Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Her belly is burgeoning and her face is glowing. The little guy inside seems well behaved enough, we're excited to meet him, but mostly we're just curious about what color hair he will have!

In honor of the dueling hair colors, these cupcakes seemed like the perfect treat for the party (that we threw over a month ago. This is procrastination of noteworthy proportions!)

Orange only seemed appropriate (because of daddy of course) but how can you pass up chocolate? I mean really . . . especially when the recipe is as easy and delicious as this:

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CUPCAKES
1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
Replace Water with Orange Juice
Replace Oil with Grape Seed Oil (this adds a unique flavor and is a much healthier option, but vegetable oil will work just fine if that's what you have on hand)
1/2 Orange Zested
 

Wash your hands. Follow box directions with the added and replaced ingredients.

ORANGE ZEST ICING
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
8 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
3 Tablespoons Orange Juice (add more juice if needed. If you're going to pipe on the icing, make sure the icing is a pretty thick consistency).
1 Orange Zested (or to taste)

Again, wash your hands. If you're anything like me you've just finished licking the batter off your fingers. Next, whip that butter up nice and fluffy. Then add the powdered sugar gradually. Mix in the zest, juice etc. until you reach your desired consistency and taste. If you want it more orange-y but it's gotten too thin, add powdered sugar. (When I do this, it's just one big long game of guess and check...) Use a round piping tip to pipe the icing. To be extra fancy, zest an additional orange for garnish and sprinkle a little raw sugar on top.

And there you have it. Easy peasy! I also tried this same recipe with grapefruit and a white cake mix. Results were excellent! Maybe we'll try strawberry next . . . can you zest a strawberry?

I can't wait to see this little guy. Congrats to mom and dad!