The best ever Chocolate Cup Cakes

Now there are a few reasons why l never bake Chocolate Cupcakes, a) my children don't like chocolate (sacrilege I know) and b) I've never found a recipe that i've been completely happy with. Well that all changed last week when l stumbled across this recipe, my husband ate five of them in a row.

I adapted this recipe, but for the life of me I can't find the original one anywhere.

I made these for a Hen's day dessert buffet, here are a few other photos of the buffet.

The recipe makes 12

230g butter

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup boiling water

2 cups self raising flour

2 cups of sugar

1/2 cup butter milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 180'c

In saucepan melt butter, add cocoa to the melted butter and stir. Add in boiling water and let it boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together flour and sugar. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix together just until combined.

In a separate bowl combine buttermilk and eggs and beat. Add in vanilla and mix together well.

Pour into chocolate mixture and mix well.

Roses upon Roses

It's my son Coopers last day at day care today, he is so excited but unfortunately l don't think he realises that when he starts school he's not going to have wonderful hot lunches and be able to play all day! I hope it isn't too much of a shock for him.

I decided to make a cake to say thank you for the carers, they take care of him like he was their own.

The cake is a vanilla butter cake, I was given this recipe from a lady l went to cake school with. I have had the recipe sitting in my to make basket for quite some time, after making it I can't believe l waited so long to make it.

Vanilla Butter Cake

Heat Oven to 180 deg / 160 fan forced cooking time around 50 - 55 mins

Grease and 8" round tin

220 gr caster sugar

250gr softened butter

250gr plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 teaspoons of baking powder

3 eggs at room temperature

125 mls buttermilk at room temperature

Beat butter until soft and fluffy for a minute or so, then start adding the caster sugar gradually so as not to choke the butter.

Cream the butter and sugar together

Then add the vanilla extract.

Add the eggs one by one beating well after each addition.

Add the sifted flour and baking powder

Fold in the flour gently by hand using a metal spoon, alternating with the addition of the buttermilk.

I also used this recipe to make this Mickey Mouse Cake.

Enjoy!

Y x

Australia Day Lamingtons

Australia Day apart from being a great long weekend is our national day where we commemorate the landing of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788. We typically celebrate it with a BBQ with plenty of sausages (snags) and chops and lots of fresh salads and following lunch and abundance of Pavlova topped with freshly whipped cream and fruit.

So in preparation for Australia day l made some Lamingtons, Lamingtons are delicious squares of sponge cake that are covered in Chocolate Icing and Coconut. Lamingtons started to appear in recipe books in the early 1900's and were named after Charles Wallace Baillie, Lord Lamington. He was the governor of Queensland from 1895-1901.

Now if you have never heard of Lamington's l urge you to try them!

Chocolate Lamington Recipe
ingredients
120g butter
2/3 Cup Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Cups Self Raising Flour
Vanilla Extract or Essence
Pinch Salt

Chocolate Icing
1 2/3 Cups of Icing Sugar
4 Tblspns Cocoa
Boiling Water
Vanilla Extract or Essence
Dessicated Coconut (shredded)

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F Grease and flour a shallow square cake tin.

Beat Butter and Sugar until light and creamy. Add Vanilla. Beat in Eggs, one at a time. Sift Flour and Salt together. Add alternately to mixture with the Milk. Mix lightly to form a soft mix.

Spoon into the Cake tin and bake for approx. 1/2 hour or until cake is cooked. When cold, cut into uniform sized squares.

Dip each square of Cake in the Chocolate Icing (see below) and then roll in the Coconut. Set aside for the Icing to set.
Tip - place a square of sponge cake on the end of a fork prior to dipping. This will be less messy as you need to completely cover each square in Chocolate and then Coconut.

Chocolate Icing
Sift Icing Sugar into a bowl. Blend Cocoa with the Boiling Water to make a smooth paste. Mix into the Icing Sugar, adding a little more boiling water at a time, if needed. Add Vanilla. The Icing should be the consistency of pouring cream, for ease of dipping.

Enjoy!

Y x