Finally I have got around to making a recipe from the Primrose Bakery book. I bought this sometime ago (well before Christmas in fact) and it’s been sitting by my bed, much read but little used – until now! Of course I couldn’t bring myself to follow the recipe to the letter; I’ve really liked how cakes have been turning out since using the Greek yogurt, so some of that had to go in for sure. To balance this inclusion, I substituted the milk with water and used less of it. I also used the same method I did for the white chocolate & passionfruit cupcakes rather than the more involved one from the book – I was in a hurry.
This is what I did:
- Melted 100g 85% dark chocolate with 85g unsalted butter.
- Stirred in 175g soft brown sugar.
- Beat in 2 duck eggs.
- Sifted in 185g flour (1/3 wholemeal, 1/3 white, 1/3 buckwheat), 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp bicarb of soda, a pinch of salt and 2 heaped tsp cocoa.
- Stirred in 2 tbsp Greek yogurt (TOTAL 0%), 1 tsp vanilla extract and 150ml water.
- Filled 12 cupcake cases up to 2/3 full and then divided remaining mixture between 2×4″ mini cake thingies – thought I would use those for something slightly different.
- Creamed 50g unsalted butter with 100g sifted icing sugar.
- Beat in a tbsp milk & 1 drop peppermint essential oil.
- Spread this on top of cupcakes and decorated each with a peppermint cream.
All who tried these at my Easter Tea were impressed with the texture and flavour of these cupcakes. The sponge was moist, light and chocolatey. The mint icing was fun to try and made the whole cupcake seem like one big peppermint cream. I’m not really a fan of food colourings, but rather wished I’d put in a drop of green, just to give it that final finish. I’ve heard that the recipes from this book turn out well – this one certainly did.
mummy24 says
These sound (and look) amazing – love peppermint with chocolate!
@ashlallan
Maya Russell says
I’m trying to think if I’d like these – I’m not sure can only think of mint choc chip icecream which I love, but would it work in a cake?
Choclette says
Thank you, would love to know how you get on if you do make them 🙂
Elaine Livingstone says
duck eggs….thats novel in a recipe…something I have never thought about till now – if you have an egg allergy would that be all eggs or just chickens?
Choclette says
Hi Elaine, apologies for not replying before now. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about egg allergies, but I would have thought they were similar enough to have the same effect.
Choclette says
Ha ha Kath – what I want to know is, how do I get an invite to one of your wonderful Sunday dinners with puds galore?
MaryMoh – eating these at any time may not be too good for the waistline, but certainly tempting.
MaryMoh says
Mmmm…my favourite. I can eat that any time….mmm
Kath says
What I want to know is, how can I get an invite to next year’s Easter tea? What a spread! x
Choclette says
Joanna – you’ll just need to make your cakes extra mintier and creamier to make up for lack of creams on top. Did you get around to making any?
Celia – thank you for that, I’d much rather not use the colouring.
Caked Crusader – hats, oh yes I like it!
Oxslip – do let me know if you make your cakes and how they turn out with mint in them. I would so love to be in a position to have ducks – no I don’t have any. Luckily, Liskeard has a small organic shop where I can get local, organic and very free range duck eggs a lot of the time.
Bethany – thanks for letting me know about the London food bloggers event. Sounds fun, but a bit of a trek from Cornwall.
Janice – go on, give her a treat.
Janice says
ooh they do look good. My MIL loves choc mints, she would really go for these.
Bethany (Dirty Kitchen Secrets) says
Hello!
My name is Bethany and I just checked out your blog via UKFBA.
I wanted to take the opportunity to let you know there is a Food Blogger Conference being held in London on June 4th, 5th & 6th 2010. We would love for you to join if at all feasible. It’s open to UK and non UK food bloggers as well. It will be the perfect opportunity to network, learn and expand on relevant topics, eat delicious food and have a good laugh. We have some award-winning guest speakers and some lovely goodies.
For more information please visit Food Blogger Connect
I really hope you can make it and look forward to meeting you.
All the best,
Beth
oxslip says
Yum.
I just got the Fiona Cairns Bake & Decorate book as a present and there are some chocolate and mint cakes in there that I’m dying to try now. Difference is they have mint chocolate in the cake mix.
Do you own ducks? I love duck eggs and they are lovely for baking, but don’t buy them much as I always worry the ducks aren’t kept free range.
The Caked Crusader says
Oh they look so pretty with their little hats!
Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial says
Choclette, these look perfect – I’m glad you didn’t make them green! 🙂
Joanna says
These look very tasty indeed, I was just thinking chocolate and mint muffins but maybe these would be better, only trouble is I don’t have any creams for the topping… 🙂
Choclette says
Thanks Foodycat – I’ve never been very good at following recipes.
Choclette says
Chele – thank you
Astra Libris – It’s good to come across another “kindred spirit” or should I say chocolate spirit! I do try and keep my baking as healthy as possible but yogurt really gives a good texture to cakes.
C- I go in waves of using the creaming method and then giving up on it again and truth to tell, I’m still not sure that it makes much difference!
Sushma – the peppermint was fun,
Lucie – will be looking out for your Primrose baking.
Foodycat says
You didn’t follow the recipe at all! I think that counts as a Choclette original and they look just delicious.
Lucie says
Delicious Choclette! These look so good. I am yet to use my Primrose Bakery Book either – I must remedy this! 🙂
Sushma Mallya says
Beautiful & yummy cup cakes, love the peppermint flavour
C says
Oooh, yum! Love peppermint chocolate and these sound really good. I like the method you’ve used for making them – melting the butter is always so much easier than having to cream it – lazy, moi?!?
Astra Libris says
Ohhhh, these look luscious! I was just thinking about how much I love chocolate and peppermint together! 🙂 I also love how you include Greek yogurt in your baking – so awesome and healthful!
I thought of you as I wrote my recent chocolate-lacking post… 🙂 It’s so interesting how some people don’t like chocolate (something I’ll never be able to understand 🙂 but personally, I think everything is better with chocolate! 🙂
Chele says
Mmmmmmmmm – chocolate and peppermint cupcakes are my faves! They look great ;0)