If heaven was a cupcake...

Needing a chocolate fix is a regular occurrence for me and usually a chocolate biscuit or two (okay the pack) will satisfy my needs. However the other day I panicked when I discovered that there was no sight of a single milk chocolate coated biscuit in the cupboard. Thankfully I had a light-bulb above the head moment and thought why don't I just bake?!

Baking has always been a hobbie of mine and I like to experiment a little bit and play around with the recipes, a personal favorite of mine are my vanilla, double chocolate, marble cupcakes. They are heavenly!

To make 12 of these delicious buns you will need:

For the vanilla mix:

4 ounces of self raising flour

4 ounces of sugar

4 ounces of butter

2 eggs

Half a teaspoon of vanilla essence

For the chocolate mix:

3.5 ounces of self raising flour

4 ounces of sugar

4 ounces of butter

2 eggs

1 ounce of coco powder

A table spoon of milk

White chocolate chips (as many as desired)

For the marble icing each flavour of icing will need:

6 ounces of icing sugar 

2 ounces of butter

A table spoon of milk

0.5 ounces of coco powder (chocolate icing only)

Firstly preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

I don't mess around when it comes to baking, my motto is, the quicker the prep, the quicker you can eat them! Therefore I like to use the all in one method so all the flour, butter, sugar and eggs all goes in at the same time. I like to use an electric hand mixer, which isn't a necessity but I suggest it because its much quicker and makes the mixture really light and smooth. Once all mixed together, for the vanilla mix add the vanilla essence last and stir in with a spoon. For the chocolate mix, add the coco powder and milk at the start, mix, and then I usually add the chocolate chips after. Next put your cupcake cases into your cupcake tin, a deep muffin tin is best! Then using your little finger and a dessert spoon, add a spoonful of both the chocolate and vanilla mix to each case, if you feel they are a little empty you can top them up if you have any spare mixture. I then using the other end of the teaspoon gently combine the the two mixtures together as it can give a noticeably better effect in the end as you will see!

Put your tray of 12 cupcakes into oven and to be safe i tend to leave them in there untouched for 12-15mins, after this time I then check them using a cake tester (or if you don't have one of these a toothpick or something similar will do). This is a great way of seeing if your cakes are cooked, you simply stick the cake tester into a couple of the buns and if it comes out clean they are ready, it it comes out with mixture on it then they need to be left in the oven for a few more minutes. 

Now just leave the to cool.

While you wait you can prep the icing! Likewise to the cake mixture you make two bowls and combine them later. There is a slight knack to this icing so I unfortunately don't use the all in one method for this. Firstly I add 3 out of the 6 ounces of icing sugar to a bowl, I then mix this with the 2 ounces of butter and milk. I tend to use a wooden spoon to mix the icing, not that you can't use a handheld electric mixer, you just end up looking like a geisha by the time you've finished with the amount of white icing sugar that is blown out the bowl! Once this is mixed, add the remaining three ounces and then for the chocolate icing you just repeat the same process, adding the coco powder and milk at the start.

Now for the fun bit! Once your buns have cooled and are ready to ice, get a piping bag and fill it with icing using a teaspoon and alternate between the two flavours. It might not look like a lot of icing but trust me it is sufficient for 12 cupcakes, and remember there is always more left in your piping bag than you think so if it feels like you are running out just twist the bag and this will force the icing to the end.

If you don't have a piping bag you can instead mix the icings together gently and spread on the cupcake with a palette knife however the piping bag is my preferred way as it creates a really effective and professional looking finish. Once your piping bag is filled carefully ice your cupcake going around the edge in a circular motion, ending in the centre. And voila! Enjoy.

Ellie