Side of Frosting

 

Calling all chocoholics! I am dedicating this recipe to the most obsessive chocoholic in my life… my mother! All that is needed to brighten her day is a bowl of this chocolate frosting and a large spoon…to be honest the spoon isn’t always necessary! 🙂

When it comes to chocolate cake, the dilemma for me was butter vs. vegetable oil. I tried both when developing this recipe and the clear winner was vegetable oil. It gave the cake a moist and light texture when compared to the butter base sponge. I prefer dark chocolate cake so I use a fair amount of cocoa powder which has a reputation for drying out sponge – another great reason to use oil. I love these cupcakes as they’re quick, simple and bake consistently every time.

Every baker needs a no fail chocolate cupcake recipe!

 

Recipe

Chocolate Cupcake
110g Plain Flour
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
55g Cocoa Powder
70ml Vegetable Oil
115g Caster Sugar
100g Light Brown Sugar
2 Eggs (room temp.)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
70ml Semi Skimmed Milk
85g Greek Yoghurt

Real Chocolate Frosting
100g Dark Chocolate
160g Unsalted Butter (room temp.)
260g icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Heavy Cream

Method

Chocolate Cupcake

• Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees (celsius) and line a cupcake tray with cake liners.
• In a bowl measure out your flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, measure out your vegetable oil and add your sugars. Mix together until combined (the mixture will have a ‘wet sand’ consistency).
• Add your eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Continue by adding your vanilla extract and mix.
• Add your greek yoghurt and continue to mix until fully combined. Follow with your milk, your cake batter will be quite runny at this stage.
• Slowly sift in your flour/cocoa mix in intervals, mixing between each addition.
• Spoon/pour your batter into your cupcake liners until 2/3 full.
• Bake on the top shelf of the oven for approx. 15-20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted*.
• When baked, remove from the cupcake tray immediately and leave on a wire rack to cool.

*I use large cupcake cases for this recipe so if you are using small ‘fairy’ cases you will need to reduce the baking time by a few minutes.

Real Chocolate Frosting

• Break your dark chocolate bar into squares and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in microwave until completely melted*. Set aside to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk your unsalted butter on a medium/high setting for 1 minute.
• Sift in 100g of your icing sugar and whisk until combined and smooth. Add in 1 tbsp of heavy cream and whisk. Repeat these stages a second time. Now add your vanilla extract and final 60g of icing sugar. Whisk on a medium/high setting for 1 minute (will be thick and creamy).
• Your melted chocolate should now be cooled. Slowly pour over your buttercream frosting and fold in with a spatula until fully combined and you have a thick chocolate frosting.
• Pipe and decorate your cupcakes as desired.

*I usually melt my chocolate in a 1000w microwave for 1 minute, stir and then usually continue for a further 30 seconds. If you are more comfortable, you can boil a pot of water on the hob and then place the bowl of chocolate over the pot. This is a much more controlled way of melting down chocolate.