A Spot of Baking - Chocolate Cupcakes

I went for a picnic yesterday with my girlfriends and decided to bake some cupcakes for the occasion. I love these chocolate cupcakes - so rich and indulgent. I added some honeycomb into the mixture but it all melted so i'm not sure that's really worth doing, although my friend did say she could taste it. If you want to leave out the ground almonds just replace it with the same amount of flour - equally, you can add more ground almonds and just put in less flour. I'd always go with a blend of flour and almonds for cupcakes though. Decorate it them how you like - the butter icing was melting in the heat so I poured the sprinkles on liberally to hide all manner of sins. 

Makes 10 large cupcakes 

Ingredients

175ml milk
100g dark chocolate (the more cocoa the better!)
125g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
125g self-raising flour
25g ground almonds
milk/dark chocolate chips (optional)
Honeycomb pieces (optional)

Icing:

300g icing sugar
100g unsalted butter
milk
40g cocoa powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Pour the milk, chocolate and third of the sugar into a bowl. Put the bowl on top of a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water in it. Put it over the lowest heat and allow to melt. Stir regularly. It may be necessary to take the bowl off the saucepan every now and then so as not to overheat. Once melted, set aside.

2. Put the butter in a bowl and beat until creamy with an electric whisk. Add the remaining sugar and vanilla and whisk until mixture is light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg, beating after each addition. You can add in a small amount of the flour at this point to avoid the mixture curdling. 

3. Using a metal spoon, add the flour and fold in three batches alternately with the chocolate liquid.  Add a handful of chocolate chips and a handful of honeycomb. 

4. Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 15 minutes or until the cakes spring back to the touch. 

5. Leave to cool before icing.

6. Add the butter and icing sugar and mix together. Add small amounts of milk at a time and whisk together until you get the desired consistency. Nothing worse than runny butter icing!! Once you reach the right consistency keep whisking until the icing is light.

7. Put into a piping bag and pipe in a circular, spiral motion.

8. Decorate!

If you've tried any of the recipes on this site I'd love to hear your feedback. I'm experimenting as much as you are!

A Spot of Baking - Brownies

It's the weekend, which means it's time to bake. Here is the best brownie recipe EVER, adapted from BBC good food's recipe. This is my go-to recipe, which has been successful on every attempt. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 185g unsalted butter
• 200g dark chocolate (if you can, use really good quality chocolate like Green & Blacks)
• 85g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 50g white chocolate chips
• 50g milk chocolate chips
• 2 handfuls of Cadbury Caramel Nibbles (be as liberal as you like)

• 3 large eggs
• 275g golden caster sugar

1. Cut butter into cubes and break chocolate into pieces and put both into a bowl. Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them. Make sure not to overheat. Now remove the bowl from the pan and leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.
2. Position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4 (most ovens take 10-15 minutes to heat up). Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base. 
3. Break eggs into a large bowl and tip in the golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is, so don’t lose heart. You’ll know it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume. Another check is to turn off the mixer, lift out the beaters and wiggle them from side to side. If the mixture that runs off the beaters leaves a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a second or two, you’re there.
4. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Continue until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like.
5. Hold a sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and sift the cocoa and flour, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly. Gently fold into the mixture. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, and a bit unpromising, but if you keep going very gently and patiently, it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Finally, stir in the white and milk chocolate chips and caramel nibbles until they’re dotted throughout.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, making sure you get it right into the corners of the tine. Put in the oven for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes. If there is only a slight wobble in the middle I usually take it out as it continues cooking whilst cooling and you don't want to overcook a brownie! The top should have a shiny, papery crust.
7. Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold, then, put into the fridge and leave for several hours or overnight. They need to be chilled in order to be able to cut them without falling apart. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares and finally into triangles. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Easter Cake

Easter, obviously, requires chocolate cake. I opted for Mary Berry’s Chocolate Fudge Cake and instead of the ganache she uses, I made a chocolate butter icing. I put all the mixture into a 20cm cake tin and cut the cake in half once it had cooled instead of faffing with two tins. It was very quick and easy to make and, like any good chocolate cake, can be made for all occasions. It definitely seems to please so if you’re a baking novice, this is worth a try!

Ingredients

50 g (2 oz) sifted cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water
3 large eggs
50 ml (2 fl oz) milk
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
100 g (4 oz) softened butter
275 g (10 oz) caster sugar

Chocolate butter icing

50g good-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

100g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

milk

To Decorate

Mini Eggs

Edible pearls

Yellow Sprinkles

Method

1 Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Grease a 20 cm (8 in) cake tin then line the base with baking parchment.

2 Blend the cocoa and boiling water in a large bowl then add the remaining cake ingredients and beat until the mixture has become a smooth, thickish batter. Divide the cake mix equally between the prepared tins and level the surface.

3 Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25–30 minutes or until well risen and the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack. Then cut carefully in half so you have two layers to sandwich together with butter icing.

4 For the butter icing melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (Do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the surface of the water.) Allow to cool. Beat the butter in a bowl until soft, then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the vanilla extract and beat again. Fold in the melted chocolate until completely incorporated (add a few drops of milk if the mixture is a little stiff).

5 Use half the butter icing to fill the cake and sandwich the layers together. Then use the remaining icing to cover the cake - top and sides. Finish by decorating how you wish, I have used mini eggs, yellow sprinkles and edible pearls.

Cake recipe is from Mary Berry's Baking Bible by Mary Berry, published by BBC Books, £25. Butter icing recipe from BBC Food.