Orange you glad I bake cupcakes!! :)

While Jon and I sat eating a ball of chocolate That was shaped like an orange one evening, I thought to myself strawberries and chocolate have been done and done again! Cherries and chocolate equals a Black Forest type creation. I am not saying that orange and chocolate is some new flavor explosion that I totally created as my gift to the world, but how often do you come across this flavor in a bakery? Not as often as the previously mentioned usual suspects! So, I run the idea by Jill and I do a little brain storming! Should the frosting have orange in it or should I concoct an orange cake? How do I work in the chocolate?! Cake or frosting and vice versa! Then, I take a breath and decide to start simple! I already make a fabulous dark chocolate batter and if I am referencing the idea of the chocolate orange ball, chocolate needs to be the base and strongest flavor! Dark chocolate cake it is! Now that I am a fan of butter cream icing, I decide to let that be the base for the orange flavored icing. The big trend in baking is to bypass extracts and over processed ingredients! I mean if you are going pay hard earned money for a cupcake it better be made with the good stuff! I zest a fresh orange and juice it! Let me tell you, nothing is quite as delicious as a fresh Florida orange! I mix it all together in the Kitchen Aid and find that it creates a fabulously light icing with just a hint of orange flavor! The juice gave the icing a nice light orange color and as I piped the icing on to the dark cake the zest made a fantastic subtle appearance! I really am beginning to like this product development process! Oh, and I have found that practice is really making perfect! I have noticed that my cakes are beginning to be more consistent in shape and size post baking! Not to mention that I am getting all of this baking and frosting done during Magnus' nap time! I don't know why I thought this cupcakery idea was going to be so hard! I'm practically a professional!