Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 40 ml sunflower oil
• 140 g butter, room temperature
• 180 g powdered sugar
• 2 eggs, organic free-range eggs size M
• 40 g cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 90 ml water, boiling
• 152 g spelt flour, wholemeal flour, finely ground
• 2 tsp baking powder (10g)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 350 ml whipped cream, min. 30% fat content
• 600 g dark chocolate coating, 60% cocoa content
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp orange zest
• 3 tbsp orange liqueur, (Cointreau)

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Makes 12 cupcakes. All instructions are based on baking cups measuring 6.5 cm at the top, 5.5 cm at the bottom, and 3.5 cm high. If you use larger or smaller cups, you’ll get more or fewer cups from my recipe. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (top and bottom heat). Line a muffin tin with paper baking cups. Melt the sunflower oil, butter, and powdered sugar in a double boiler. Beat the eggs on high for about 40 seconds until frothy and add to the butter and oil mixture. Dissolve the cocoa powder in the boiling water and add it to the water. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix. Pour the batter into the paper baking cups and bake on the middle rack for about 30-35 minutes. Every oven bakes differently, so keep an eye on your cupcakes, especially if you’re making this recipe for the first time. After baking, let the cupcakes cool completely. For the topping: Bring the cream to a boil. Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and add it, stir in the honey, butter, orange zest and Cointreau. Then emulsify with a hand blender for about 3 minutes. Leave to cool overnight in a cool place. The next day, beat with a mixer. Beat until the cream is fluffy but still firm. If it is too soft, refrigerate for 15 minutes and then beat briefly again. Fill a piping bag with the topping fitted with an 18 or 16 mm star nozzle and pipe on the cream in a circular motion. Tips: For a chocolate Baileys topping, omit the zest and use 100 ml Baileys instead of Cointreau. For a chocolate coffee topping, use 100 ml very strong coffee (espresso) and increase the amount of honey to 5 tbsp and the butter to 3 tbsp.