Orange you glad I said chocolate?

 Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

I remember seeing oranges made of chocolate, and tasted a lot like oranges as well. That's what i thought of when I saw this recipe, on page 173, in the book "The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, the Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Baker". The recipe calls for which makes 12 cupcakes:

• 3 tbsp dutch-process cocoa powder (or just regular cocoa powder)
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 orange
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled at room temperature

Frosting Recipe:

• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners' (icing) sugar

I first mixed the cocoa into the hot water until it dissolved and set it aside, and sifted the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. I then used the fine rasps of a handheld grater and grated the zest into the bowl. 
In another bowl, i whisked together the eggs and the granulated sugar until it was well combined, and whisked in the vanilla extract and buttermilk. After that, I poured in the dissolved cocoa from before.

Once the melted butter was cooled, i poured it into the egg mixture and then added in the flour mixture. 

I then poured the batter into the cupcake tins and popped that into the oven for 15-20 minutes and let them cool for 5 minutes before I started on the frosting. The recipe calls for melted chocolate, but instead of melting the chocolate I cooked it. Since i didn't have anymore chocolate to melt, nor the patience, so I substituted the melted chocolate with chocolate syrup. Once I       mixed all the ingredients with the chocolate 
syrup, I put it into the pastry bag and piped it on the cupcakes. The butter didn't mix well with the chocolate syrup, but the frosting still worked out.  

The cupcake was pretty dry, and the zest particles were too big, so I would recommend to use a finer handheld grater. But with the chocolate syrup instead of the melted chocolate, the frosting was much better with the dry cupcake. In the end, I wouldn't recommend this recipe unless you love orange flavored chocolate. 

Do any of you guys like chocolate flavored with something else, such as orange flavored chocolate? And would any of you guys try out this recipe?