What Olivia Cooked: Cupcakes ft. Chocoholly

So, when I was contacted by the lovely people at Brighton chocolatier, Chocoholly, offering me some of their amazing handmade chocolate how could I say no? Being a huge chocolate fan, I wanted to really use it wisely, savour the unique flavours (including strawberry and chilli and chilli and coconut!) and make them into something special, something I love. What better to try them in one of my favourite Hummingbird bakery recipes then? Using my fail safe vanilla cupcake recipe, I incorporated the (absolutely delicious) coconut and chilli chocolate into the icing, making for a real sweet treat!

They were so straight forward to make (I managed them in half an hour-record for tortoise chef Liv) and despite the icing being a little bit make-shift turned out well! Here's how to do it...

You Will Need:

For the Cake:

-120g plain flour

- 140g caster sugar

- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

- A pinch of salt

- 40g unsalted butter

- 120ml whole milk

- 1 egg

- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Icing- (this is only what I used and was very much estimating!)

- 4oz unsalted butter

- 200g icing sugar

- a splash of milk

- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 40/50g Chocoholly Coconut and chilli chocolate

1. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and whisk until it makes a sandy consistency with everything combined. Pour in half of the milk and beat until just incorporated.

2. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk together in a separate bowl and then pour into the flour mixture, and mix until smooth but do not overmix!

3. Spoon the mixture into your cases until about two thirds full (do not overfill, they will increase in size dramatically!) and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until light golden. Leave the cupcakes to cool, and make the icing whilst doing so.

(i recommend shutting the oven door!)

4. For the icing, add the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix until incorporated (a spalsh of milk can be used here to help mixing!)

5. Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate and mix until a thick creamy mixture mmm!

6. When cool ice your cakes with your fabulous icing and enjoy! Voila! Bon Appetit!

You can buy Chocoholly here and follow her on Twitter here!

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