Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

National Chocolate Cake Day?  Okay!

You never really need an excuse to enjoy a sweet, rich slice of chocolate cake, especially when it's paired with a creamy frosting that's just sugary enough.  {None of that whipped-cream-frosting nonsense for this girl!}.  And if you're one of those I-don't-like-cake types ~ well, I just don't understand you.

But for the rest of us, today gives us an official excuse to indulge in a little bit of the sweet stuff.  I mean, you can't argue with a national holiday, right?  You could stop at the bakery and pick up a snack, pull out a box of your favorite cake mix, or... you could whip up a batch of these citrusy-chocolately darlings, courtesy of My Baking Addiction. 

Coffee in chocolate batters helps intensify the chocolate flavors, so you know these cupcakes will really satisfy those chocolate cravings.  Orange and chocolate pair like a dream, and it's a much lighter-tasting combo than the flavors that we're used to seeing in winter.

 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients ~ Cupcakes
1 3/4    cups all-purpose flour
2          cups sugar
3/4       cups good cocoa powder
2          tsp baking soda
1          tsp baking powder
1          tsp kosher salt
1          cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2       cup vegetable oil
2          large eggs, at room temperature
2          tsp pure vanilla extract
1          cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Ingredients ~ Frosting
16        ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
            zest of one large orange
3          Tbsp vegetable shortening
6          Tbsp butter, softened to room temperature
2          pounds confectioners sugar, sifted
2          tsp pure vanilla extract


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.  In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.  With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just until combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Using a large scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells, filling each well 2/3 full.  Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.  Meanwhile, make frosting.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together cream cheese, orange zest, shortening, and butter until well combined.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the confectioners sugar until thoroughly incorporated and smooth.  Add vanilla and mix to combine.  {For the faint orange hue seen in the picture, use a tiny amount of orange food coloring}.

Frost cupcakes using a metal spatula or piping bag with a wide tip.  Because of the cream cheese frosting, if cupcakes aren't being consumed the day of baking, store them in a sealed container in the fridge.  Remove from fridge about an hour before serving.

Enjoy!


xo
Bean

{photo credit:  mybakingaddiction.com}