022 Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

Evening Belles! I thought I'd treat you to a little recipe post tonight, I love these cupcakes. Taken from the uber cool, Cox Cookies & Cake book, these are super sweet, super chocolatey, moist cupcakes. Being Mr B's firm favourite, they tend to pop up in our kitchen quite often! Not great for the waistline, but who cares when these taste so amazing?! If anyone hasn't grabbed a copy of the Cox Cookies & Cake book, I'd definitely recommend it. It has the perfect selection of cupcakes, sweet & savoury! Cookies to delight every taste bud and some super cute yet slightly cheeky decorating techniques. I couldn't resist buying the male torso and beach bum molds! 

Anyway, you'll need..

- 75g dark chocolate (broken into pieces)
- 200g unsalted butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 25g dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
- 25g cocoa powder
- 175g plain flour
- sprinkles, chocolate strands, marshmallows.. whatever you fancy to decorate!
 
for the icing you'll need..

- 200ml single cream
- 250g chopped dark chocolate
- 50g unsalted butter

1. To get started, pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper muffin cases.

2. In a large saucepan, melt together your butter and chocolate, use a medium heat to stop it from burning and stir continuously. Once its all melted together, take it off the heat and allow it a few minutes to cool down.

3. Next, stir in the sugar until its well mixed, if you're using a hand/stand mixer, mix on a medium speed. Add each egg, one at a time and mix them in until you have a smooth batter, sift in the baking powder, flour and cocoa powder and mix your batter until its super smooth, then fold in your chocolate chips and you're ready to go!

4. Divide the mixture between your paper cases, this mixture should make around 12 cupcakes, fill the cases about 2/3rds full, an ice cream scoop is usually the perfect amount for a cupcake case. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into one of your cakes comes out clean.

5. While your cupcakes are cooling, heat your cream in a saucepan on the hob, get it nice and hot but don't allow to boil, then pour it over your chopped chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until its nice and glossy. Mix in your butter and allow it cool, I sometimes add a little icing sugar and a little whole milk to take away the bitterness as it is a really bitter icing! It'll make it super sweet and easy to spread onto your cupcakes. Once it's cooled down, beat it with a hand/stand mixer until its super fluffy. I leave my icing in a stand mixer, mixing for ten minutes or so!

6. Once your cupcakes are completely cool, transfer them a wire rack and you're ready to decorate them! Spread the icing over the cupcakes evenly and then adorn them with your choice of topping! I chose sugar sprinkles and stars for mine to add a bit of colour!

7. Next, make a delicious cup of tea, read your favourite blog *ahem* and enjoy!


Would love to see some of your finished cupcakes!

Lots of love x