cupcakes: pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}: Warm my heart

Is it really Saturday already? Time is playing tricks.

Also it is really cold.

So make some hot chocolate cupcakes, turn on the heating and knit a new sweater, okay?

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

ingredients:
125g unsalted butter
125g sugar
100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain flour
75g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1 packet instant hot chocolate (sachet for a single cup)
150ml sour cream
50ml milk

Heat the oven to 170C. Line cupcake tin with papers—makes 16-18 average sized cupcakes.
Place chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt. Remove from heat.
Place softened butter in mixing bowl and beat until light.
Add sugar and mix until fluffy.
Add chocolate and mix until even.
Add eggs and vanilla and continue to mix, scraping sides of bowl with a spatula.
Add flour, baking powder and soda, mixing until well incorporated.
Add sour cream and stir through until no white streaks remain.
Sprinkle the hot chocolate packet across the top of the bowl, then add the milk and mix in. Depending on your hot chocolate, you may need slightly less or more milk, so just watch as you stir and add a little more if the batter is excessively thick.

Fill the cases just over halfway and bake for about 18 minutes, until a chopstick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for just a minute or two, then remove to cool on a rack. Beware—these cupcakes will sink in the centre as they cool. In fact, you can actually see this happen as you take them out of the oven. Once they are iced, it doesn’t matter anyway. But don’t let that think you’ve done something wrong. You haven’t.

You can ice these with vanilla cream (whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla and sugar mixed to taste) which really suits the hot chocolate feel, but I just fancied buttercream this week because I’ve been using fresh cream quite a lot recently. Ever since my local shop started carrying that random bit of americana called marshmallow fluff, I’ve been adding two big spoonfuls to my buttercream (which is just unsalted butter, icing sugar, a tiny bit of milk and a tiny bit of vanilla extract all mixed together) and it is smooth and sweet without being marshmallowy. So there ya go.

xlovesx

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