chocolate cupcakes...

Lately I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, baking! On Sunday I made these gorgeous chocolate cupcakes which you may have already seen on my twitter or instagram, but I thought I'd blog about them too!

I (mostly) followed a recipe from the Primrose Bakery cupcake book, which I'll pop in below with my amendments, and then I used my Wilton 1M nozzle to ice the cakes, then sprinkled on gold stars and glitter on half the cakes, then chocolate and pink hearts with silver glitter on the others. I got most of these decorations from eBay, but the pink hearts are Lakeland. My friends have been trying to convince me to open my own cupcake business which I am seriously considering at the moment... exciting times!

Primrose Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes - The Helen way!

(makes around 12 regular cupcakes, 24 fairy cakes or 48 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients

 115g good quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)

85 unsalted butter

175g soft brown sugar

2 large eggs, free- range or organic, separated

185g plain flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

250ml semi- skimmed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170c (fan)/ 190c/ 375F/ gas mark 5 and line two twelve hole muffin trays.

2. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt - you can do this either over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave. Stir until it is completely melted and is smooth. Leave this to cool slightly.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth. In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks for several minutes and slowly add to the butter mixture and beat well. Beat in the melted chocolate.

4. Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl. Pour the milk into a jug and add the vanilla extract to it. Add a third of the flour to the chocolate mixture and beat well. Pour in a third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk has been added.

5. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter. Do not beat or you will take all the air out of the mixture.

6. Carefully spoon the cupcake mixture into cupcake cases, filling them to about two thirds full. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out of the cake clean. Remove from the oven and leave them in their tins for ten minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool. Ice the cupcakes once they are completely cool.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Ingredients
   175g good quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
225g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon semi- skimmed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g icing sugar, sifted

Method

1. Melt the chocolate as before, until it's a thick pouring consistency; completely melted and smooth. Leave to cool slightly.

2. Beat the butter, milk, vanilla and icing sugar together until smooth with an electric hand mixer. Add the chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy.

3. Frost the cupcakes and decorate!

What do you think of my cupcakes? Will you be trying this recipe out?