Totally Chocolate-cupcake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

I made these totally chocolatey and addictive cupcakes for a Sunday picnic with my friends and their little ones. It was a fun day out and surprisingly the weather was sunny and bright. So we planned easter trail for kids and a little treasure hunt for the adults. But the part we were so looking forward to was the food. What would a picnic be if there were not packed food? All of us packed a big bag of goodies with Sand-witches,Crisps and loads of chocolate. I made Chocolate cupcakes and Real Vanilla cupcakes with White chocolate ganache for a sweet treat in the end (using the chocolate buttons and cocoa I bought recently from my trip to Hotel Chocolat). I still cant stop dreaming about the chocolate pasta they sell ;-).

I think the chocolate cupcakes really need the fudge Icing. I find them a little bland without Icing. The recipe below makes 15-17 mini cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients

1/3 cup room temperature Butter

1/3 cup regular white Sugar

1/3 cup light brown Sugar

1 large Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

½ cup Buttermilk

¼ cup Sour cream

½ tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp water

¾ cup+2 tbsp all purpose Flour

½ cup good quality Cocoa (unsweetened)

½ tsp Baking soda

¼ tsp Baking Powder

Pinch salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 190C and line mini cupcake tins with paper liners. Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Cream the butter and both the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla and continue whisking until pale about 3-5 min. Stir in the buttermilk, sour cream and coffee. Mix in the dry ingredients and gently fold until well mixed. I tend not to use the beater after adding the flour as you get a bit denser cupcakes if you do so. Scoop into the tins using an ice-cream scoop and bake for about 17-20 min. Cool on wire rack and when completely cooled ice the cupcakes.

Chocolate Fudge Icing (Adapted from Nigella's Fudge Icing)

Ingredients

½ cup softened Butter

90-100gms Dark Chocolate (I used Hotel Chocolat's dark chocolate buttons)

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

½ cup sifted Icing sugar

Sugar flowers to decorate

Method:

Melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a small bowl of simmering water and cool. Beat the butter and Icing sugar until pale, light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and mix until the icing is glossy. Ice the cupcakes using a spatula and decorate with sugar flowers.