It's that time of year again and my favourite citrus fruit are once again available at the grocery store, blood oranges. Citrus sinensis display a deep blood red colour within and, courtesy of anthocyanins, a distinct maroon coloured rind which will only develop when temperatures are low at night, as during the Mediterranean fall and winter. Due to its pigments, the blood orange contain greater amounts of antioxidants than other oranges. They have a unique flavor profile compared to other oranges, being distinctly raspberry-like in addition to the usual citrus notes. In this week's recipe I pureed some blood oranges and incorporated them into a basic chocolate cake. I then produced a blood orange syrup which I poured over each cupcake, topping them off with blood orange zest.
Chocolate Orange Cupcake
(modified from Spanish Orange Syrup Cake in 500 Cupcakes)
4 small blood oranges, peeled and roughly chopped (reserve peels and remove seeds)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cover the oranges in water and heat, simmering until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the oranges, reserving the water, and puree them in a food processor. Return them to the pot over low heat, whisking in the butter until completely melted; remove from heat. Whisk in the unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar until smooth and allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease pan(s). In a small dish combine the milk and vanilla, set aside. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Once the orange/chocolate mixture has come to roughly room temperature, beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients to the orange/chocolate mixture in thirds alternating with the milk/vanilla mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. This recipe yielded 16 regular size cupcakes and baked for 15 minutes.
Blood Orange Syrup
1cup water (reserved from above+water to equal 1 cup)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
orange peels from cupcake recipe, pith removed and finely sliced
In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a simmer until sugar dissolves completely. Add the orange peels and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes until tender.
Once the cupcakes were cool I perforated the tops of each and sliced an opening across each to allow the syrup to penetrate. I spooned the syrup from the pan over each cake then topped them with the tender zest strips for decoration and to add a little extra flavor.
1cup water (reserved from above+water to equal 1 cup)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
orange peels from cupcake recipe, pith removed and finely sliced
In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a simmer until sugar dissolves completely. Add the orange peels and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes until tender.
Once the cupcakes were cool I perforated the tops of each and sliced an opening across each to allow the syrup to penetrate. I spooned the syrup from the pan over each cake then topped them with the tender zest strips for decoration and to add a little extra flavor.
The Panel
Most agreed that this week's cupcake was rather dry. The combination of orange and chocolate was said to be ideal; the orange flavour was not consistent and the zest a little strong in flavour for some though they added a wonderful visual element. A couple judges expressed a slight despair concerning my choice to omit the frosting in this recipe. Quite a few suggestions were made on how to improve the recipe to highlight the orange tones: vanilla frosting (Sugar Princess); vanilla cake (Cocoa); orange chocolate ganache filling (CathyP); incorporating the zest into the cake (Fathom's Chef); confectioner's sugar/blood orange glaze (JRock).
CathyP: "Great colour contrast."
My comments:
I was actually pretty embarrassed at how this cupcake presented itself as it was indeed very dry. I believe that this was the result of the pureed oranges incorporated into the beginning of the recipe. I would have like to extract more juiced from this initial mix or added more milk to the batter which, at scoop time, had a mousse texture to it. The orange flavours were indeed subtle though delicious when hitting pockets of the syrup in the cupcakes, another element that needs improving in this recipe. All great suggestions were made this round and I look forward to trying to improve this recipe. Overall disappointing performance.
Most agreed that this week's cupcake was rather dry. The combination of orange and chocolate was said to be ideal; the orange flavour was not consistent and the zest a little strong in flavour for some though they added a wonderful visual element. A couple judges expressed a slight despair concerning my choice to omit the frosting in this recipe. Quite a few suggestions were made on how to improve the recipe to highlight the orange tones: vanilla frosting (Sugar Princess); vanilla cake (Cocoa); orange chocolate ganache filling (CathyP); incorporating the zest into the cake (Fathom's Chef); confectioner's sugar/blood orange glaze (JRock).
CathyP: "Great colour contrast."
My comments:
I was actually pretty embarrassed at how this cupcake presented itself as it was indeed very dry. I believe that this was the result of the pureed oranges incorporated into the beginning of the recipe. I would have like to extract more juiced from this initial mix or added more milk to the batter which, at scoop time, had a mousse texture to it. The orange flavours were indeed subtle though delicious when hitting pockets of the syrup in the cupcakes, another element that needs improving in this recipe. All great suggestions were made this round and I look forward to trying to improve this recipe. Overall disappointing performance.