Vanilla Chocolate Milk Cupcakes

Last week I had yet another lazy sunday, and yet another variation of your standard chocolate cupcake was baked as a result. I always set aside Sunday as my baking day, even if I also bake during the week. But because Sunday's are so lazy, I hardly ever go out to get ingredients (I prefer to stay in my PJ's for at least 8 hours) and therefore spend hours wracking my brain trying to think of what I can make with the ingredients I have in my lovely baking cupboard. Yes...I have a baking cupboard.

The only problem being that Sunday's are the day we have all of the family round, and half of my family aren't big fans of icing (I know, I don't understand it either...) and so I end up having to leave half of whatever I bake without any. This time, I made something for everyone - some with Vanilla Buttercream, some with Chocolate Buttercream, and some with just boring nothingness. Et voila, the entire table munches away.

Click below for the recipe :)

Ingredients
Sponge

-100g dark chocolate

- 150g unsalted butter

- 225g caster sugar

- 4 large eggs

- 100g plain flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder

- half a teaspoon salt

Vanilla Buttercream

- 75g unsalted butter

- 250g icing sugar

- 1 tablespoon milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream

- 75g unsalted butter

- 250g icing sugar

- 2 heaped table spoons cocoa powder

- 3 tablespoons milk

These quantities cover four cupcakes each, leaving a few cupcakes without.

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees.

Line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases.

1. Chop/break up the chocolate and cube the butter, then put both into a heatproof bowl and hover over a pan of boiling water on the hob. Stir the ingredients around until the begin to melt and end up as a smooth and glossy mixture.

2. When the mixture has completely melted, take it off the heat and pour in the caster sugar. Mix around and transfer into your mixing bowl, then leaving it to cool for 10 minutes.

3. Once the mixture has cooled, whisk it using an electric mixer and begin to add in the eggs one by one. Whisk for about 15 seconds after each addition to make sure the eggs are well incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together. Then slowly add these dry ingredients to the mixture and whisk together until well incorporated.

5. Continue to whisk the mixture with your electric mixer on a medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until it becomes smooth, creamy and ready to bake! Try to resist eating the mixture...

6. Divide the batter equally between your 12 muffin cases, filling them about 2/3 of the way and then bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

7. Whilst they are baking you can get on with the vanilla and chocolate frosting! For each, combine the butter and icing sugar together using your finger tips to ensure there are no lumps left. Then, for the vanilla frosting, add in the milk and vanilla essence and whisk together. For the chocolate frosting, you should add the milk and cocoa powder and whisk together. If you want to have just one flavour frosting, double the ingredients I've listed above.

8. Once the cupcakes are out of the oven, wait for them to cool completely and then you can apply your frosting in any way you want. In these photos I have used a star nozzle for the vanilla frosting, and a simple round nozzle for the chocolate.

9. Grab a glass of milk (trust me, you'll need it) and eat these babies whilst they are still warm!