Thursday 12 April 2012

Froggy Chocolate Cupcakes, perfect for school holiday fun


I absolutely love cupcakes, they are fun to make and decorate. With the first lot of school holidays at our doorstep I thought I would share this easy recipe. They are perfect for making with help from the kids.

Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
½ cup Devonport Chocolates cocoa powder
1 ¾ cups plain flour
1 ½ cups of sugar
1 ½ tsps baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
2 large eggs
¾ cup warm water
¾ cup buttermilk (normally found next to premade custards in the fridge in the supermarket)
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup Devonport Chocolates 70% callets
Whipped Milk Chocolate Ganache:
250ml pouring cream
410g Devonport Chocolates Callets Milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line muffin tins with muffin liners and set aside (makes 18-24)
Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, sunflower oil, vanilla and chocolate drops and mix until smooth. Remember to scrape down the sides ensuring it is well mixed. Divide cupcake mix among muffin cups and fill approximately 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back approximately 15-20 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to let cool.
When cupcakes are completely cool make the ganache.
Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan then remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the cream and chocolate are combined.
Put ganache in a bowl, cover and put in the fridge for minimum half an hour – I put mine in for one hour.
Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, if mixture warms up again (my kitchen is particularly hot) put it back in the fridge briefly.
Put mixture in a piping bag with a star piping tip.
Get all of the air out of the piping bag and starting at the outside edge of the cupcake swirl into the middle. Decorate with your favourite chocolate treat, I used our chocolate frogs available in our Devonport Chocolates Stores.