Food: Black Forest Cupcakes

   

Today is my husband's birthday and I wanted to make him something special, so I chose to bake Black Forest Cupcakes which is his favourite cake ;D

I received the book as a Christmas gift and I was excited to be using it for the first time today.

The Recipe (makes 12)

ingredients:
85 g / 3 oz plain chocolate
1 tsp lemon juice
4 tbsp milk
150 g / 5 1/2 oz self-raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
55 g / 2 oz butter, softened
115 g / 4 oz soft light brown sugar
25 g / 1 oz dried and sweetened sour cherries, chopped
2 tbsp cherry liqueur (optional)
150 ml / 5 fl oz double cream, softly whipped
5 tbsp cherry conserve
cocoa powder, to dust

preparation: 
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Put 12 paper muffin cases in a muffin tray.

Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted. Add the lemon juice to the milk and leave for 10 minutes - the milk will curdle a little.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Add the eggs, butter, sugar and milk mixture and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Fold in the melted chocolate and cherries. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases.

Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

When the cupcakes are cold, use a serrated knife to cut a circle from the top of each cupcake. Sprinkle the cakes with a little cherry liqueur, if using. Spoon the whipped cream into the centres and top with a small spoonful of conserve. Gently replace the cupcake tops and dust lightly with cocoa powder. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

And this is the end result!

I changed a couple of things from the recipe, I didn't use the liqueur nor the chopped cherries, and added the compote liberally at the end ha! Either way they tasted nice and everyone liked them :)

What's your favourite cake? Will you be trying the recipe? 

xo