As the weather has started to turn a bit chillier here, I felt it was time to bake something looking forwards to the cooler months. I’ve been slightly addicted to iced mochas this summer, so Mocha cupcakes seemed like the right transition from hot to cold.
As usual, this is a Hummingbird recipe that I’ve tweaked slightly to suit my own tastes and my oven etc.
Recipe:
240ml milk
15g hot chocolate powder
5g instant espresso powder
80g unsalted butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flower
1tbsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
2 large eggs
For the icing:
50ml milk
30g hot chocolate powder
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter
Chocolate to decorate
- Preheat the oven to 190C and line a muffin tin with cases.
- Start off by warming the milk up. Remove from the heat and stir in the hot chocolate and espresso powders until they are fully dissolved. Set this aside while you make the rest of the sponge.
- Blend together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter together until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. The softer the butter the easier this will be.
- Break the eggs into a jug with the milk mixture and whisk by hand. Then stir ¾ of the liquid into the flour mix and combine with an electric hand mix until you have a thick, smooth batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, pour in the remaining milk mixture and combine on a high speed until you have a really velvety batter.
- Divide the mix between your cases. Don’t fill them up too far or they won’t be as fluffy! Two thirds full is plenty.
- Bake in the oven for 18-20 mins or until they are risen and springy to the touch. Let your cakes cool completely before icing.
- To make the icing, warm the milk and stir in the hot chocolate powder. Then blend the icing sugar and butter together to create a fine, sandy mix. Add the hot chocolate and mix until you have a fluffy frosting.
- Decorate your cakes as you wish! Hummingbird suggest heart shaped chocolates, but I just went for chocolate shavings.
Crumbs. 