The icing wasn't as stiff as I'd hoped, even after cooling in the fridge and whizzing in the blender, so I just kind of drizzled it over the cakes - as you can see in the picture. It was highly disappointing as I'd bought a cake decorating kit especially for this recipe, but happily it didn't impact the taste. Which is as phenomenal as the reviews on the original recipe suggested. It is a perfect mixture of cloying and fresh, and surprisingly, one of the bite-sized, teeny tiny cupcakes that my silicone cupcake tray makes could be enough. Don't hold me to that, though.
I used Jaffa oranges for this, just so I could name the final result "jaffa cupcakes." I don't think the brand of orange matters too much, though.
White Chocolate Jaffa Cupcakes
Make about 40 small cupcakes
For the sponge:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
4 eggs, separated
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
80g almonds
For the icing:
200g white chocolate
250ml cream, separated
Zest of 1 orange
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the zest and juice of two oranges and stir together.
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Beat the yolks together and add them to the cake batter, stirring thoroughly. Stir in the flour and baking powder.
Grind the almonds to a rough almond flour in a blender, and fold them through the batter.
Beat the egg whites until they hold their shape, and fold them gently into the batter.
Butter your baking tray if necessary, and half-fill each cupcake mould with the batter.
I over-filled the cups for my first batch, and ended up with twelve cupcakes with noses. (Yes, there are only ten in the picture. Some of them didn't quite make it.)
Bake at 180 degrees (360 Fahrenheit) for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool before frosting.
Make the icing:
Pour 200g white chocolate drops into a saucepan. Pour in enough cream to barely cover the chocolate, probably about 150ml. Over the lowest possible heat, turning off the heat sometimes if necessary, melt the chocolate into the cream, stirring constantly.
Once the chocolate is completely melted, grate the zest of one orange into the mixture.
Beat the remaining cream until thick and then fold it into the icing. Refrigerate until needed, and then pour over the cupcakes. This icing has a consistency somewhere between chocolate sauce and proper icing - it is stiff but doesn't hold its shape particularly well.
Some icing will most likely get on to your plate or tupperware; it can be easily removed by dipping your cupcake in it. Delicious.
