Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

On Saturday just gone, Mr B and I had a gigantic pile of wood chips to spread around the front garden.

Obviously our first mistake was getting the wood chips and assuming they would spread themselves around (I really think gardening companies could boost their profit ten fold if they included a complimentary gardener to spread your wood chips or plant your 60 trees or what not....) and the second mistake was when I said 'no darling, I didn't have anything planned today, what did you need me to do?'

Silly silly girl.

Although in saying that it was lovely to spend the day outside doing something productive and the difference it has made to our front yard is amazing.

However I won't deny that around 3pm we came inside for a cup of tea and a snack and when we got back outside, my motivation was definitely hiding in the kitchen screaming 'please don't make me go back out there!!' It was just one of those situations where we should never have stopped because even though we only had maybe an hours worth of work left, it seemed like an eternity! But we stuck it out and I resisted the urge to say 'Ok so you can finish up out here, I'm going inside to do some baking / wash my hair / pass out from exhaustion.'

In all honesty, I've totally done that before.

When we finally did drag our weary, dusty bodies inside, I decided we could both use a treat, so I whipped up these Hot Chocolate Cupcakes for Mr B's lunches this week!

Now when I told Mr B I was going to make Hot Chocolate Cupcakes for his lunches, he was less than thrilled....when I say less than thrilled, I don't mean he was obviously disappointed, but he didn't do the little squeal, happy dance, spin around thing I did when I first read the recipe for them, which in hindsight I'm probably glad he didn't do.

Despite Mr B having a massive sweet tooth and the world's most awesome metabolism, he has occasionally been overheard saying that my baking is going to either
a) make all his teeth fall out
b) send him into a sugar coma from which he may never recover,
c) give him premature diabetes or
d) all of the above.

When it came to these cupcakes though, all of that was really neither here nor there because I knew I had him won over when I said they would be filled with toasted marshmallow fluff. I mean really, who is going to argue with that? And as it turns out, the recipe I used for the chocolate cupcakes was much more of a fudge cake so it didn't have a really rich chocolate flavour, which I think definitely worked in this combination.

This recipe makes around 15 cupcakes and you will need:

1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 tspn bicarb soda
1/2 tspn baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tspn vanilla essence

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Line and grease 2 x 12 cup muffin trays.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cocoa, plain flour, caster sugar, bicarb soda, baking powder and egg.

Add the buttermilk, water, oil and vanilla. Beat until smooth. The mixture will be runny at this stage, but don't worry about that.

Fill your muffin trays 2/3 full and bake for 20 mins or until set.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, remove from the trays and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Once they have cooled completely, use a teaspoon or a melon baller to scoop a hole in the top of your cupcake. You want it to be deep so you can cram as much filling as possible, but you have to be careful not to break your cupcake and make sure the sides and base are still nice and thick so they don't crack or split.

I brought a tub of toasted marshmallow fluff from the local bargain shop, but you can buy normal marshmallow fluff at the supermarket near the Nutella and sandwich spreads. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the marshmallow fluff into the centre of each cupcake.

Now for the chocolate frosting, you will need

125g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk at room temperature
2 tbspns cocoa

Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until butter is pale and creamy.

Gradually add about half the sifted icing sugar, beating constantly. Add milk gradually then gradually beat in the remaining icing sugar and cocoa.

Pipe or spread the frosting onto your cupcakes and sprinkle with mini marshmallows.

When Mr B got home from work today I asked him how these were and he said they were off the charts incredible.....and this coming from someone who doesn't necessarily like chocolate!! So go on, give them a try!

Mrs B xx