I always love trying out new recipes whether its something completely new such as the DIY Oreo Cookies I baked last year or whether its just a different take on a chocolate cupcake recipe. Back in February I visited My Cupcake Addiction - my go to place for new baking ideas and I found several different Cupcake recipes (which isn't hard on a baking blog) and I soon whittled it down to my favourite recipe - which I new wouldn't be too complicated and that we had most of the ingredients for (I did put my own spin on parts of the american recipe as we don't have things such as candy canes unless its Christmas)
The Hot Chocolate Cupcakes With Marshmallow Buttercream:
The cupcakes took me about 30 minutes to prepare and 18-20 minutes to bake. The ingredients make around 26-28 cupcakes - obviously depending on how much mixture you use in each cupcake case. The ingredients were originally measured in Cups but I've converted them into grams as its more a common measurement in the UK.
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
280g of Plain Flour
450g of Caster Sugar
62g of Cocoa Powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
225ml (1 Cup) of Milk
225ml (1 Cup) of Hot Water
225ml (1 Cup) of Vegetable Oil
Buttercream:
168g Unsalted butter, softened
1 container (198g/7oz) Marshmallow Fluff
140g of Icing Sugar
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
Toppings and Decorations:
Mini Marshmallows
Chocolate Chips
Method:
Cupcakes:
1) Preheat the oven to 240 degrees. Line at least two muffin tins with Cupcake Cases and set them both aside.
2) Using a large bowl, combine all your dry ingredients which includes the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Ensure you mix well.
3) Add in the vanilla extract, eggs, milk and vegetable oil and whisk together until the mixture is smooth. Pour in the hot water and whisk the mixture again. The batter will be very thing.
4) Tip the batter from the bowl into a measuring jug to pour into the cupcake cases. Ensure each case is about 3/4 full in order to leave room for the cakes to rise.
5) Bake in the preheated oven for around 18-20 minutes and allow to cool before decorating.
Buttercream:
For the icing if you aren't including the marshmallow fluff you can either follow the instructions on the back of the icing sugar box or you can follow this recipe but adjust it to the ingredients you are using.
1) Whisk the softened butter with an electric mixer until its smooth and creamy
2) Add in marshmallow creme and beat the mixture until the two ingredients are fully combined.
3) Add in the vanilla extract and then sift in the icing sugar - then whisk the mixture until it's smooth.
Toppings and Decorations:
1) Once you've topped the cupcakes with frosting, sprinkle the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips over each individual cupcake - ensuring you use a generous amount of each.
I love this recipe because you can adjust the decorations to the things you like or the ingredients you have in your household - If you don't like marshmallows perhaps use silver balls or chocolate flakes?
"Sometimes you just need to eat a cupcake with lots of icing and get over it"
Enjoy!
Alice x
