Ah, cupcakes my one true baking love. My baking journey began with cupcakes years ago. With box mix and vanilla icing in a tub to be precis! I didn’t really know how to bake back then and the cute chubby Pillsbury mascot just made me feel like every birthday of anyone I knew desperately needed funfetti cupcakes covered in tub icing and decorated with their initials in smarties.
Oh my, I have come a long way.
And these chocolate cupcakes with their rich colored purple icing are a very grown up version of my cupcake beginnings.
Can we just have a moment for the colour combination of purple and brown, yes yes yes!
I never know why people would choose a cake over cupcakes for any celebration, cupcakes to me are the perfect bake. The perfect table decoration. The perfect mouthful. And I really hope these handfuls of pure perfection make a serious comeback one day.
CUPCAKES ARE MY FAVOURITE CELEBRATION BAKE
So, until that day, we all need to keep reminding our families, friends and social media (of course) how wonderful they are. And these chocolate cupcakes are truly something special.
The colour of this icing just gets me! So purple and those dark dots of the mulberry seeds are a reminder that this isn’t made with food colouring. It’s made with real fruit with real colour!
Purple is the colour of October here in Johannesburg and these gorgeous chocolate cupcakes are one of my favourite ways to celebrate my favourite time of year. I picked the mulberries I used in this recipe from my garden. But if you haven’t even heard of mulberries, you can substitute them for blackberries.
THE PRETTINESS COMES DOWN TO THE PIPING
So much of the impressiveness of cupcakes comes down to piping. And there’s no two ways about it, you need to practice. And you also need to understand what consistency of icing you’re looking for. Not whipped enough you’ll get cracks in your swirls and whipped to much your icing will start to look like it will split. Not easy, but with patience and practice you’ll advance from initials made in smarties to swirls of purple prettiness.
When baking this recipe try not to overfill the cupcake cases because you want a nice domed top to decorate. Overfilling doesn’t mean perfect; it often means messy cupcakes where the batter has spilt over the edge. I’ve given my recommend baking time based on the oven I use but all ovens are different so get to know yours.
You can top these cupcakes with extra berries or blocks of chocolate or be like me and let the simplicity of the cupcakes speak.
Happy baking, happy decorating and happy eating!
With Love,
Kitty
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Cupcakes with Mulberry Icing
Equipment
- 12 hole cupcake pans x 2
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 150 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 250 grams sugar
- 3 eggs
- 250 grams flour
- 2½ teaspoon baking powder
- 30 grams cocoa powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 125 ml brewed strong coffee
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 175 ml milk
Mulberry Icing
- 175 grams mulberries
- 1 tablespoon castor sugar
- 160 grams unsalted butter
- 500 grams icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon whipping cream
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a two cupcake pans with cupcake paper cases.
- Place the butter into a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the butter on high speed until it is white and fluffy this should take about 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar and beat for another minute.
- Add your eggs, one at a time and waiting at least one minute between each addition. Scrape the side of the bowl with a spatula to ensure the mixture is beating evenly.
- Sift the flour, salt, cocoa power and baking powder into a separate bowl and set aside.
- Combine the milk, vanilla and coffee into a jug.
- Alternate by adding the dry and wet ingredients to the egg mixture on medium to low speed. Scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is lump free and mixing evenly.
- Fill the cupcakes cakes ¾ of the way full and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool before icing.
Mulberry Icing
- Wash the mulberries and ensure that you have removed the green stalks from each one.
- Place the mulberries and the sugar in a small pan over medium heat. Allow the sugar to melt and for the mulberries to release their juices.
- Remove from the heat and blend until smooth in a food processor. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds or leave the seeds for extra colour. Allow the mixture to cool completely before using it in the icing.
- Place the butter into a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until it is white and fluffy. Ensure that you have scraped down the sides of the bowl so that there is no yellow butter on the sides.
- Change the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment and add the icing sugar. Beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy.
- Add the cream and two tablespoons of the cooled mulberry mixture and continue to beat until the mixture if fluffy and suitable for piping.
- Add the mixture to a pipping bag fitted with your chosen nozzle and pipe each cupcake with a swirl icing. Enjoy!
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