Delicious Chocolate Cupcake

These chocolate cupcakes are super simple and extremely yummy. They don't take very long and so are perfect if you want to bake but don't have much time. They are light and fluffy with the perfect amount of chocolatiness.

Secret Ingredient

My secret ingredient in this recipe is a cup of coffee. Don't worry, you won't be able to taste the coffee, it just adds to the texture. The coffee really compliments the cocoa and brings out the flavour of the chocolate which makes it richer. It also adds a lot of moisture which means the cake does not go dry and keeps for longer than most cakes. I add a cup of black coffee or 250ml. Make sure to leave to cool so it doesn't cook the eggs too soon.

Fats

Any vegetable or flavourless oil will do perfectly, such as canola oil. The oil adds even more moisture to the cake and therefore the cake ends up having a lovely texture.

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Chocolate Cupcakes (Makes 24)

Ingredients:

Cake Batter

· 350g Self-Raising Flour

· 360g Caster Sugar

· 70g Cocoa Powder

· 250ml Black Coffee (room temperature)

· 100ml Milk

· 250ml Vegetable Oil

· 3 Eggs

Buttercream

· 200g Unsalted Butter

· 200g Icing Sugar

· 20g Cocoa Powder

· 70g Milk Chocolate

· Splash of Milk (only if necessary)

Instructions:

Cake Batter

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Fill 2 cupcake trays with large cupcake cases.

2. In a large bowl, sieve the flour, sugar and cocoa powder and mix until fully incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, oil, coffee and milk together.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.

5. Pour the batter into a large jug and then fill cupcake cases.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second intervals until fully melted.

2. Whisk the unsalted butter for around 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Slowly sift in the icing sugar around 100g at a time and whisk in between until all the icing sugar has been whisked in.

4. Then sieve in the cocoa powder and pour in the chocolate and whisk again.

5. Use a piping bag to pipe stars or swirls on the cupcake. Top with sprinkles of your choice.