today we are making rich dreamy decadent chocolate cupcakes these cupcakes are so
easy to put together and have that perfectly soft melt-in-your-mouth texture and we're going to pair
them with the most dreamy chocolate swiss meringue buttercream i am beyond excited let's do this
so let's start off by combining our dry ingredients so i've got 2/3 of a cup of
flour, 2/3 of a cup of white granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, a half teaspoon of
baking soda and a quarter teaspoon of salt and then you just want to whisk that all together
now we're just going to set this aside and in a small bowl you're going to combine
a half a cup of dark chocolate you can also use dark chocolate chips and a third cup of
unflavored vegetable oil and you want to melt that in the microwave for about a minute or so
until the chocolate is melted and you want to mix it in well with the oil
you should be left with a silky liquidy mixture now to that we're going to add a quarter cup of
yogurt or sour cream whatever you have on hand, two eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla extract or
essence and one teaspoon of instant coffee powder and you want to whisk that together
you should end up with this kind of thick mixture then to that you're going to add in
a third cup of hot water and give that a good mix so it's incorporated well and then add the liquid
mixture to your dry ingredients now the last thing to do is simply give it a good whisk for
about say 45 seconds or so to activate some of the gluten in our mixture and make sure everything is
mixed in well just make sure you don't over mix it otherwise you're going to end up with gooey
cupcakes now i'm just lining a cupcake tray with some cupcake cases and pouring my batter into them
this is a pretty runny batter but don't worry this is exactly the way it should be
i just like using a big spoon to do this some people like to use ice cream scoops
too and you basically just want to fill each cupcake case about two-thirds of the way
up if you fill them too high then they're going to rise and overflow which we really don't want
now i'm trying to be neat about this since you know we're on camera but honestly i usually just
make a huge mess when filling in cupcake cases now you should get exactly 12 cupcakes i had to do
so many recipe tests to get the perfect amount of batter now i'm just giving my tray a little
bang to get rid of any large air bubbles and now these are going to go into the oven at 155 degrees
celsius for about 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean so my cupcakes are out
of the oven now and they've been cooling in the tray for about half an hour or so and they smell
absolutely incredible now these cupcakes also have this kind of signature crack on the top
and that's because of that real chocolate that we added in our cake batter and if you leave
them to sit for about half a day or so they eventually develop that nice shiny cupcake top
i mean just look how moist this looks now i'm just taking these out to completely cool and in the
meantime we are going to make the most delicious chocolate swiss meringue buttercream to go on top
of these cupcakes so to start off you need 4 egg whites so i'm just using my hands here to
separate the egg yolks from the egg whites i find using my hands is just the easiest way to do this
if you've never made swiss meringue buttercream before then i do have a more in-depth tutorial
on this which i'll post a link to below next you want to set up a double boiler or ban marie so in
a small saucepan bring some water to a simmer and then put a heat proof bowl on top of that
and then you want to add in one and a half cups of caster sugar or regular white granulated sugar
and add in your egg whites and use a whisk to mix it in well you want to keep gently stirring this
as the mixture heats up so you know your mixture is ready when it reaches 75 degrees celsius
or if you don't have a thermometer then you can rub a little of the mixture between your fingers
and if you can't feel any sugar granules then your mixture is ready next add your warm mixture to a
stand mixer and mix it on a high speed until you reach stiff peaks and your mixture has cooled down
this will take about kind of 10 to 15 minutes it's really important to make sure the bowl
you're mixing your meringue is doesn't have any fat residue on it otherwise your meringue won't
whip up properly so make sure your bowl is washed well before mixing your meringue now about halfway
through i like to give my meringue a little mix to make sure everything is whipping up well
now you know you've reached stiff peaks when you've got these sharp tips which
are staying upright as opposed to weeping down and your meringue should be nice and
shiny next you want to add 400 grams of room temperature unsalted butter to your meringue
it's really important to make sure your butter is at the right consistency so it should be firm
enough to keep its shape but soft enough that you can make an indent in it with your fingers
so you want to slowly add small portions of the butter to your meringue with your
mixer on a medium speed it's important not to add too much at once otherwise you're going
to completely deflate your meringue which we don't want now once all your butter is
added give your buttercream a mix and add in your flavoring so i'm adding in a teaspoon of vanilla
and then continue to mix it on a medium speed it's really common for swiss meringue buttercream to
look like it's curdling but this is totally normal and you just want to let it do its thing until you
end up with a silky smooth buttercream now a quick tip to get your buttercream super smooth
is to swap your whisk attachment with the paddle attachment and let it mix in a low speed for about
10 minutes or until your buttercream is super smooth and you can glide your spatula through it
now for the chocolate version you need 225 grams of dark chocolate and you want to melt it in the
microwave for 20 second bursts at a time giving it a mix in between each burst until it's fully
melted and then all you need to do is add it to your vanilla buttercream and let it mix
on a low speed giving it a mix about halfway through to make sure it's incorporated well
and that is it you're left with the most delicious chocolate swiss meringue buttercream
now i've got a piping bag here with a 1m star tip on it and i'm going to go ahead and fill
my swiss meringue buttercream in my piping bag now if you're new to this and you've
never piped before i do have some beginner tutorials which i'll post the links to below
now i'm just doing some basic piping on these cupcakes i do have a cupcake piping tutorial
using the 1m tip which i'll post a link to below so i've just done a simple rosette
on this cupcake for this next one i'm just doing a really classic cupcake swirl i think
this is one of my favorites for this next one i'm doing a classic cupcake swirl too but just going
a little bit slower and applying a little more pressure which gives you more of a ruffle effect
and for this last one i'm doing a cute ruffle on the top so just
apply a little pressure and then quickly go up and down
so i've piped a few different designs here and now it's time for the best part
which is taste testing honestly these are like so so soft oh my god i'm gonna try and be a bit
neater about this here we go that should be better
oh my gosh these are just like so soft and moist and full of flavor and that buttercream if you
don't like chocolate cupcakes i promise you you are going to like this chocolate cupcake
so that is it guys i hope you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up
and subscribe if you did apart from that i'll see you in the next one