Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Icing

I'm not a big fan of cupcakes...Mostly because they contain a lot of sugar, butter and artificial flavourings and colour. Maybe I just didn't have luck to try one that is delightful to me. What about you - do you have a  recipe for a cupcake that is divine?

The other day I made these; the cake batter is not too bad and mint icing I had to change (as original called for 250 g butter and 850 g icing sugar + colour + flavouring). My boys liked them...

Ingredients:

Cake batter-

2/3 cup strong coffee

1/3 cup Dutch cocoa 

30 g dark chocolate

1/3 cup milk

3 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 sugar (white)

vanilla essence

150 g butter, soft

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt 

Icing-

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbs flour

green food colour (optional)

1/2 tsp - 1 tsp mint oil or essence

180g butter, soft

Method:

Dissolve cocoa in hot coffee, add pieces of chocolate and let it melt. Stir, then add milk. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 170*C; prepare cupcake moulds and line them with paper cases.

Beat eggs with sugar until light and fluffy, add soft butter and beat well. Mix in coffee mixture. 

Mix well flour, baking soda and salt. Sift it over the beaten mixture and fold in. Spoon batter into paper cases 2/3 full. Bake 13-15 minutes, or until done.

Icing-

Mix flour, sugar and a bit of milk into a smooth paste. Put the rest milk (in a heavy bottomed pan) to boil. Mix in the paste and cook until thick. (I do this in a microwave - mix everything then put on high for 3-5 minutes; stir twice during the thickening). Cover with cling film and let it cool completely. Beat butter, then add cooled mixture and beat again.

Use piping bag to decorate the cupcakes.

Čokoladni 'Cupcakes' sa Mentol Kremom

Nisam ljubitelj 'kap kolaca'...Uglavnom zato sto sadrze mnogo secera, maslaca, te umjetne boje i arome. Mozda nisam imala srece do sada da probam neke koje bi me odusevili. A vi - imate li neki recept za 'cupcakes' koji su bozanstveni?

Neki dan sam napravila ove na slici; biskvit nije tako los, ali sam krem morala izmijeniti, jer je originalni recept trazio citav maslac, 850 gr secera u prahu + boja + umjetna aroma. Djecacima se svidio...

Potrebno:

2/3 solje jake kafe

1/3 solje kakaa (Holandski ili najbolji koji mozete naci)

30 gr tamne cokolade

1/3 solje mlijeka

3 jaja

1 solja braon secera

1/2 solje obicnog secera

vanila 

150 gr maslaca, omeksalog

1 1/3 solje brasna

1 k sode bb

malo soli

Krem-

1 solja mlijeka

1/2 solje secera

2 K brasna

zelena boja za hranu (po zelji)

1/2 - 1 k mentol ulja ili esencije

180 gr maslaca, omeksalog

Nacin:

Otopite kakao u kafi, ubacite cokoladu i ostavite da se otopi. Promijesajte i ubacite mlijeko.

Ukljucite rernu na 170*C, pripremite kalupe i papirne obloge.

Umutite jaja sa secerom, dodajte maslac i jos mutite, zatim uspite mjesavinu s mlijekom.

Pomijesajte brasno, so i sodu bb, pa ovo prosijte preko prethodne mjesavine. Rukom lagano sjedinite masu. Sipajte biskvitno tijesto u papirnate obloge (koji su smjesteni u kalupe) oko 2/3 visine. Pecite oko 13-15 minuta.

Krem-

Pomijesajte secer, brasno i malo mlijeka u jednoliku masu. Ostatak mlijeka stavite kuhati (u serpicu sa teskim dnom); kada prokuha uspite masu sa brasno i skuhajte u gustu smjesu (Ja ovo radim u mikrovalnoj- sve pomijesam , stavim u dublju posudu i na visokoj moci kuham 3-5 minuta, mijesajuci u 2 pauze. ) Pokrijte sa prozirnom folijom i ostavite ohladiti. Umutite maslac, pa u njega uspite ohladjenu masu i sjedinite mikserom. Ukrasite 'kap kolace' sa poslasticaskom spricom.