Celebrate Halloween with these delicious Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes
It's Halloween on Tuesday, and it's a time of year that gets my kids super excited. They love the whole getting dressed up in costume and hitting the street to go trick or treating. But, it's not just about the Candy, it's about seeing the whole neighbourhood come together to create and fun and entertaining evening for both the adults and the children.
Every house decorated with ghouls and lights and amazing Halloween props, adults dressed up as well as the kids, and some house even having a hot drink or adult beverage available as you make your way around the houses. It's kind of like a street party and we love it. We are blessed to live in such an amazing friendly neighbourhood.
Over the weekend, the kids had spotted these cute little Halloween Muffin cases, and I figured they would be perfect for these Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes. I always bake something for the kids this time of year, usually cookies or cakes of some sort, and I rarely get to enjoy them, as they are normally high in calories for just one little nibble.
This year I decided to have a go at some low calorie ones we could all enjoy, that still tasted great. If I am going to use calories on a cake, it has to be worth my calorie and I would rather use a few more calories on something that tastes good, than hardly any calories on something that doesn't.
These were really yummy, and the kids loved them too. The chocolate orange swirl on the top of the cupcakes was such a neat idea. I wasn't sure if it would work at first, but it was perfect.
It literally is just a mixture of my cream cheese frosting (quark and cream cheese) similar to what I made for this Mini Egg Sponge Cake at Easter, with a swirl of Chocolate Spread (I used Nutella, but any brand of chocolate spread is fine) for the chocolate fix. I chose to use regular icing sugar those this time.
To get that chocolate flavour to the Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes, I use 100% pure cocoa ( don't use a drinking chocolate powder, as those are much higher in calories and will increase the calorie value of these cakes). Then alongside the cocoa, I also use Silk Chocolate Cashew milk, which is low in calories and great for that chocolate flavour. For those in the UK who can't get this, you can use Alpro chocolate milk (just be sure to adjust the calorie value accordingly).
For sweetening, as per usual with most of my cake recipes. I use Sukrin: 1 which is a great natural tasting sweetener that can be ordered on can be ordered on Amazon. I have tried many different types of sweetener in the past trying to find one that is natural and tastes natural and I think this is it. I usually just use honey or maple syrup, but it's nice to know I can now use this and reduce the calories even further. Instead of Sukrin, you can use any sweetener of choice But I can't recommend Sukrin enough, it tastes so good in baked goods and is by far the best tasting natural sweetener I have found.
To get the orange flavour, you will need some natural orange extract, available at most grocery stores in the baking aisle or on Amazon, for the orange colour you will also need some orange food colouring.
As well as the icing, just for an extra effect and totally optional, I added some black and orange sprinkles. They just completed the look of these delicious Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes.
For piping on the icing, you can add the icing and chocolate spread to a sandwich bag, push it all down to one corner, snip off that corner and then use it to pipe it on top in a swirl, I then used a cocktail stick, just to make a swirl effect. So pretty don't you think?
Make these for a party or take them to a Slimming taster, or don't share at all and keep them just for yourself. Either way, they are delicious.
The chocolate cake part to these Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes is so delicious, you could vary these up with all kinds of different toppings, like a chocolate icing or pure chocolate spread for that real chocolate fix. So many possibilities - yum!!
What kitchen items do I need to make these Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes?
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cups
- Kitchen Scales
- Mixing Bowl
- Wooden Spoon
- sandwich bags or piping bag
- muffin tray
- cupcake cases (Halloween themed ones are cute)
Recipe Card
Orange and Chocolate Halloween Cupcakes
This recipe is vegetarian, Slimming and Weight Watchers friendly
WW Smart Points - 3
Ingredients
- 150g/1 cup of plain flour
- 4 level tbs (20g) of 100% pure cocoa powder
- ½ cup of sukrin: 1 (or use another sweetener of choice)
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup of fat-free plain yoghurt
- 1 teaspoon of orange extract
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup of silk cashew milk or Alpro chocolate milk
- spray oil
- for the icing:
- ⅔ cup of quark or blended fat-free cottage cheese
- 2 level tbs of icing sugar
- 1 tbs of chocolate spread
- orange food colour (I prefer a paste, as it stops the icing from going too thin.
- few drops of orange extract (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180c or 350f (gas mark 4)
- Add the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt to a bowl, mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl add the eggs, chocolate milk, orange extract, yoghurt and sukrin and whisk until smooth.
- Add this to the flour mixture and fold till well combined.
- Spoon into 12 muffin cases, sprayed with a little spray oil.
- Place in the oven and bake for approx 25 mins, a skewer entered into the centre should come out clear.
- Once cooked, cover over with a clean tea towel while they cool down, this helps the cupcakes to stay nice and moist.
- Once cooled you can make the icing, combine the quark, icing sugar and orange extract, add a little bit of orange food colouring at a time until you have desired orange colour.
- Add this to a small sandwich bag on one side, then add the chocolate spread next to it in the bag, so you have a kind of strip of icing and a thin stripe of the chocolate spread cho(don't worry it doesn't need to be perfect.).
- Squeeze the bag, so that you push all the icing to one corner, then carefully snip off a small piece of the corner.
- You can then roughly pipe the icing onto the top of the cupcakes.
- Use a wooden skewer to make a rough marble swirl on the top of the cupcakes and add the sprinkles.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1 cupcakeAmount Per Serving Calories 92Total Fat 1.9gSaturated Fat 0.6gCholesterol 31.6mgSodium 187mgCarbohydrates 14.9gFiber 0.9gSugar 3.8gProtein 4.7g
Barb Thompson says
Hi, when using Surkin, do you use the same amount of it as you would caster sugar or less to get the required sweetness?
Kind regards
Barb Thompson
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
yes sukrin is used in equal amounts to sure.
Rye says
Hi there
Should the Cocoa Powder be the unsweetened version?
Thanks
Rye
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
yes cocoa powder is unsweetened. Do not use hot chocolate powder as that is a different product.