Id encourage you to do cupcakes, too. My recipe is very old fashioned but i know it can be relied upon.
5oz self raising flour
2oz proper cocoa powder, not drinking chocolate
5oz caster sugar
5oz butter (at room temperature, out of fridge til its very soft)
Bag of cocoa nibs or a bar of chocolate smashed up, hold some back for decoration
3 eggs
A dash of milk incase the mixture is all a bit stiff
Ideal?y, enough baking tins with small indentations , one each to hold papers, a plain baking sheet will be fine. Set out the papers before you start, you wont have time once the mixture is ready.
This makes about 12 large cupcakes or about 24 mini ones. Minis good, if there any plenty so people can have more.
Set out a teaspoon to dollop mixture into papers before you get going. Once the wet ingredients touch the dry ingredients, the baking powder starts to work so you need to get them i to the papers and i to the oven pretty sharpish.
I get really hot with the oven on, so its good to change into cool clothes before i start, may just be my age.
Set oven to gas mark 5/6
Creme butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time and beat to throughly incorporate each egg before adding the next one. When all in, add the chocolate bits then use the teaspoon to dollop a spoonful of mixture into each case, to about half full, much easier to manage if the mixture doesnt run over as they rise.
Cook in middle of oven for at least 20 mins, then start to check them. At first, they will be 'singing' making a noise that i can't describe but you will recognise the singing when you hear it. Keep checking every three minutes til the singing has all bit died away, set of timer of you will, like me, forget and they will burn. Sad face.
Take em out and leave to cool while you make the next batch. Dont try to make more than one batch at a time, its too much to get into the oven fast. Wash up as you go along, esp while they are baking so dishes are clean ready for next go. You can creme butter and sugar and add eggs, just don't add the dry ingredients til you are ready to put em in the oven.
Leave til cool to touch, but they are delicious hot from the oven.
Brilliant icing, for two batches, creme 200g philadelphia creme cheese and 100g butter and incorporate as much icing sugar as you can, id usually go for 250g icing sugar. Makes lovely icing.
To decorate spread the icing over each cupcake, add a nib or tiny chunk of chocolate to the top of each and carefully sprinkle cocoa powder out of a tiny sieve, or a pinch between your fingers on to each cupcake. The contrasts of brown and creme look lovely.
If you had the energy, when baking the cupcakes, you could omit the cocoa powder from the first batch, replace with extra 2 oz of self raising flour. This gives you half chocolate and vanilla cakes. Ice the chocolate cakes with the icing mixture, then add as much cocoa as fits into the rest of the icing sugar, and use the chocolate icing sugar to ice the vanilla cakes. Still use the tiny chunk of chocolate to decorate, but dust with icing sugar.
The contrasts look lovely. Sigh, enjoy.
Oh, and , another time, cook a batch of plain no cocoa cakes and add a handful of dried fruit and a teaspoon of mixed spice. These really are best straight from the oven, no icing required, just the thing to lift the spirits on a cold, drizzly autumn or winters day.
The variations are endless, lemon juice and icing sugar mixed together, pour over the plain cakes and decorated with white icing and a few strands of lemon peel for lemon drizzle.
Hungry now. hope it goes well. xx