Rich Chocolate Almond Cupcakes
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(0 votes)
Difficulty:
easy
Difficulty
Preparation:
1 hr
Preparation
Ingredients
for
15
- For the cupcakes
- 1 cup butter (scant)
- 1.333 cups plain Dark chocolate (60% cocoa solids, chopped)
- 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar (scant)
- ⅜ cup hot water
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cups self-rising flour (sifted)
- For the topping
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp milk
- To decorate
- white chocolate (coarsely grated)
- plain Chocolate (60% cocoa solids)
- Milk chocolate (30% cocoa solids; coarsely grated)
- chopped almonds
- white Chocolate ball
- snowflake Sugar decoration
Preparation steps
1.
For the cupcakes: heat the oven to 170°C (150° fan) 325°F gas 3. Place paper cases in 12-15 bun tins.
2.
Melt the butter, chocolate, sugar and hot water together in a large pan, stirring occasionally, then set aside to cool slightly.
3.
Stir the eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, then stir in the chocolate mixture until smooth.
4.
Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20 minutes until firm. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely.
5.
For the topping: beat the butter in a bowl until soft. Sift in half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
6.
Sift in the remaining icing sugar and cocoa powder and stir until combined. Add 1 tablespoon of the milk and beat until creamy. Beat in more milk if necessary to loosen the icing.
7.
Spoon into a piping bag and pipe on top of the cakes.
8.
Sprinkle some of the cakes with the grated chocolate and chopped almonds and decorate others with chocolate balls and sugar snowflakes.
