These chocolate cupcakes are loaded with dark chocolate flavor, thanks to unsweetened chocolate as well as unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder. This oil-based batter comes together quickly and is very easily poured into a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners, if you use a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup.
I baked all of them at the same in my convection oven, setting my oven racks to 1/3 and 2/3 (no rotating necessary). It only took 20 minutes to bake them. Did I mention that I LOVE my convection oven? :o)
My only big change was my deviation from the frosting in the book. Instead, I whipped up something on-the-fly instead. I made a very small batch because I only needed frosting for 2 cupcakes. After frosting those 2 cupcakes, I had more than half left.
Malted Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting
(original recipe)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp malted milk powder
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
Instructions:
Put all the ingredients in a small bowl and beat with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Pipe the frosting onto (cup)cake. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
I highly recommend giving this recipe a try, if you like dark chocolate. These cupcakes were incredibly tender and moist. What I liked most about them is that they weren't overly sweet. If you'd like to give these a try, check out Nicole's blog.
Final thoughts/tips:
- My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed these little chocolate gems. My husband's rating: 9 out of 10.
- I added 1-2 tsp vanilla extract to the chocolate batter (every cake should have vanilla, IMHO).
- I reduced the amount of sugar by 1.5 Tbsp. It's not a big reduction but I just felt I had to do *something* as I was weighing the sugar and realized I needed more than a pound of sugar. Woah!
- Don't forget to check out the other SMS bakers.
They look great and I'm sure they'll go down a storm at the bakesale! I'm keen to try another frosting as I did like the Sweet Melissa one but it was VERY rich! R x
ReplyDeleteHanna,
ReplyDeleteI can not wait to make this frosting! Thanks for the recipe.
Toni
I also decreased the sugar by a bit when I realized that the sugar needed was outrageous. Mine came out fudgy and delicious. All my friends loved it!
ReplyDeleteHave fun at the bakesale!
I absolutely don't understand how you were able to eat just one each with such a high rating!
ReplyDeleteI think I may have to consider not reading your blog anymore... my list of "cakes I want to try out" is growing too much too quickly because of you.
but then again, your writing is so delightful I will miss it too much if I stop. So I will just continue i can just enjoying it all vicariously while I wipe the drool off my keyboard!
did you bake all cupcakes at the same time? did they all bake evenly?
@Rosy: thank you. I hope they sell well next week. Let me know how you like my frosting :o)
ReplyDelete@Toni: you’re welcome. Let me know how you like it :o)
@Nina: glad to hear your friends liked it. These cupcakes are really. Will definitely make these again (and again).
@Anat: you’re so funny. I’d be sad if you didn’t read my blog anymore. To answer your question (and I meant to write this in my post but forgot – will update it later today): I baked them all at the same time in my convection oven, setting the oven racks to 1/3 and 2/3. I didn’t even have to rotate them. And they all baked evenly. I was so happy about that. I told hubby, THIS is why I love my convection oven!!! Ha ha.
Hi Hanaa~ It looks like we went the same route with the whipped cream topping. I wanted to make a malted whipped cream by putting Horlicks in it, but I didn't put enough. You put 4 Tbsp of powder for 1/4 cup of cream while I only put 2 Tbsp of Horlicks for the full cup of cream. I will definitely have to increase the amount of Horlicks. Although it didn't have much malt flavor, it was still very yummy!! Thanks for the tips!!
ReplyDeleteHanaa, what is the round things on top of the frosting? nuts with chocolate coating? Cupcakes look so cute! You did a good job with the decoration.
ReplyDeleteHanaa, good call on the frosting, it sounds perfect for these cupcakes. I made the one in the book and found it to be a bit much, though if you're in the mood for a very rich chocolaty cake, it's good.
ReplyDeleteVery cute cupcakes Hanaa! I think cupcakes were definitely the way to go this week since this was such a rich recipe. I agree with you on the cake, it was wonderfully moist and tender - definitely a keeper!
ReplyDeleteyum yum! Your cupcakes look sooo good!!! Good luck at your bake sale!
ReplyDeleteHanaa, your cupcakes turned out beautiful! I like the malt balls cut in half and your whipped cream frosting sounds amazing! I love whipped cream frostings, but have never made one before. I'll have to try it out next time I make this yummy cake.
ReplyDeleteHanaa,
ReplyDeleteVery cute cupcakes. The chocolate cupcake (sliced) looks fantastic. I am craving this NOW! :)
Carmen
I love your cupcakes! I love the frosting and I love the cute malt balls on the top. I sometimes mix in my measuring cup (if I'm making a fraction of a recipe) because it's easier & neater. I love my convection oven, too. No more rotating!!
ReplyDeleteThese look beautiful. I should have made cupcakes.
ReplyDelete@debbieklchan: how funny that we both went the whipped cream route. Sounds like you need to add a bit more malted milk powder.
ReplyDelete@Jenn: those are mini whoppers. Thanks for bringing that up. I'll update the blog :o)
@Margot: from looking at the ingredients and some comments from fellow SMS-ers, it seemed pretty sweet and rich. The whipped cream frosting was creamy, chocolaty and malty :o)
@Tracey: I will definitely be making these again!
@Mara: Thank you!
@Gloria: I hope you give that recipe a try. Let me know how it turns out.
@BakingIsMyZen: do give this recipe a try when you're done with your bake sale. It's a good one!
@Leslie: I mix small amounts of cream in measuring cups too sometimes. It's easy and quick. As for the convection oven, I really don't miss the rotating :o)
@SweetAndSavory: Thanks!
Yummy! This looks like a fabulous and easy cake I should remember to keep old bananas!
ReplyDelete@tasteofbeirut: it's very tasty and I found that the banana flavor was more prominent than when I add spices to the cake. Having said that, I still prefer the spices, giving the cake a bit more complexity.
ReplyDeleteI put vanilla in mine too. All cakes should contain vanilla!
ReplyDeleteKatie xox
Hanaa~ I increased the Horlicks content to 1/2 cup for my second batch of whipped cream. That DEFINITELY upped the malt flavor. We feel that the more-plain-lacking-malt-flavor whipped cream complimented the yummy chocolate cake better...but the malt whipped cream by itself was soooooo yummy!!! I couldn't stop "tasting" it...:P
ReplyDeleteAll your desserts look amazing. i have a special liking for malted milk balls. The frosting looks so light and airy, maybe I would add some crushed malted milk balls for some extra crunch and because I love the taste so much. I am sooo going to make these one of these days!
ReplyDeleteAll your desserts look amazing. i have a special liking for malted milk balls. The frosting looks so light and airy, maybe I would add some crushed malted milk balls for some extra crunch and because I love the taste so much. I am sooo going to make these one of these days!
ReplyDelete