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Double Chocolate Marble-icious or Should that be Marblellous Cupcakes!

Published 20 April 2012 by Veronica Stillwater

I decided that one flavour of sponge just wasn't enough this week so opted for a double dose of chocolatey goodness, cocoa powder enriched cake and frosting, combining vanilla and chocolate cake with a duo of toppings, finished off with delicate flakes of crumbly white chocolate. Chocolate heaven!

I used a large rose nozzle for the piping, but not to create roses, I used it to create frills, zigzags, loops, ripples and ribbon effect piping detail. 

 

 

Turn on the oven and set to 180°

For the Cakes you will need: 
12 Cup muffin baking tray
2 Mixing Bowls
Spatula 
4 teaspoons 
Electric Whisk 
x 12 paper muffin cases

Ingredients: 
200g Self Raising Flour 
50g Corn Flour
3 Medium Eggs 
125g Margarine or butter 
125g sugar
1/4 Pint of Buttermilk (Or Full fat milk)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

For the vanilla sponge mix:
In one of the bowls, place your cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of the buttermilk from your 1/4 pint of buttermilk. Set aside.   In the other bowl add the margarine and sugar, whisk using the electric whisk until thick, pale and fluffy. Now add the 3 eggs and switch to using the spatula for mixing. Mix in the eggs a little and then add the self raising flour, corn flour, vanilla extract and the remainder of the buttermilk and mix until combined and smooth. Take half of this mixture and add it to the other bowl with the cocoa powder and buttermilk. Mix until combined and smooth. Now you have 2 sponge mixes, one vanilla, one chocolate, taking 2 teaspoons for each of the mixtures place a spoonful of each mixture and place in each muffin case, alternating with the vanilla and chocolate mixtures, to create a marble effect until each case is nearly full.

Once you have filled all the cases place in the oven nearest the top shelf leaving room for them to rise and bake at 180° for approx 30-40 minutes. Checking at around the 25 minute mark. You can always test with a skewer inserted into a cake and if it comes out clean then they are ready.. if the skewer doesn't come out clean then allow to cook for a further 5 minutes and check again.  Once cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 

    

For the toppings you will need:
2 Mixing bowls
2 Spatulas
2 Piping bags 
2 Nozzles: Large Rose Nozzles
Electric Whisk

Ingredients:
500g Icing sugar 
50g Butter
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract 
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

In one of the mixing bowls place the cocoa powder. In the other mixing bowl place the remaining ingredients and mix starting with a spatula then finish off using the electric whisk to get a smooth and thick consistency. Add half of the mixture to the other bowl containing the cocoa powder and whisk until a smooth consistency is reached, if this is a little too thick in consistency add a little drop of water to get a smooth and workable consistency. Set aside and make the toppers.

White chocolate flakes toppers
You will need:
Saucepan 
Glass pyrex bowl 
Plastic or glass chopping board 
Palette Knife

Ingredients:
Just 75g of pure white chocolate

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over the saucepan filled with water on a low heat until completely melted. Once melted allow to cool slightly and using oven gloves or a tea-towel to protect your hands, pour the chocolate onto the chopping board in the centre. Using a palette knife smooth out the chocolate to the shape of a square or rectangle, not spreading too thinly, it needs to be at least 4-5mm thick. Place in the fridge and allow to cook completely until set back to its solid state.

*Handy tip for piping with a little practice first:
Have fun and practice piping on a sheet of greaseproof paper at first if you need to. You can always scoop up the test piping icing using a spatula and put it back in your piping bag for when it comes to actually decorating the cakes. 

Decorate each of the cupcakes using the 2 different frostings, both chocolate and vanilla. You can create squiggly lines, frills, flowers, zigzags, looped ribbon effects, ripples and different designs using this nozzle. Again I found the more I did the designs, the better I got each time.

Once you have iced all of the cupcakes, remove the chocolate from the fridge and check if it is set. If set, then using the edge of the palette knife starting at one end and scraping away from you start to scrape the chocolate until you create frills, flakes and other chocolatey creations, it doesn't have to be absolute perfection to create something that looks pretty. Then take these white chocolate   toppers and place them on top of each of the cupcakes. You can always place them on a wooden chopping board for serving or on your cake stand received with issue 1 and then on with the sharing of these doubly delicious and equally as pretty tasty morsels. Until next week, happy baking! Happy cupcake making, munching and devouring! Enjoy!

*Handy Tip:
Replacing a quantity of self raising flour in a recipe with corn flour makes for a lighter texture.