Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy New Year's Eve!

I don't normally like chocolate cake, and I rarely try to make chocolate cupcakes, because they are dry and flavourless. Luckily, this one is moist and actually tastes of chocolate! I also used it over Christmas to make Christmas tree cupcakes (pictured at the end).

These are dark chocolate cupcakes, stuffed with a Lindt Lindor chocolate truffle, covered in icing that tastes like a chocolate truffle, and topped with glitter.

This was supposed to make 12 cupcakes, but ended up making 16!

It is easier to make the icing first, as it needs to cool.

Icing:

-150g chocolate (I used a mix of dark and milk)

- 160g butter

- 3-4 tbsp cream

1. Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave. Mix together and leave in the fridge or freezer to cool. (Make your cupcakes while its cooling!)

2. When it has cooled and is almost set, remove it from the fridge or freezer.

3. Use an electric whisk and whip the chocolate mixture. It should turn lighter in seconds.

4. Add the cream, then whip again. When everything is incorporated, stop whipping it, and smother it over cupcakes!

I topped my cakes with gold shimmer crystals and edible glitter.

Cupcakes:

-200g sugar

-200g self-raising flour

-75g cocoa powder

-1/2tsp salt

-1 tsp vanilla extract/2 tsp vanilla essence

-1 egg

-50ml vegetable oil

-100ml milk

-200ml hot water

-6 or 12 Lindt truffles (I cut mine in half, so only used 6)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2.  Add everything but the Lindt truffles and the hot water to a mixing bowl.

3. When everything is mixed together, add the hot water. The mixture is quite runny.

4. Fill cupcake cases 2/3 to 3/4 full, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

5. When the cupcakes have cooled, push a Lindt truffle into the cake, then cover with icing!

This recipe was originally used for making Christmas tree cupcakes, they turned out pretty well!

I used butter icing on them, rather than chocolate icing.

No Bake White Chocolate Cheesecake

This is a really delicious white chocolate cheesecake, that we were serving at the pub I work in.

It was only meant to be on for a week, but stayed on for about 6 weeks.

This cheesecake is very rich, but light and fluffy.

Biscuit base

- 300g biscuits (I used half Digestive, half chocolate chip cookies)

- 80g butter, melted

Filling

- 375g double cream

- 750g cream cheese

- vanilla extract/flavouring (not essential)

- 500g white chocolate (Plus extra to drizzle on top!)

(I know it gets expensive, but I would recommend using a more upmarket, nice tasting white chocolate!)

1. Break the biscuits into crumbs. I did this in a food processor, but you can put them in a ziploc bag and bash them with a rolling pin.

2. Add the melted butter, and mix.

3. Squash the breadcrumbs into a cake tin until it is very compact. Put it in the fridge to cool.

4. Break the white chocolate up and melt it in the microwave (in small bursts) or over a double boiler. When it has melted, leave it to cool on the counter.

5. Whip the double cream in a large bowl.

6. Mix the cream cheese and vanilla (1tsp-1tbsp depending on how you like the taste) into the cream.

7. Add a large spoonful of the cream cheese mixture into the cooled but melted white chocolate, give it a mix, then add all of the white chocolate into the cream cheese.

8. When it is all evenly mixed, pour the filling over the biscuit base and smooth it over at the top.

9. Leave to cool in the fridge for about an hour, then melt the extra white chocolate and drizzle it over the top. Put back in the fridge and cool for a further 2 hours. This cheesecake needs to be cooled for 3 hours in total.

Enjoy!