Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

It's that time of the year, folks. The house at Seameadow is filling up with family in anticipation of the fourth of July.

Now, in years past this meant that for two weeks I would be run off my feet cooking, shopping and cleaning up after anywhere from six to twenty-six people. Me. One person solo.

But THIS year we've got a house full of home health aides too. And these lovely, lovely ladies double as scullery maids and waitresses. I put a dirty whisk in the sink and within ten minutes it's clean and back in its place.

It goes without saying that I show my love by feeding them tasty treats, and we have a mutually beneficial relationship as far as I'm concerned.

What I'm trying to say is that this year more than ever I can focus on just the food. (well, that, and organizing projects for the idle talkers) And this week one of the desserts-for-a-crowd that I focused on was Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting.

I rarely make cupcakes and I'm not sure why. The batter is pretty darn simple, they don't take long to cook, and frosting each individual cake is only a minor pain. In fact, the only trouble I had with this recipe is that I forgot to put the chocolate chips in.

Go without? No way! I just dumped them on top by the teaspoon...



...and mixed them in.

And can I just ask a question? Why, would somebody please tell me, would anybody want to use store-bought canned frosting when you could use chocolate ganache as frosting instead? This is a deep mystery to me.



Trust me, they taste as good as they look.