Chocolate Cupcake Recipe with Chocolate Buttercream

This is the plain chocolate cupcake we point people to when they want to bake a dozen at home: a cocoa sponge and a chocolate buttercream. It is not a copy of a shop recipe. If you would rather not turn the oven on, the chocolate chocolate cupcakes on our menu are the ordered version, delivered on a weekday in Melbourne.

Sponge

Heat the oven to 170°C fan. Line a 12-hole tin. Melt 80g butter with 80ml milk and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. In another bowl whisk 140g caster sugar, 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Sift in 120g plain flour, 40g cocoa and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Fold the wet ingredients through. The batter should fall off the spoon. Divide it and bake for 16–18 minutes, until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs.

Chocolate buttercream

Beat 150g soft butter until it is pale. Add 250g icing sugar and 30g cocoa, a spoon at a time, then 1 tablespoon of milk. It should hold a peak and still spread. If it is stiff, add a teaspoon more milk. Cool the cakes fully before you ice them, or the frosting slides off.

If you are feeding more than the house

A home dozen is a good Sunday. A party, an office or a next-weekday delivery is the menu: chocolate cupcakes sold in threes, or a chocolate round cake in 6 or 8 inch. We bake those in Narre Warren. We do not deliver the same day.