In recognition of Chocolate Week (any excuse would do really), I decided to try my hand at making double chocolate cupcakes. Although I’ve made various chocolate based cakes in the past (chocolate Swiss roll was my specialty as a child), this was my first time making chocolate cupcakes.
The recipe is quite different from other cupcakes I’ve made, mostly due to there being no eggs and no butter in this recipe, but it turned out surprisingly well. The cupcakes were moist and chocolaty but not too chocolaty. I used the Super Moist Chocolate Cupcakes recipe from Simply Recipes and modified it slightly based on the ingredients I had in my kitchen at the time.
Double Chocolate Cupcakes
This is an American recipe so the measurements are in cups rather than grams. I don’t like cooking using these kinds of measurements so next time I’ll convert everything to grams. Unfortunately it didn’t cross my mind to do that until I started writing out the recipe but I won’t make that mistake again.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 vanilla bean (slice lengthways to remove beans)
6 tablespoons olive oil
Method:
Put everything in a bowl and mix with an electric mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into cupcake papers until 3/4 full and cook in a moderate oven (180 degrees) for 18 to 20 minutes. Make the icing while the chocolate cupcakes are cooling.
Icing
This is the double part of the recipe.
Ingredients:
80g butter
Icing sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder
vanilla beans (or extract)
Method:
I didn’t include exact measurements for the icing because it’s something I never measure, preferring to just play around with it until I get a flavour and texture I like. Start by creaming the butter in an electric mixer (I use my trusty Kitchenaid) until it becomes pale in colour. Add the icing sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla. Once the taste and texture is to your liking, top your cupcakes with a generous topping of icing.
