Initially I was going to go in way over the top with chocolate curls, mini marshmallows and a whipped cream frosting. Then I changed my mind and decided I was going to go with a melt in the middle style cupcake incased in a thick frosting and decorated with mini marshmallows to reflect how they're served in cafes. And then they failed miserably so I changed tactic again which is where these little beauties came from. Now please ignore the fact the cases have come away from the edges, they're the only ones that do that when I bake and I'm trying to use them up so I don't have them stuck in my collection any longer. What I would like you to focus on is the light, moist chocolate sponge infused with chocolate chips for bit, topped with marshmallow buttercream and chocolate shavings.
Ingredients
For The Cupcakes
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Stork/Margarine
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 20g Cocoa Powder
- 50g Milk Chocolate Chips
For The Buttercream
-170g Unsalted Butter
- 256g Icing Sugar
- 3 Tsp Double Cream
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Jar of Fluff
Method
1- Pre heat your oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- Into your bowl place the caster sugar and the stork. Beat using either a stand mixer or wooden spoon until it's smooth, creamy and light in colour.
3- Once it's the right consistency, add one egg and a tablespoon of flour into the mix and beat until incorporated. This usually takes me a few minutes as I like to scrape around the sides to make sure everything gets beaten into the mixture.
4- Repeat again with the second egg, another tablespoon of flour and beat until smooth.
5- Gently fold the rest of the flour into the mix, making sure to take your time so you don't knock any air out of the mixture. I have a bad habit of upping the speed to get the mixture done quicker but slow and steady is a much better approach if you want light, fluffy cakes.
6- Then it's time to add the cocoa powder. Now usually I chuck it in and go hell for leather with the mixer but this time, I used a slower setting and folded it in so I didn't knock any air out of the mixture.
7- Keeping the mixer (if you're using one) on a slow speed, gradually add your chocolate chips. Keep your mixer on the same slow speed until they are fully incorporated into the mix.
8- Before spooning your mixture into the cases, I'd advise taking a silicone spatula and gently folding through the mixture one final time to make sure everything is fully incoporated and will bake evenly.
9- Then spoon equally between your paper cases and bake for 15-18 mins. You'll know when they're cooked as they'll spring back after you touch them and a skewer will come out clean.
10- Once they're cooked, place on a wire cooling rack to cool. I'd advise to cover them with a clean tea towel to keep them from drying out as you make the icing.
11- The icing recipe I found from aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com and am in no way trying to claim it as my own.
12- Place unsalted butter into a bowl and beat until it's soft, light in colour and fluffy in texture. I found this took a while and the sides of the bowl needed scraping around several times.
13- Then sift the icing sugar into the bowl, little by little and beat until smooth. I continued to scrape around the edges as I added the icing sugar so that nothing was left sitting on the sides of the bowl.
14- Once the mixture is smooth and all the icing sugar has been added, pour in one teaspoon of vanilla extract and three teaspoons of double cream. Beat again until smooth and fully incorporated.
15- Then comes the fun part. Spoon the entire jar of Fluff into the mix and beat until fully incorporated and smooth. Be careful not to get that Fluff all over you or clothes as it's like cement and will make anything stick together. The spoons I used to add it to the mixture literally had to be pried apart for me to wash them.
16- Now it's time to pipe the mixture onto your cupcakes. I used a medium sized nozzle to create a decent amount of icing onto each cake. You may find that you have quite a bit of icing left over, depending on how much you put on your cakes. I personally had a load left even after being generous on the cakes. So I piped the rest into a tupperware tub and put it in the freezer to use on another bake.
17- Then to finish the cakes off, I grated a little bit of milk chocolate over the top of the buttercream and left them to set on the wire cooling rack.
18- And all that's left now is to share them with your family and friends, or enjoy them all to yourself.
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