Truffled Grand Marnier Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with baking papers. Zest orange into large mixing bowl. Juice the orange for 1/4 cup juice. Add juice, Grand Marnier, water, oil, egg whites, and cake mix into the bowl with zest. Mix low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Fill each cupcake well a little under 2/3 full. Push a whole truffle into center. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when pushed. Allow cupcakes to cool on wire racks for about 1/2 hour.

To make the frosting, melt the chopped truffles in the top of a double boiler with a splash of Grand Marnier. Spread over cooled cupcakes. I had extra chocolate left over, so I just started pouring toward the end. Neat or messy, your choice!

You could very easily use chocolate cake mix or your own from scratch recipe. I had to use the box before it expired. Also, the truffles I used were the bagged kind, commonly found in holiday gift baskets. I haven’t tried this with homemade candies.