Buckingham Palace Chocolate Cupcakes
When I was looking for delicious treats to celebrate King Charles’ coronation, I found this wonderful recipe for chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, shared by the pastry chefs from Buckingham Palace.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 60g unsalted butter
- 300g caster sugar
- 250g plain/all-purpose flour
- 70g unsweetened cocoa powder, sieved
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 300ml milk
- 50ml vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 3 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- 100g white chocolate, optional
Chocolate Buttercream:
- 200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
- 200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 250g icing sugar
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon fine salt, to taste
Instructions
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Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
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Make the cupcakes: preheat oven to fan 150°C/170°C/325°F/Gas 3 and line muffin tins with 24 paper cases.
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Weigh the butter in a microwave safe jug or bowl and blitz in the microwave until melted. Set aside to cool while you collect the remainder of the ingredients.
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Weigh the sugar into a mixing bowl and sieve over the flour, cocoa, coffee, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Mix well.
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Add the milk, oil, egg and vinegar to the melted and cooled butter and mix well.
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Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. Use a balloon whisk to mix, ensuring that there are no lumps. Be careful not to over-mix.
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Chop the white chocolate and fold into the cake batter, if using.
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Divide the mixture between 24 muffin cases and bake in the centre of the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, or until cooked. They will be springy to the touch.
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Remove from the oven and leave the cupcakes in the tin for 5 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack and leave to cool.
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Make the chocolate buttercream: melt the chocolate in a bain marie or microwave. Set aside to cool. (See Recipe Notes.)
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Beat the butter, with an electric whisk, for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
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Slowly beat in half of the the icing sugar, folding it in first with a spoon, and then using the electric whisk.
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Add the remaining icing sugar, fold in and then beat again until combined and the icing is light and fluffy.
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Stir 2 tablespoons buttercream into the cooled, melted chocolate and mix well.
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Now beat the cooled melted chocolate into the buttercream, until thoroughly mixed.
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Make sure the cupcakes have completely cooled and then pipe or spoon the buttercream on top.
Recipe Notes
Equipment:
- Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- Large microwave safe jug or heatproof bowl
- Electric whisk and mixing bowl
- Sieve
- Chopping board and knife
- Muffin tins with 24 paper cases.
Be very careful melting the chocolate.
Chocolate can be very difficult to work with. You can overheat it very easily and the mixture will go grainy. When this happens, there is no way to resolve it I’m afraid!
Microwave: I give the chocolate a minute in the microwave, take it out and stir it well, then let it sit for a few minutes to see if it continues melting sufficiently to melt all the chocolate. If not, I then continue with the microwave but in 10 – 15 second bursts.
Bain Marie: if you do not have a microwave, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat until the chocolate is very nearly melted then take it off the heat and take the bowl off the saucepan. Be very careful not to burn yourself as the bowl will be hot and steam will escape from the saucepan. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the residual heat to melt the remainder of the mixture. Again, be careful not to over-heat.