Chocolate & Blackberry Cupcakes

 

As per my note on my last post yesterday, here is my second recipe for the week ... one that was an experiment! A successful one, I may add. I have tasted enough to come to this conclusion! It is national baking week so you really should be baking something this week. I think I may have gained several pounds by the end of the week...  nothing new

Makes 18 Cupcakes

Pre-heat oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 15 minutes

You will need the following:

Cupcakes

175g Butter

175g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

175g Self Raising Flour

100g Dark Chocolate

100g Blackberries

1Tsp Vanilla Extract

1Tsp Baking Powder

Icing

100g Blackberries

75g Butter

350g Icing Sugar

Method:

 Line a muffin tray with cupcake cases

Cream together the butter and sugar 

Add the eggs, one at a time

Till pale and fluffy

Melt your chocolate in a bain marie until runny or in a microwave for 1 minute

Combine your chocolate with your cake mixture

Until it looks like this

(a bit like the kind of chocolate you just want to drink/stick your head in à la Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley) 

Heat the blackberries over a bain marie or in the microwave for 1 minute

Combine until smooth

Sift in the flour

Fold in the flour with the baking powder

Until the mixture represents something like this

Using an ice cream scoop, put a scoop of mixture into each cupcake case

Bake to perfection for 15 minutes

Whilst the cakes are baking, make the icing

Combine the butter and icing sugar together

Heat the blackberries as before

Seive into your mixture, you do not want any pips or skin in the mixture

The icing will turn a great magenta colour

Once your icing mix is nice and smooth I used a small pallet knife to spread roughly a tablespoon of icing on each cupcake

I opted to use a silver confectionery spray on some that I was giving as a gift... just because!

Enjoy ...