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Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Here is the recipe for my moist and delicious chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes are great to pipe flowers on to but my favourite is to inject Biscoff into the centre of them! enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 180g Butter or margarine

  • 3 Eggs

  • 180g Caster sugar

  • 140g Self-raising flour

  • 40g Cocoa Powder

  • 2 tbsp full fat mik

  • 2 tbsp oil

  • Flavourings of your choice

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 160C/320F/ GAS MARK 3 or 140C/284F fan. Line your muffin tin with muffin cases.

Use your stand mixer with the whisk attachment or a hand mixer. Mix butter, sugar, and your flavourings on high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the bowl's sides halfway through. This is called the creaming stage

Add flour, Cocoa powder, eggs, milk, and oil. Mix for 2 more minutes until you have a glossy smooth cake batter. Use a large ice cream scoop to add one scoop of cupcake mix to each muffin case.

Cook in the centre of the oven for approximately 25 minutes. All ovens vary so be sure to check on the cupcakes through the glass after 20 minutes cooking

Remove from the oven and leave the cupcakes in the tray for 30-60 seconds, then transfer them onto a wire rack to cool down.

Once cool, decorate them or store in a zip lock bag/Tupperware box and freeze until needed.

Flavour Variations

  • Chocolate vanilla: 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract per 12 cupcakes.

  • Biscoff: Use an apple corer or a sharp knife to remove a small amount of the centre of the cupcake and pipe Biscoff directly into the centre of the cupcake

  • Nutella: Use an apple corer or a sharp knife to remove a small amount of the centre of the cupcake and pipe Nutella directly into the centre of the cupcake

  • Chocolate caramel: Use an apple corer or a sharp knife to remove a small amount of the centre of the cupcake and pipe caramel directly into the centre of the cupcake

  • Chocolate Orange: Juice of one orange plus finely grated rind per 12 cupcakes, added in the final mixing stage. Or 2 teaspoons of orange extract added at the creaming stage.

  • Mint choc chip: Add peppermint extract to taste during creaming stage. Fold 150g of dark chocolate chips into the mixture at the end. Coat your chocolate chips in flour first, this helps to stop them sinking to the bottom of the cupcake case

  • Chocolate Chip: 150g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (a combination of milk and white works best), folded in after mixing. Coat your chocolate chips in flour first, this helps to stop them sinking to the bottom of the cupcake case.

FAQs

My cupcake cases are peeling. What did I do wrong?

Sometimes it can be due to using low-quality cupcake cases. I only ever use Dr Oetker muffin cases as they are great quality. Most of the time the cupcakes haven’t been baked long enough or you left them in the tin to cool for too long.

My cupcakes are TOO dark when they come out of the oven, what went wrong?

Everyone’s ovens are slightly different. The issue can also be that your oven is running hotter than the setting you put it on. Invest in a thermometer that goes inside your oven to ensure your temperature is accurate.

My cupcakes have sunk when I removed them from the oven. How can I stop this?

If they are sinking, they are underbaked. You need to check your oven temperature is accurate, and if it’s not, adjust accordingly. Make sure you don’t remove them from the oven too early or open the oven door during cooking.

What size muffin case should I use?

I use Dr Oetker muffin cases which are the following measurements:

Base 5cm wide

Top 8cm wide

Height 4cm

I can’t get self-raising flour in my country, what can I do?

You need to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to your plain all-purpose flour, per 12 cupcake mix.

How do I make this dairy-free?

Use margarine instead of butter and oat milk instead of cow's milk.

How can I make the cupcakes gluten-free?

Substitute flour for gluten-free flour. Add in 1/4 xantham gum per 250g of flour to help bind the ingredients together.

How many trays of cupcakes can I bake at once?

This depends on your oven size but for a standard home oven I would only ever bake 2 trays at a time. In the middle of the oven. If you bake them at the top they will overcook and baking them at the bottom means they will be undercooked.

The tops of my cupcakes are slightly hard, is this normal?

Yes! These cupcakes will form a slight crust (like bread when it forms a crust) but once you’ve flat iced your cupcake, this will completely soften the top. You could also use a small amount of sugar syrup on top. Freezing the cupcakes will also soften the top. Please don’t be put off by the top having a slight “crust”. All cakes do.

My cupcakes have risen over the top of the cases when baking. What happened?

You’ve put too much batter in the cases. You want to make sure the cupcake cases are no more than 2/3 full.

I really hope you enjoy making these cupcakes. Do let me know how you get on in the comments section below.

Kirsty x