Hey everyone!
Sorry I haven’t posted in quite a while. It’s been a few
months consisting of work, moving house and simply a lack of motivation. However,
I woke up this morning with a spark of motivation to create something
delicious. The result turned out to be better than I expected. I’ve been
scouring the Internet for months looking for a cupcake recipe that is similar
an old favourite that I had used a million time a few years ago but
subsequently lost. I had made it that many times that I knew the ingredients
and method off by heart but couldn’t quite remember the amount of each
ingredient. Tell me about annoying! Today, I think I found the recipe that is
as close as I’m going to get until I magically find my original recipe. Who do
I thank? Donna Hay, of course!
Her recipe if for a cake so I had to sit in front of the
oven and watch the little creations rise and fill with air pockets of deliciousness.
It got hot but still totally worth it. So I had these cupcakes but why stop
there? I decided to pair it with Cupcake Jemma’s Oreo speckled buttercream. I
am no plain Jane (no offense Jane) and I’ve got the whole afternoon! I’ve never
been the greatest at making buttercream but practice makes perfect, right?
I’d like to give a little amateur shout out to both DonnaHay and Jemma. Donna is my Queen of Cooking no questions asked. Jemma is the
owner of London’s Crumbs & Doilies and the creator of the cutest cupcake
Youtube channel ever. She can make ANYTHING into a cupcake! #cakegoals
I altered the recipes a little so I shall leave you with the
original recipes and my annotations below. I will warn you, if you’ve managed
to keep your New Year’s resolution of a diet going until now; firstly,
congratulations you determined human and, secondly, stop reading right now. You’ve
been warned.
Donna Hay’s Easy
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
·
250g Unsalted Butter
·
1 1/3 cups (235g) Brown Sugar
·
3 Eggs
·
2 cups (300g) Plain Flour (I used ½ plain & ½ self-raising)
·
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
·
1/3 cup (35g) Cocoa Powder (I used a ½ cup because I just realised I read the recipe wrong. Also,
less washing up!)
·
1 cup (250ml) Sour Cream (I just used a whole 300g tub from Coles, there was a spoonful left
over from the cup. Waste not want not! It was totally balanced out by the
accidental extra cocoa)
·
250g Dark Chocolate, melted (I like to mix the
70% and Original Cadbury Old Gold Chocolates together. I like a dark chocolate
higher than the 45% but find 70% can be too OTT for a cake)
Cupcake Jemma’s Oreo
Buttercream
Ingredients:
·
200g unsalted butter, softened (I live in Australia and used it straight
from the fridge. Trust me, it’ll soften)
·
450g icing sugar, sifted
·
3 tbsp full cream milk (I ended up using 2 tbsp, again because of the hot weather it was quite
soft already.)
·
¼ tsp vanilla extract
·
½ packet of Oreos, pulverised! (I used a whole packet. Because I could
& I did.)
Method:
Start by preheating your oven to 180°C. I always, without
fail, forget to do this until I go to put the prepped cupcakes into the oven
and quietly curse myself. So don’t forget to preheat. Line two 12- hole cupcake
trays with 16 cute cupcake cases. I always forget to do this first too. Talk
about amateur hour!
Cream the brown sugar and butter in an electric mixer until
pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat again. At this point the mix looked a
bit split and gross but keep going, it’s fine. Sift in the flours, baking soda
and cocoa. Don’t stir yet. Add the sour cream and melted deliciousness humans
call chocolate. Now you can stir, nice and gently until just combined.
Divide the mix into the prepped cases. Honestly, I probably
filled them a little too high. Aim for half to two- thirds full and you could
probably get 20 cupcakes. Place them in the oven and watch them do their thing
for about 20- 23 minutes depending on your oven. They’ll be ready once they’re
springy and a knife comes out clean. Let them cool a little in the tins and
then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Try to resist eating them yet, they’re about to get even
better.
For the buttercream I would seriously recommend an electric
mixer (whether it be a stand mixer or handheld) unless you have guns of steel,
even then, it’ll probably take you forever. Cream the butter until it goes
really pale. Add the sifted icing sugar in two batches. Make sure to start on a
low setting each time unless you like a cloud of icing sugar in your face, but
each to their own! Whip this real good until it’s fluffy and creamy. Add the
milk and vanilla while it’s still mixing to loosen it up and make it nice and
smooth. Now you have some Plain Jane Buttercream, let’s make it exciting.
I don’t own a food processor, so in order to make my Oreo
crumbs I used my NutriBullet and prayed to God that I didn’t make an Oreo
Smoothie. Three whizzes later and I have beautiful Oreo sand. Hallelujah! Pop
that into your buttercream and GENTLY fold it in. Don’t knock out all that air
you just got into that butter! I only gave it a few stirs so I still got that
lovely crumbly swirl in the cream.
Whip the cream into a pipping bag with a wide star nozzle and
get pipping. Please, please ensure the cupcakes have cooled down before
decorating otherwise your buttercream will melt everywhere! I topped mine with
a drizzle of dark chocolate, some silver cachaous I had left over from
Christmas and a whole Oreo because, why not!?
Now that you’re done you can sit down and either eat all of
them by yourself (and get diabetes) or show them off a little and share them
with friends (recommended). All in all, enjoy them!
I hope that this has inspired someone to get a little
creative with a simple chocolate cake recipe. I know I have been and I’ll
probably be back to find the recipe sometime in the near future.
Much love,
Michelle xo
