Here’s another cupcake recipe we used for the Barcamp and Edu-Play events.

Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes
Baking Time: 30-45 minutes
Makes 20 cupcakes

Ingredients:
350g butter, room temperature, cubed
350g sugar
6 eggs
310g self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
120g finely ground almond
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

How-to:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Whisk the softened butter with sugar, till creamy and light.

3. Then add one egg at a time and mix well.

4. Fold in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla extract, and finely ground almonds.

4. Add the boiling water to dissolve the cocoa powder and sugar, which thins the batter.

However, I believe adding the boiling water will also make the chocolate cake moist.

I tried the recipe without adding boiling water during my first trial, and the cupcake turned out a little dry and the surface cracked.

5. Fill the muffin cups with the batter about 2/3 full and bake at 180C for approximately 30-45 minutes, till the middle is set.

6. Insert a toothpick into the center and it should come out with just a few moist crumbs on it. Remember, don’t over-bake as the texture may turn out to be a little dry.

7. Then transfer the cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool.

For these chocolate cupcakes, I chose peppermint buttercream as the topping for decoration. Peppermint goes really well with chocolate.

Peppermint Buttercream

Ingredients:
115g unsalted butter, softened
315g icing sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp peppermint extract
2-3 drops green food coloring
(You may skip this if you prefer not to use food colouring. I used pandan extract instead to give the frosting a tinge of pandan frangance)
70g cup peppermint candy, finely chopped, optional

How-to:
1. Whisk the butter in a mixing bowl with a electric mixer in low speed for about 30 seconds, till it turns fluffy.

2. Add in the icing sugar and mix for another minutes in medium speed till light and fluffy.

3. Mix in milk, peppermint extract and the food colouring (or green pandan extract in my case), till well mixed.

4. Lastly, add in the finely chopped peppermint candy to give the frosting some texture.

If the frosting turns out too stiff, you may add another tbsp of milk to soften it.

The frosting can be kept overnight in the fridge up to one week. It may get hardened a little. Just leave for 20 minutes in room temperature, it will soften again and ready to be used.

The original recipe is from Cacaoweb and it’s modified by SC, I(heart)Cake.