The Almost Perfect Chocolate Cupcake

In my last post I mentioned I'd made a batch of chocolate cupcakes. These required more work than the last two recipes but when I popped one in my mouth for a taste test, it made me smile. 

Texture-wise, it was airy, crumbly, light and moist. Taste-wise, chocolatey, not too sweet and nommy! Alas, still not the perfect chocolate cupcake...

Firstly, they sank a little in the middle after I took them out of the oven. I wonder if it was due to opening the oven and checking for doneness. They took more than the 20 minutes most cakes take. I did a spring test (touching the top of the cake to see if it springs back, if it does, it's done. If your finger leaves a bit of an indentation, it is not.), realised it needed more time and let it continue to bake another 2 minutes. They were nice and puffy when I took them out of the oven but the pretty rounded tops sank once cooled. Just a wee sinking that was easily camouflaged by frosting.

The second reason is the chocolatey-ness of the cake. It was more chocolatey than my first two attempts. But not enough. I'd thought that with 2 chocolate components and the addition of more chocolate than the original recipe called for it would have been more chocolatey...

I've mentioned I'm not big on chocolate but I think chocolate lovers would prefer that anything chocolate  should pack a certain oomph. I got a hit but I wanted a Bazinga! (Yes, I am a fan of 'The Big Bang Theory'.)

My verdict is that this is a good chocolate cake to top with chocolate or Nutella frosting but not good enough on its own or if topped with a lighter frosting like the caramel Mascarpone one I made. I did go 'Mmmm...'  though when I popped one in my mouth. See recipe here.

I have a lovely friend Elaine who is very supportive of my baking endeavours. She randomly bought 6 Kahlua cuppies I made awhile back and has told me to let her know when I bake as she would like to continue supporting me. She loved those Kahlua ones (topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting and Maltesers). 

I brought a box of these chocolate, caramel Mascarpone frosting cupcakes down to Elaine and as expected, she too felt that the chocolate cake was good though it could be more chocolatey, the caramel Mascarpone frosting was a little too light for her liking and she still preferred my Kahlua cuppies. I was right. Chocolate lovers want chocolate overload when they eat anything chocolate. If I had topped these with the Nutella butter cream I made previously, she would have gone to chocolate heaven for sure.

My cousin-in-law and BFF (I shall call her my Sayang) who also got a taste of these chocolate cupcakes liked them plenty. She preferred the lightness and ate 3 of the 4 she had (she told me she would have finished all of them if her maid had not asked to try one).

I'll definitely tweak the recipe and attempt making chocolate cuppies very soon as my quest for the perfect chocolate cupcake continues...