Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes

When I say these cupcakes are good, I mean SERIOUSLY good! The best part is you don't need a cake mixer to prepare the batter. This Chocolate Buttermilk cake has a very special place in my heart because it was the first ever chocolate cake that I baked when I started baking two years ago.

What I like is that I don't have to wait for the butter to soften before I can prepare the batter. In the original recipe, the butter is melted in a saucepan placed on the stove top together with water and cocoa powder. When you do that, you would have to wait for the mixture to cool before adding eggs and the other ingredients.

I decided to do it differently this time. I cut the butter into thin/smaller pieces and put it into a saucepan. Then I added 1 cup of boiling water and stirred to melt the butter. Because the butter is cold, by the time it is melted, the mixture would be just warm and not hot. That way, I save time.

The batter is very runny and I used an ice-cream scoop to ladle the batter into the cupcake liners. I only scooped 1 scoop per cupcake liner and it is just nice to fill the liners to 3/4 full. Previously I filled it to the brim and ended up with cupcakes with muffin tops hah..hah...

Because I only used one scoop per liner, I ended up with excess batter. Alamak! So how? That was when I decided to experiment. Why not fill a 6" cake tin and steam it? I had a very good experience with Steamed Chocolate Cake and I was wondering can a cake that was meant to be baked, be steamed? 

I remember my friend K. Nor had a cake which her sister jokingly named Kek Carrot Blackout (Blackout Carrot Cake hah..hah..) because there was a blackout when her cake was in the oven. Without batting any eyelid, my friend calmly steamed her carrot cake to perfection. And guess what? My steamed cake turned out really well.

I will do another post on this steamed version. The weather turned from sunny to cloudy when the cake was ready and frosted hence the ugly photo above. I was waiting for sun to come up again but by the time it did my cake was a mess hah..hah... But wow, the texture was amazing. Soft, moist and melt-in-your mouth chocolaty goodness. The texture of the cupcakes is also the same. I had one cupcake and then decided to have another. Same with the steamed cake. I had two slices that made me swoon! Ah..............

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes

Recipe source : Adapted from here

(Makes 12 regular sized cupcakes and one 6" cake or more cupcakes)

Ingredients :

- 113g unsalted butter, cut into small or thin pieces (can be straight from the fridge)

- 1 cup boiling water

- 125ml buttermilk

- 125ml grapeseed oil (or any neutral tasting vegetable oil)

- 2 large eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 65g cocoa powder (sifted)

- 250g self-raising flour

- 180g caster sugar

- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160C and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. In a saucepan, put butter and hot water and stir to melt the butter.

3. Sift cocoa powder into the melted butter mixture. Stir to mix.

4. Then add sugar, cinnamon powder, buttermilk, grapeseed oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine and to dissolve sugar. Set aside.

5. In a mixing bowl, sift flour.

6. Pour the wet mixture into the flour and whisk to combine. (The batter will be lumpy in the beginning and will smooth out)

7. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop one scoop of batter into each cupcake liner. (Note : You can fill until almost full and cupcake will rise above the liner)

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cake is springy to the touch and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (Mine was done in 15 minutes).

9. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

10. To frost, simply use a teaspoon to spoon ganache onto the cupcakes and swirl to coat. I used about 3 teaspoons per cupcake.

Ganache frosting

Ingredients :
- 100g bittersweet chocolate
- 100 ml heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Method :
1.  Break chocolate to smaller pieces
2.  Put into a heatproof container together with butter
3.  Boil the heavy cream and pour onto the chocolate and butter. Wait for 5 minutes before stirring the mixture.