YUM Chocolate – is what you are currently thinking!

Chocolate is the heavenly ingredient that makes these cupcakes so perfect.

Ingredients:

300g plain flour

250g butter at room temperature

250g caster sugar

4 eggs

80g unsweetened cocoa powder

180ml hot water

115ml milk

115ml single cream

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp of baking powder

Whipped Cream

Shaved chocolate or Raspberries

Method

Set the oven to 180 Degrees Celsius and line the muffin or cupcake tray with the paper liners. When making these deliciously decadent cupcakes make sure you have four separate bowls, so that you can combine various mixtures separately. In bowl number one, add the milk and the cream, making sure you stir well. In the second bowl, you need to mix the cocoa with the hot water, please be careful as the water is hot. In addition, the smell may be so delicious that you may want to taste it, but refrain for a short while as you need this entire mixture to go into the final cupcake batter. In the third bowl, mix the plain flour, the small amount of salt and the baking powder. In the last bowl add the butter which has already reached room temperature and cream it together with the sugar, until you achieve a pale yet smooth consistency. Then add one egg at a time and beat until it is fully incorporated into the mixture, then repeat this step until you have used up all of the eggs. Once you have added the eggs, the you can add the contents of bowl number one, which is the milk and cream mixture. Then add 1/3 of the cocoa mixture and 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat thoroughly until the color is even. Repeat the last step until all the ingredients have been used up. Finally, carefully spoon the mixture into the paper cases making sure that each lining is 2/3 full as this will leave ample room for the cakes to the rise without making a mess of your oven.

These delicious cupcakes will only take 15 – 20 minutes to cook, however as you can see from my other recipes, I like to keep an eye on them whilst they are cooking as there is an extremely fine line between perfectly baked cupcakes and burnt to a cinder cupcakes. Once the cupcakes are ready you should be able to insert a skewer into the middle of the cupcake, when you take it out, it should be clean. Take your cupcakes out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes in the baking tray, then remove and place on a cooling rack. As these cupcakes are unbelievably rich, you will not need any rich butter cream or sugary fondant, as this can make the cupcake too overpowering. My suggestion is, once they are ready to serve, place a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream on the top with some chocolate shavings or with a fresh raspberry on top.

Voila, you have my Deliciously Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes.

Enjoy!