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Orange, Rosemary & Chocolate Cupcakes

This lovely light cupcake is subtley infused with orange zest and finely chopped rosemary, giving it a delicate, aromatic flavour. The milk chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream complements the overall combination without dominating the taste.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 2 cups plain flour, sifted
  • 1 1/2 cups castor sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarb soda
  • 1 zest of 1 large orange
  • 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 cup (approx) of orange marmalade

Milk Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • 6 egg whites
  • 1 1/4 cups castor sugar
  • 300 grams salted butter, chopped
  • 200 gram block milk chocolate, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C

  2. Line two muffin trays with 18 cupcake liners

  3. In a medium bowl, hand whisk eggs, oil, sour cream, vanilla bean paste

  4. Add warm water, whisk until well combined. Set aside

  5. In another bowl, sift together flour, bicarb soda and baking powder.

  6. Carefully add castor sugar but DO NOT mix.

  7. Using your fingers, rub orange zest and chopped rosemary into sugar until well combined and fragrant. Add to flour mix anf hand whisk together.

  8. Slowly pour wet mix into dry mixture. Hand whisk until well combined

  9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake in a moderate oven for 18 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool on a wire rack.

  10. When cool, use an apple corer to scoop out the centre of each cupcake. Put marmalade into a piping bag (or just use a teaspoon, but an icing bag is easier), snip the tip and squeeze into each cupcake.

  11. Frost with buttercream.

Milk Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, add egg whites and sugar. Place bowl over a saucepan with 2cm water in it on the stove, like a double boiler. Hand whisk mixture until combined. Whisk every few minutes until sugar has dissolved and you can't feel anymore sugar grains.

  2. Put bowl onto electric mixer and using the whisk attachment, whisk on high for about 5 minutes or until you have stiff meringue peaks.

  3. Turn mixer onto low and add cubes of butter two at a time until all butter is incorporated.

  4. Keep mixing for about ten minutes. The buttercream will go through a few stages, firstly deflating and looking like soup. Then it will curdle, resembling scrambled eggs. Finally, it will come together to look like silky smooth buttercream. Thsi can take up to 15 minutes. If it's still not coming together, refridgerat for 10 minutes, then keep whisking on low.

  5. When buttercream is smooth, add cooled melted chocolate and keep mixing on low until combined and completely irresistable. Pipe onto cupakes.