DARK CHOCOLATE ORANGE MUFFINS

Dark chocolate orange muffin

I bought a muffin tin. You know, American-sized muffins, as opposed to normal Irish bun-sized ones. And then it took me ten shops to find the proper cases to go in them and, even then, I could only find boring plain ones. (Though I did find some snazzy yellow cardboard ones in Tiger that won't fit in the tin...)

The Dublin airport chocolate orange muffin

Anyway, I am addicted to the giant-sized choc-orange muffins that you get in Harvest Market in T2 in Dublin Airport. I would almost (almost) take a flight just to have one of those muffins. They make the whole airport shenanigan worthwhile.

But I'm not flying anywhere until May, so I have had to resort to making my own. The ones in the airport have a gooey, sweet, orange jammy curd in the centre (drool!) but I couldn't find a satisfactory recipe to match that. So I have adapted a few different recipes to make these delicious choc-chippy-orangey ones instead. These are a trial run for Easter Sunday, when I will probably (hopefully) take the time to ice and decorate them.

My helpers

238 kcal per muffin

Makes 6 large sized muffins, 10 bun/cupcake sized muffins or 12 minis

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup self raising flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used a 100g bag)
zest of an orange
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup orange juice
1/8 cup veg oil (I used rapeseed)
1 medium egg, beaten

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 deg C

Zest and juice the orange

Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and choc chips

In a jug, mix together the orange juice, orange zest, milk, veg oil and beaten egg
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in wet ingredients
Mix and pour into muffin cases

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes

BLUEBERRY & ORANGE CAKE

Blueberry and Orange Cake

I have a tendency to see what I've got in the press, then bake with it. Even for important things like my sons' Dad's birthday cake ... Still, blueberry and orange sound like a good match, don't they? And, it turns out, they are. This cake has a lovely childhood taste - sweet in all the right ways.

Ingredients

125g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour

75g spelt flour
125g butter or marg

pinch of salt
zest of 1 orange
50g blueberries

2 eggs

2 tblsps cow's or soya milk

juice of 1/4 of an orange (2 tblsps)

Drizzle

30g icing sugar
juice of 1/4 of an orange (2 tblsps)

Orange drizzle

Method

·        Preheat oven to 180˚C

·        Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
·        Zest and juice the orange

·        Cream the butter and caster sugar

·        Add the eggs and zest and beat well

·        Add flour and salt and fold in completely

·        Mix through the milk and OJ
·        Mix through the blueberries

·        Pour into the cake tinand flatten the top

·        Bake for 55 minutes or so, until golden on top, make sure it is cooked through with a cake tester/skewer
·        Make the syrup while the cake is cooking by gently heating the orange and icing sugar until the sugar is melted

·        Using your skewer, puncture the top of the cake and pour the syrup evenly over the cake

·        Cool completely in the tin. Serve on its own, or with plain yogurt or ice-cream. Yum!

ORANGE DRIZZLE CAKE for EASTER

Orange Chocolate Drizzle Cake

 
Happy Easter!

I was going to do the predictable thing and make a lemon cake for after dinner today but decided, at the last minute, that an orange cake would be nice. So I just made my Lemon Drizzle cake with orange instead.

Ingredients

75g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
100g self-raising flour

75g spelt flour
125g butter or marg

pinch of salt
zest of 1 orange

2 eggs

4 tblsps cow's or soya milk

Drizzle

50g icing sugar
juice of 1 orange (4 tblsps)

Chocolate topping
A few pieces of dark chocolate
1 tsp icing sugar

Orange drizzle

Method

·        Preheat oven to 180˚C

·        Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
·        Zest and juice the orange

·        Cream the butter and caster sugar

·        Add the eggs and zest and beat well

·        Add flour and salt and fold in completely

·        Mix through the milk

·        Pour into the cake tin

·        Bake for 45 minutes or so, until golden on top, make sure it is cooked through with a cake tester/skewer
·        Make the syrup while the cake is cooking by gently heating the orange and icing sugar until the sugar is melted

·        Using your skewer, puncture the top of the cake and pour the syrup evenly over the cake

·        Cool completely in the tin
·        Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water, stir in the icing sugar, mix thoroughly, drip over the cake

Yes, I sacrificed a chunk of my egg for the choccie topping. Saint!

Dessert :)

ALMOND, DATE & ORANGE LOAF

Readers of this blog will know I love the date 'n' orange combination. This is a sweet, orangey loaf that is very simple to make. I used an electric hand mixer but if you have strong mixing arms, it's not essential to use a mixer.

Ingredients

200g wholegrain spelt flour

75g plain flour
1 level tsp bread soda (sieved)
100g brown sugar
100g marg
125g carton yogurt

rind of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange

2 eggs
50g dates (stoned & chopped)
50g flaked almonds

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.

Lightly grease and base line a 900g/2lb loaf tin.

Beat the sugar and marg until smooth and creamy.

Add the yogurt, orange rind, juice and eggs. Mix well.

Add the flour and sieved bread soda and beat on low speed.

Add the dates and nuts and gently stir until well mixed.

Transfer to the prepared tin.

Bake for about 55 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire tray to cool.

FIG AND ORANGE MUFFINS

Here's a seasonal take on my regular spelt muffins. Oranges are so Christmassy, are they not? They just smell like Christmas to me.

Makes 12 small, figgy-orange muffins.

Preheat oven to 180˚C

125 gr of halved or quartered ready-to-eat figs
rind and juice of 1 large orange
250 gr (9oz) wholegrain spelt flour
25gr (1oz) light muscovado sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
100ml soya milk
1 tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (non vegans can use one beaten egg)
2 tblsps vegetable oil
12 muffin or bun cases


• Put muffin cases into bun tray
• Zest the orange, then half it and squeeze it
• Cut up the figs into halves or quarters (depends how big they are) and remove any stalks
• Soak the figs in the orange juice and rind
• Mix the flour, spice, sugar and baking powder in a bowl
• Make up the NoEgg as per pack (or beat your egg)
• In a jug, mix together the soya milk, oil and NoEgg mixture
• Make a well in the flour and beat in the milky mixture
• Mix in the fig and orange mixture until combined
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases
• Bake for 30 minutes