Tea party recipes - Easy chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients - makes ten

• 300g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
• 200g self-raising flour
• 200g light muscovado sugar, plus 3tbsp extra
• 6 tbsp cocoa
• 150ml sunflower oil, plus a little extra for greasing
• 284ml pot soured cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4 and line a ten-hole muffin tin with paper cases
2. Whizz the chocolate into small pieces in a food processor
3. In the largest mixing bowl you have, tip in the flour, sugar, cocoa, oil, 100ml soured cream, eggs, vanilla and 100ml water
4. Whisk everything together with electric beaters until smooth, then quickly stir in 100g of the whizzed-up chocolate bits
5. Divide the mixture between the ten cases, then bake for 20 mins until a skewer comes out clean
6. Cool on a wire rack
7. To make the icing – put the remaining chocolate bits, soured cream and three tbsp sugar in a small saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth icing. Chill in the fridge until firm enough to swirl on top of the muffins.
8. Then tuck in