The Cake Slice: Orange Cake with Chocolate Cointreau Sauce

I cheated a bit with this month's cake, but it was a cheat out of necessity. The original cake was an Orange Almond Caramel Upside-Down Cake. We didn't have almonds and I didn't care to buy because Alex isn't a big fan of almonds in his desserts and if I wanted him to eat the majority of this cake, then I had to forgo the almonds. So instead of the cake having almonds and being an upside down cake, I made the cake into cupcakes with a chocolate Cointreau sauce. The sauce was perfect for dipping and the right consistency for balancing and adding a new flavor dimension to the cake; I think a glaze would have overpowered the delicate orange flavoring of the cake. What I got was a perfect orange cake that was not drowned out by the chocolate. Alex said the cupcake reminded him of those Chocolate Orange Balls. I thought the cupcake was light and refreshing.

Make sure to head over to The Cake Slice's blogroll to see what everyone else did with this month's cake. 

Orange Cake with Chocolate Cointreau Sauce
Source:  Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman
Makes 6 cupcakes

For the cake
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 large eggs
2 Tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest (I used zest from a mandarin)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line six of the cavities of a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Combine the sour cream, eggs, orange juice and vanilla in a glass measuring cup and beat lightly.

Combine the butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Stir in the orange zest.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture and combine.

Pour the cake into the cupcake cavities and bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan and cool to room temperature before dipping in sauce.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

For the sauce
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp Cointreau

In a small bowl over medium-low heat, melt together the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and stir in Cointreau.

Note: the longer the sauce sits, the thicker consistency it will have so you can either dip the cupcakes right away or wait until the sauce thickens and use a knife to spread the sauce on the cupcakes.