peels into strips. In a sauce pan, combine peel, sugar and 1/2 cup water. Heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Continue to cook until peel is translucent.
-
When done, drain any extra liquid and roll peel in granulated sugar and allow to dry completely.
I chopped up the strips and added them to the tops of the cupcakes. Perfect texture and taste. Now I need to get back to looking for a new clock.