For Christmas I was given a calendar which has not only a picture of a different type of cupcake each month, but also the recipe for how to make it. This has inspired me to bake some cupcakes each month, based on the recipe in the calendar for the month. Now, I never follow recipes exactly, for various reasons such as I don’t have all the ingredients in when i want to bake or I prefer another ingredient from the one stated, so each month’s cupcake won’t be exactly as on the calendar, rather it will be my personal take on it. In fact when I shared with Tom my plan to bake cupcakes from the calendar each month but clarified that they would be adapted from the original recipe, he said: “Oh good, for a minute there I thought you were telling me you were going to follow a recipe, shocking!”
I didn’t get around to starting this monthly feature until February because I left the calendar at my parents’ house where we stayed over Christmas – we had so much stuff to take back that it wouldn’t all fit in the car so we left a bag including the calendar behind until they came to visit us in late January. So first up it’s choc-fudge-nut cupcakes, similar to brownies in texture (I know, I recently baked these too, but some went in the freezer for when we have friends round), with a rich ganache on top. These are definitely not for anyone without chocoholic tendencies! And they’re definitely not for toddler mouths with the nuts and that much of a chocolate hit in one go. Have you had your chocolate fix for the day? Why not get it by baking these…..
Ingredients – makes 9-10
Cakes
- 35g dark chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 200g margarine
- 100g chopped mixed nuts
- 120g self-raising four
- 100g sugar
Ganache
- 150ml double cream
- 150g milk chocolate
Method
- Put some cupcake cases in a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 170ºC (fan).
- Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar and flour and mix until well combined.
- Melt the chocolate and margarine in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water.
- Add the nuts to this and stir until they are all covered in chocolate.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the rest of the mixture and stir until well combined, but don’t over mix.
- Pour some mixture into each of the cupcake cases, to about 2/3 full.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean; leave to cool.
- Meanwhile make the ganache by heating the cream and chocolate on a low heat whilst stirring, until the chocolate has melted and mixed with the cream completely.
- Take off the heat and whisk for a couple of minutes until it becomes thicker and glossier.
- Leave to cool and thicken in the fridge.
- Put the ganache into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a swirl onto the top of each cupcake.
- Sprinkle some chocolate sprinkles on top to finish.