Vegan chocolate orange cupcakes, for Halloween

I feel like this post needs two disclaimers. The first is an apology to those of you who dislike chocolate-orange flavour combinations. I know there are a few of you out there. I beg forgiveness in the context of Halloween and all its orange glory!

The second disclaimer, though, is that I am not actually a fan of Halloween in Australia. This is sure evidence that I am turning into my mother, who has always held the view that it is an American tradition that Australia doesn't need to adopt. As a child, I thought this was utterly foolish. Why wouldn't we want a tradition that provides an excuse to dress up and obtain sweets and chocolates? Now, as an adult, I rather see her point. It is a bit dispiriting to see our supermarkets revel in another commercialised holiday.

And yet - I have made Halloween cupcakes. I am pretty sure that puts me on very low moral ground. I blame this on Workplace #2, which is hosting a Halloween cupcake morning tea tomorrow. I don't get very involved in workplace social events, but cupcake baking is something I can do.

Given my conflict between not really believing in Australian Halloween and nonetheless making Halloween baked goods, I was interested to read Wikipedia's entry on the history to Halloween celebrations. I hadn't realised that it stems from "All Hallow's Eve", the evening of All Hallow's or All Saints' Day, which is a Christian commemoration of those who have attained salvation in Heaven. Halloween may also have ties with Western European harvest festivals and/or pagan Celtic celebrations.

In light of the above, I have decided that I'm celebrating a harvest festival. My celebrations include chocolate orange cupcakes with chocolate liquorice spiders.

Hello!

These cupcakes are an orange twist on my standard, no-fail vegan chocolate cupcakes. They are very easy. I used orange juice in the cupcakes and orange essence in the icing, but you could be more consistent and use juice or essence for both components if you prefer. The decorations are also vegan, with the spiders consisting of Droste's 70% cocoa pastilles and finely sliced liquorice. They were very fun to make, even if they look a bit more like suns than spiders!

Chocolate orange cupcakes for Halloween

Vegan, fluffy and just slightly orange-y

Adapted from my chocolate cupcakes, which were in turn adapted from the Red Velvet Cake recipe in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Vegan Table

Makes 12 cupcakes

Print recipe

For the cupcakes:

Ingredients

Juice of 1 medium orange (~1/3 cup) (see note)

2/3 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond)

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup good quality cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Note. You want 1 cup of liquid, so adjust the milk amount depending on how much orange juice you get from your orange. If you don't have fresh oranges available, you can also use 1 cup milk and 1 - 2 tsp orange essence.

Method

Preheat oven to 180'C and prepare your cupcake tin.

In a medium bowl, combine the juice, milk, sugar, oil and vinegar, and beat with an electric beater on medium speed for 1 - 2 minutes.

Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and mix well. 

Bake for 20 - 22 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back slightly when touched.

For the icing:

Ingredients

50g non-dairy spread, at room temperature (I use Nuttelex)

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp orange essence

1/2 tbsp water

Method

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric beater on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

For the spider decorations:

Cut liquorice pieces into narrow spider-leg strips. Arrange eight 'legs' per cupcake and top with a chocolate medallion. Pipe on red eyes if desired.

What are your views on Halloween? What about chocolate-orange flavours?

For those of you on the east coast of North America, I also hope that you are safe and dry away from the worst of the weather systems - hopefully with plenty of Halloween food to keep you going.

This (non-food!) post is part of my Vegan Month of Food contributions for October 2012. 

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