Ok- maybe I shouldn't be ending healthy desserts week with a recipe for chocolate cupcakes but hear me out. One small cupcake is not the end of the world, or even the diet if you happen to be on one. Yes, a commercially made, baseball sized, trans-fat packed cake with a mountain of whipped Crisco, oops, I mean frosting, is not remotely healthy or tasty. But, one small homemade cupcake at the end of a week of eating healthily, well, it just makes sense. Why deprive yourself of all chocolate or baked goods, when all that's really needed is a bit of moderation.
One of my biggest problems with baking (other than straight up disasters) is the leftovers. Since Zach and I are just two, there is always way too much just sitting around the house, even when I cut recipes in half, as I often do with Daring Bakers challenges. I either have to plan to have people over or I end up eating way too many sweets. Well, this time I decided to cut back, way back, on a recipe to only make 3 cupcakes (why 3? well the recipe originally made 12 cupcakes so 1/4 of it makes 3, though it would have made a bit more sense to do a third of the recipe and get 4 cupcakes out of it...). This would solve the problem of leftovers and, as I said earlier, one cupcake is not a bad thing.
I chose a recipe from 500 Chocolate Delights, a cookbook my friend D-- gave me a few years ago, for Mississippi Mud Cakes. The book is definitley British in origin, so I was a bit curious as to the name of the cupcakes but they looked very chocolaty so I thought I'd give them a try. The batter comes together in just a few minutes and uses ingredients most people have in the cupboard.
The cupcakes weren't quite as chocolatey as I had hoped, but I think the addition of some cocoa powder (I've added it as an option in the recipe below) should fix that. The small portion size and total number of cakes worked out really well so I think I will be sizing down more baking recipes in the future.
Small Batch Choco Cupcakes
Makes 3
1/4 C (40g) chocolate chips
3 T (40g) butter
1 T cocoa powder
1 egg
2 t (10g) sugar
3 T. (22g) self raising flour (or 2.5t flour + 1/4t. baking powder)
- Preheat oven to 325. Grease your cupcake tins or use silicon molds.
- Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a small microwave safe bowl. Add the cocoa powder and stir to combine. Lightly beat the egg in another small bowl. While stirring, slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg [this could potentially scramble your egg so if the chocolate mixture is too hot to touch, wait a few minutes until is cooled down]. Add sugar and flour and mix well. Divide mixture between the three cupcake tins/molds and bake for 17-20 minutes or the tops are mostly dry and set. Serve immediately or let cool for later.
4 comments:
That would also have made about 6 to 8 mini cupcakes, right?
I would just have made the whole thing and stuck the rest in the freezer. You're so good to cut down on the recipe.
I've made 1/4 of recipes before and I think to myself, is it really worth it to get all those ingred. out and get all those tools dirty to get such a small batch. Well, sometimes it is! Especially if you have no where to bring the leftovers, I bring 'em to work. They love and hate me for that :)
Hmmm... I have a mini-cupcake pan and am intrigued. Tiny cupcakes would be such a cute dessert for a dinner party if you aren't looking to serve something too heavy, although I have a feeling there might be some people (me perhaps?) that wouldn't be able to stop at one.
Looks really delicious! Can't wait to try the recipe out. Thanks!
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