Really and truly this should be the best written, wittiest and most informative blog on the blogsphere ...... well if the amount of time I spend planning posts were anything to go by anyway!!!! When I can't sleep at night, I lay there and plan all sorts of wonderfulness to amuse and entertain you all - then life gets in the way and I don't even cook!!
Brownieville Princess was anxious to bake the other day (one of the many "I'm bored" moments - all new to me, a particular female trait I gather!!) Anyway with Dom's challenge in mind, I let her loose in the "cook book room" (I don't actually have a "cook book room", but I do have a room full of cook books!) to source a sweet treat - she lighted upon "Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery", and chose the Chocolate Cupcakes. These cupcakes would be great for icing as they remain nice and flat to accept whatever topping you wish .... unfortunately our impatience didn't allow the cupcakes to cool enough to ice ..... they were demolished in no time... at least I got to take a photo!!
Although they went down well with the children, I felt that they was a bit too much faffing about for what were very ordinary buns, nice but not really worth the effort - that said, the raw mixture was absolutely delicious!!
Chocolate Cupcakes
115g dark chocolate
85g butter
175g soft brown sugar
2 large eggs - separated
185g plain flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bread (bicarbonate of) soda
250g milk - room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 180 C/375 F
Line 16 cupcake holders
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and smooth.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with clean beaters, and when you have done this for several minutes add the yolk to the butter and sugar and beat well.
Add the melted chocolate to this mixture and beat well.
In another bowl (see what I mean about the faffing!!) combine the flour, baking powder and bread soda.
Add the vanilla extract to the milk.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and beat well.
Pour in 1/3 of the milk and beat again .... repeat these steps until everything combined.
In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture carefully, keeping as much air in there as you can.
Fill the prepared cupcake cases to 2/3 full and bake for about 20 minutes (depends on the size of your bun tray)
Insert a skewer to see if cooked through.
Allow to cool in their tin for 10 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.
The book says that they keep well .... I wouldn't know!!
