Written By Catherine Parrott

What’s the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?

For me the difference between a cupcake and a muffin is the size and texture of each. While a muffin is large, yielding and fluffy in texture, cupcakes are smaller and denser. In this recipe, each chocolate brings something different to this party so it’s important to use the best of each you can find.

RECIPE:

CUPCAKE BATTER

  • 100g UNSALTED BUTTER (Cold and Cubed)

  • 250g PLAIN FLOUR

  • 45g COCOA POWDER

  • PINCH OF SALT

  • 1 Tsp BAKING POWDER

  • 3 WHOLE MEDIUM EGGS

  • 290g BUTTERMILK (You can swap the buttermilk for sour cream or thick yoghurt- in this type of recipe these ingredients can be used interchangeably, using the same quantities, quite happily.)

  • 100g LIGHT BROWN SUGAR

  • 1 Tsp VANILLA EXTRACT

  • 50g WHITE CHOCOLAT CHIPS(Or a finely chopped FINE bar of white chocolate. I can’t -won’t- control the bad jokes, they just come out when they want.)

EXPRESS GANACHE

  • 200g DARK CHOCOLATE (Between 65% and 75% will be just grand for this ganache recipe. A lower % will create a looser ganache, but feel free to experiment, I love this recipe!)

  • 250g SOUR CREAM

  • 1 SHOT OF ESPRESSO

TO FINISH…

100g MILK CHOCOLATE (Using a knife or vegetable peeler, create shavings with the milk chocolate, set aside and store in the fridge until needed)

BEFORE YOU START…

  • Preheat your oven to 160c (Fan Oven- 170c for other, less powerful ovens)

  • Line up 12 muffin cases into a muffin tray and set aside READY (born ready? Now we are…)

METHOD:

FOR THE CUPCAKE BATTER…

Sand together the butter and dry ingredients until no lumps of butter are visible and everything is evenly mixed through.

Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla and fold into the dry mixture until combined. Finish by folding in the white chocolate. Fill your muffin cases two-thirds and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a knife or wooden toothpick comes out clean.

While cooling, using the handle of a wooden spoon to make a deep hole in the muffins (This is for the ganache so the larger the hole the more ganache, such fucking hard decisions to make when baking (you can see I had no caution). Leave to cool completely.

FOR THE EXPRESS GANACHE…

Melt the chocolate and salt over a Bain Marie, remove from the heat and whisk in the sour cream and espresso. Once fully emulsified place in a piping bag. BANG! YOUR GANACHE IS GOOD TO GO. Once the muffins have cooled, fill with the ganache and pipe over the top like a crazy excited maniac because you still can’t believe how quickly that ganache was to make.

TO SERVE: Top each muffin with and generous handful of chocolate shavings and serve. Revel in the triple chocolate madness that ensues.

Catherine Parrott
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