So, I'm going to make some chocolate orange cupcakes tonight. I'm thinking of making a basic sponge recipe with a zest of an orange. But I want more uummpphh so I want to add some of the juice of the orange too. Is it a bad idea to just add in the juice, or should I remove a little of the flour in substitution to it?

Also, I'm not sure which icing I want to use. I was either thinking of making...

• 1. Chocolate sauce that sets (from my profiterole recipe),
  2. A chocolate icing recipe (which is just basic icing with cocoa),
  3. A chocolate buttercream frosting
  4. Or chocolate ganache.

I was planning on making 24 cupcakes in total and perhaps doing half with something runny to fill and leave a flat top when set, and the other half with swirls.

What would you recommend in light of above?

Thanks in advance.

Given the way you want to ice them, I would use ganache. I would flavor it with orange oil or extract, or even Grand Marnier. Then you can ice them either flat or do the swirls when the ganache cools and firms up.

I would definitely add the orange zest and instead of the orange juice, I would use orange oil. The flavor is excellent and it won't affect the chemistry of your cake recipe like using regular juice.

I never - repeat, never add straight lemon or orange juice (fresh or otherwise) to my scratch cakes. The additional acid and sugar content mess up the chemistry in scratch cake (especially white/yellow).

Difference between oil and extract - oil is rendered from the zest of citrus, leaving the most concentrated essence of the fruit. Essential oil is pretty expensive and I've never baked with it, but I know that it's still not straight oil, it's cut with something. You'd probably only use a few drops of this.

I don't know the concentration of other manufacturers, but Nielson Massey Extract is 90% alcohol, 10% oil. The alcohol bakes out and leaves you with a more manageable flavor.

I make both my lemon and orange cake using zest as the primary flavoring with a little extract. As the cake bakes it extracts oil form the zest that you may not be able to taste in the batter so be careful not to over-flavor. Anyway it is a very natural-tasting cake that people love.

Straight extract-flavored cake tastes like Pledge to me.

Jen explained everything I was going to, but I will add one note about the oil.

I have a Dede Wilson book called Wedding Cakes and I have made her lemon buttermilk cake which calls for lemon oil. I believe it's two tablespoons of it. It's really not as strong as you think, but it does give a really good lemon flavor without tasting fake or Pledge-y.

Extracts don't have a lot of oil so they are weaker in flavor.

Thanks for all the replies. I did think the citric juice from the orange would do some harm in the batter. Thanks for clearing that up with me. I don't have any orange essence or oil so I'll add that to my shopping list. I'm assuming these oils/essence are available from specialist cake/decorating stores and regular ole' supermarkets won't stock this? One of the supermarkets does Orange 'flavouring' I'm assuming this isn't as good as the oil/essence or is it the same thing?

I think because I don't have the orange oil/essence that I'll do the cupcakes the other way around. Having chocolate as the cupcake and an orange buttercream swirl frosting with rind. I might even colour some extra rind on top and add a few shavings to each. That should look nice.

Also, quick question while I'm here. I can get Vanilla extract from Asda here in the UK and a tiny bottle (about 15ml) was expensive yet delicious and nice to use. It is a clear-ish colour. However, I have a whole sale account at my local supermarket-ish wholesalers. They do Vanilla essence there and a much larger bottle. It is also brown there. What's the difference between the clear-ish extract and the brown essence? I can save a lot of money getting it in a larger wholesale bottle but, is it as good?

Thanks again for the replies.

Clear extract is generally artificial here in the US, but I am unfamiliar with UK products so I have no idea. Sorry I can't help with that one!

I once worked at a Hyatt and for the breakfast shift (muffins, quick breads, etc) there was often no milk until the delivery arrived after I had finished baking. So out of necessity I substituted orange juice. In a recipe that had baking soda, i made no adjustment but if the leavener was baking powder, I added a pinch of baking soda. The oj gave the final product a subtle golden glow.