The Best Chocolate Cupcakes ever

I know. Pretty wild claim eh?
Well I've cooked many a cupcake in my day as it's the children's very favourite thing to do in the kitchen. Right after covering everything in a thick layer of flour and chocolate sprinkles.

So, Nigella's cupcake recipe was our favourite for a looong time, but then I stumbled on this recipe. And I don't know if it's because it uses actual chocolate in the recipe rather than cocoa powder or that it's more 'cakey', but let me tell you, they are the bees knees.

Also you will need a hand-held electric mixer for this recipe.
I bought a really cheap one from the supermarket and quite like the strange burning smell it emits as the motor is asked to go into overdrive. But that's just me.

So here you go. Enjoy (it makes 24).

Ingredients
4oz/115g plain chocolate (although I use milk chocolate as I prefer it. I don't care if it's wrong), broken into chunks
1tbsp water
10oz/275g/2.5  cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
Half tsp bicarb of soda
pinch of salt
11oz/300g/scant 1.5 cups of caster sugar
6oz/175g/three quarters cup butter or margarine (softened)
Quarter pint/150ml/two thirds cup milk
1tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs


For the icing
1.5oz/40g butter or marg
4oz/115g/1 cup icing sugar
Half tsp vanilla essence
1-2 tbsp milk

How to make them
Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
Put muffin (EVERY time that makes me giggle. Child) cases into two muffin (tee hee) trays.
Measure flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and sugar into a large bowl.
Melt the chocolate. The recipe tells you do to in a heatproof bowl with the water added and to set it over a simmering pan. Or you can stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds like me and stir when it comes out to ensure totally melted.

Add chocolate, butter, milk and vanilla essence to the flour mixture.
Mix.
Get the electric mixer in there and beat until smooth. Increase speed to high and beat again for 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time and after each one beat for another minute.

Divide the mixture into the muffin (snigger) cases. Lick the bowl. And the spoon. And the beater blades.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the tins then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the icing
Soften butter in microwave (ahem) for 20 seconds. Mix in the vanilla essence and then the icing sugar a little at a time. Add milk a drop at a time to make a creamy, spreadable mixture.
Decorate at leisure.
Scoff.
And if you want to make something a little more adventurous and with rather more calories, try English Mum's divine looking Salted Caramel Double Chocolate Cupcakes.
Look at that, I put on weight just looking at them . . .

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