Chocolate Cupcakes for Mark's Birthday

It is my boss, Mark's, birthday today.  As a birthday surprise, I made him chocolate cupcakes and brought them into work on Friday.  The surprise was on me, as he wasn't there.  Accordingly, they are still living in the fridge at work in the hope he is back on Monday.

I used the chocolate cupcake recipe for The Primrose Bakery's Cookies and Cream Cupcakes, and chocolate "fudge" icing from The Crabapple Bakery cook book.  I then topped the cupcakes with chocolate rocks - they look pretty good, if I say so myself.

I then boxed them up like so:

 

Here's a peek inside (the recipe made 16 cakes and I only needed 12):

To make the cakes, you will need:

• 115g dark chocolate
• 85g unsalted butter
• 175g soft brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 185g plain flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 250ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your  oven to 190°C.  Line 2 x 12-hole muffin trays with 16 cupcake papers.

Melt the chocolate and leave to cool slightly.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer until creamy. Separate the eggs (reserve the whites in a separate bowl), add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar, and beat well. Add the melted chocolate and beat to combine.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and stir together.

Combine the milk and vanilla extract. Add the flour  and milk alternately to the batter, beating well after each addition.

Whisk the reserved egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then fold the eggs whites into the batter until combined.

Spoon the mixture equally into the cupcake papers, and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the tin for ~ 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, you will need:

4 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
100 g softened butter
3/8 cup milk
1 tbs vanilla extract

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter for 1-2 minutes, then add the milk, vanilla extract and half of the icing sugar mixture, and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat again until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Spoon icing into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes.  Top with chocolate rocks or whatever decoration you desire.