Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

The cold, dark nights are upon us. Around this time of year I find that my intake of hot drinks tripples and among those hot drinks in particular is hot chocolate. My evening is not complete without a mug of steamy, milky hot chocolate topped with squirty cream and marshmallows. So today I decided to take my love for hot chocolate a step further and bake some hot chocolate cupcakes! Plus I added a few touches to make them Christmassy as part of my bid to get in the Christmas spirit early this year.

Ingredients:

For the cake (Makes 6):

• All purpose flour - 75g
• Granulated sugar - 105g
• Cocoa Powder - 25g
• 1 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 mug of prepared hot chocolate (I used Cadbury's stir in milk)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• Milk chocolate chips

For the topping:

• Squirty Cream
• Mini Marshmallows
• Milk Chocolate Chips

Extras:

• Mini Candy Canes
• Cupcake cases

Method:

1. First preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius and line a cupcake tray with 6 paper cases.
2. Next cream the butter and the sugar together until fluffly.
3. In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients thoroughly (flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, sugar).
4. Now add the egg and vanilla essence to the butter and sugar combination and then slowly fold in the dry ingredients.
5. Finally, add as many milk chocolate chips as you wish.
6. Now evenly spread out the mixture into your 6 cupcake cakes and bake for 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
7. One cooked allow them to cool completely.
8. Once cooled simply use squirty cream for the topping and then sprinkle the chocolate chips and mini marshmallows on top.
9. For a christmassy touch, use christmas paper cases and mini candy canes, which also give the appearance of an actual mug.

Tah-dah!

Take a look at my White hot chocolate cupcakes too!