After scouring the internet for a recipe that I actually had all the ingredients for. I decided to make 'Chocolate & Banana Cupcakes' - mainly because everyone at work keeps asking for Banana Cupcakes so I thought I'd make some (but with the added ingredient of chocolate).
For the cupcake recipe you will need:
> 200grams of granulated sugar
> 130grams of self-raising flour
> 35grams of cocoa powder (I used Bournville)
> 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
> 3/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda if your from US)
> 1/4 teaspoon of salt
> 1 large egg
> 1 medium-sized banana
> 120ml of milk
> 60ml of warm water (not boiling)
> 60ml of vegetable/sunflower oil
> 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
For the frosting you will need:
> 90grams of chocolate
> 113 grams of butter
> 120grams of icing sugar (or confectioner sugar if your from US)
> 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
So in 1 large bowl - add the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Make sure you sieve them all. Mix together so everything is incorporated.
In another large bowl - add the egg, mash the banana and add, milk, warm water, oil and the vanilla extract. Mix that together also ... don't worry that it won't mix together properly - I noticed this as well - it looks all gloopy.
Once you have done that ... add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together - either using a machine whisk, food mixer or with a whisk and your hand - whatever .. I opted to be lazy and use a food mixer.
Once that's done - get a cupcake tray with 12 cases and put the cake mix into them, you want to try and fill 3/4 of the way. Pop into the oven at 180ºC and bake for around 20 minutes or until a knife or cake skewer comes out clean.
Pop them onto a wire rack to cool, while there cooling you can make the frosting.
All you need to do is melt the chocolate - either in the microwave, or over a pot of boiling water. Cream together your butter and sugar in a bowl (again with a food mixer, or by hand) I opted for food mixer as your hand gets too sore! Then once the chocolate has melted and cooled a little (this is important, let it cool, but not completely) add it to the butter and sugar, and add the vanilla extract too, beat till its all mixed together. Then either smeer on the cupcakes or if your feeling fancy like I did, pipe it on.
You should end up with beautiful cupcakes that everyone will love :)
I didn't really want to make it sound like I was 'reviewing' this recipe but in future I thought I'd mention ... I wouldn't use the frosting recipe again, there are much better recipes for frosting out there so I would probably opt for a ganache or something similar if I made these again.
You also want to make sure bananas you use are over-ripe (skin is starting to go brown) and not ripe or green bananas as they are too firm and hard.
Last but not least ... use a good quality chocolate cocoa powder (I used Bournville) the main flavour apart from the banana is the chocolate so you want a good quality chocolate so the cupcakes taste good.
I took the cupcakes into work and got some great feedback - 'best I've made yet', 'amazing' - some people even came back for seconds. I'm really happy people liked them :)
Once you have done that ... add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together - either using a machine whisk, food mixer or with a whisk and your hand - whatever .. I opted to be lazy and use a food mixer.
Once that's done - get a cupcake tray with 12 cases and put the cake mix into them, you want to try and fill 3/4 of the way. Pop into the oven at 180ºC and bake for around 20 minutes or until a knife or cake skewer comes out clean.
Pop them onto a wire rack to cool, while there cooling you can make the frosting.
All you need to do is melt the chocolate - either in the microwave, or over a pot of boiling water. Cream together your butter and sugar in a bowl (again with a food mixer, or by hand) I opted for food mixer as your hand gets too sore! Then once the chocolate has melted and cooled a little (this is important, let it cool, but not completely) add it to the butter and sugar, and add the vanilla extract too, beat till its all mixed together. Then either smeer on the cupcakes or if your feeling fancy like I did, pipe it on.
You should end up with beautiful cupcakes that everyone will love :)
I didn't really want to make it sound like I was 'reviewing' this recipe but in future I thought I'd mention ... I wouldn't use the frosting recipe again, there are much better recipes for frosting out there so I would probably opt for a ganache or something similar if I made these again.
You also want to make sure bananas you use are over-ripe (skin is starting to go brown) and not ripe or green bananas as they are too firm and hard.
Last but not least ... use a good quality chocolate cocoa powder (I used Bournville) the main flavour apart from the banana is the chocolate so you want a good quality chocolate so the cupcakes taste good.
I took the cupcakes into work and got some great feedback - 'best I've made yet', 'amazing' - some people even came back for seconds. I'm really happy people liked them :)