After making some semi successful fondant flowers for Miss A's Birthday, I began baking Mud(Cup)Cakes!
Mini Mud Cakes - Makes 36 Cupcakes
(adapted from Exclusively Food)
Ingredients
200g Dark Cooking Chocolate
100g Milk Cooking Chocolate
250g Salted Butter
1 tsp of Instant Coffee (As a non coffee drinker I could really taste the coffee in the raw batter but I didn't notice it after it was cooked, I'm sure it could be left out if that was preferred!)
2 1/2 cups of Plain Flour
1/3 cup of Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda (baking soda)
2 1/2 cups of Caster Sugar (I almost died when I saw the amount of sugar going into this, it makes my teeth ache and my thighs cringe just thinking about it, lucky you only have one little cupcake)4 large Eggs (with a minimum weight of 59g)
2 tablespoons of Oil (I used sunflower oil)
1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Bean Paste
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Buttermilk (I didn't have buttermilk, but I found this substitution -place 2 teaspoons of lemon juice in a half cup (125 ml capacity), then fill with milk. The mixture should develop a curdled appearance similar to that of buttermilk)
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Line muffin trays with paper cupcake cases.
Place chocolate, butter and coffee in a large saucepan and melt over a low heat, stirring occassionally. Once melted, allow to cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda together and then add the caster sugar, mix well to combine.
In a medium bowl, place eggs, oil, vanilla and buttermilk and beat together until well combined
(I prefer to use a manual egg beater, but a whisk is more than fine).
Create a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and then add the egg mixture. Stir until well combined.
Gradually add the chocolate/butter mixture to the rest of the ingredients, stirring until well combined.
Spoon mixture into patty cases until they are 2/3s full.
Bake for about 35 minutes. Insert a thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer into the centre one of the cakes to test whether it is cooked through. If the knife/skewer comes out clean or with moist crumbs attached, the cupcakes are ready.
Set on a wire rack to cool. While the cupcakes are cooling you can prepare the icing.
Chocolate Butter Cream
Ingredients
1/3 cup of Butter, softened
2 1/2 cups Icing Sugar, sifted
1/3 cup of Cocoa, sifted
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Milk
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat using an electric hand beater.
Once the cupcakes have cooled, decorate as preferred.
Enjoy!
xo
