Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Hey guys, long time no update! So, my promise to update more often went straight out of the window pretty much as soon as I'd decided to commit to it. In hindsight I probably shouldn't promise these things because I can guarantee you that something will come along that makes it impossible to sit down and find the time to concentrate on things like taking pics and blogging (as much as I love doing it!)

When I moved in with Jack, all desire to get my bake on disappeared. I used to bake a lot when I lived with my mum, so much so that the lack of eggs/milk/butter became a bit of an issue for us. She didn't complain too much because of the plethora of tasty treats on offer kind of sweetened the fact that we'd have to make a mid-week shop more than once a month. Now I've settled into a sort of routine while working full time, I've finally been able to get back into it! Mum bought me a rather hefty cupcake recipe book and cake stand for Christmas so I thought I'd put them both to good use on my days off.

Today I baked some very, very indulgent chocolate fudge cupcakes (would have been a cake but I don't have any cake tins! Shock horror! Not to worry, they're now on my ever growing and extensive "to buy for the house" list). I cheated a little bit this time round and bought a mix from Tesco's but added a few bits here and there. I thought I'd share them with you because my goodness they're yummy!

Ingredients

- 1 chocolate fudge cake mix
- 3 small eggs
- Vegetable oil
- 75ml water
- 50g softened butter
- Semi-skimmed milk
- A pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup of caster sugar
- Cupcake cases (I managed to spread my cake mix into eight relatively large cases)

Method

1: Preheat your oven to 160c/320f/Gas mark 3 (this will vary depending on your oven, my cooker is ancient so I set my oven to 180!)

2: Set out your cupcake cases in a muffin tray, I find using a tray helps the cakes keep their shape!

3: Empty the contents of the sachet into a large bowl, add all 3 eggs, 75ml of water, 2 table spoons of vegetable oil, the caster sugar and mix together for around 2 minutes. I used a whisk and put my arms to good use. If you don't fancy a two minute work out, use an electric whisk on full power (I would have but it seems I don't own an electric whisk either, woops!)

4: Evenly dish out the mixture into your cupcake cases, filling just above halfway. Pop into the centre of the oven and cook for about 20 minutes (I rarely use timing guidelines, I do the fork test... pop a fork through the centre of the cake, if there's no cake gloop left on the fork when you remove it then they're ready to go! My cakes were in my trusty old oven for 35 minutes)

5: While your cakes are cooking, empty the frosting mix (provided in your box) into a bowl along with the softened butter, a pinch of table salt, 2 tablespoons of semi-skimmed milk and mix together until smooth. I pop the mixture in a sieve before I do this to get rid of any lumps! Makes for much easier mixing.

6: Remove the cakes from the oven, let them settle for about ten minutes and then add the frosting. I sprinkled some chocolate curls over the cakes and added some white shimmer pearls to add to the prettiness!

And you're finished! I hope you enjoy them just as much as we did over here! x