Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

These are super quick and easy chocolate mud cupcakes that you can whip up for any occasion. They're moist and delicious and stay fresh for a good week. You can eat them undecorated or you can add a buttercream or ganache to take the presentation up a notch.

Ingredients:

Makes approximately 12 standard cupcakes.

Dry Ingredients:

• 250g (9oz) self raising flour
• 35g (1oz) cocoa powder
• 180g (6oz) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

 Wet Ingredients:

• 250ml (9 fl oz) water
• 125ml (4 fl oz) oil
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

 Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Prepare a 12 hole muffin tin with paper liners or spray with an oil based based spray if you're not using paper cups.
• Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk to get rid of any lumps.
• Add the wet ingredients to a separate mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until fully incorporated.
• Pour into the cupcake liners until 3/4 full.
• Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
• Cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

• Sprinkle a few frozen berries and white chocolate chips over the top of the batter before baking.
• For a slightly healthier version, use wholemeal self raising flour to add a little more fibre.

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 250g (1/2 lb) butter, at room temperature
• 150g (5 oz) white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup (5 oz) icing sugar

Method:

• Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer (or hand whisk) until light and creamy.
• Pour in the melted white chocolate and mix until completely combined. If the chocolate is too hot it will melt the butter - so make sure it's still runny, but not hot.
• Add the icing sugar bit by bit until it's light and fluffy. The more icing sugar you add the firmer the icing will be.