For this week I decided to make two different chocolate cupcakes and I asked people in the hallway to taste the two. The two different cupcakes are a Black Forrest cupcake and a Cappuccino cupcake. The three people that were willing to eat these cupcakes were, student teacher Jeff Slater, pricipal Tobie Waldeck and senior Zach Callahan. Slater and Callahan both agreed on the Black Forrest cupcake, but principle Waldeck chose the cappaccino cupcake. And the winner is…

Black Forrest cupcake:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

2 tbsp. boiling water

1 ½ cups of self-rising flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ cup of tub margarine

1 cup of brown sugar

2 large eggs

3 tbsp. milk

To decorate:

4 tbsp. of raspberry jam, warmed

2/3 cup of heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Makes 12. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups. Blend the unsweetened cocoa with the boiling water and leave to cool.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the margarine, sugar, eggs, milk, and the cocoa mixture. Whisk together for about two minutes until smooth, then spoon mixture into the baking cups.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until springy to the touch. Cool in the pan for five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

To decorate the cupcakes, create a little hole in the top of the cupcake and add the warmed raspberry jam. Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Pipe or swirl the cream on top of each cupcake. Eat fresh or up to one day in the refrigerator.

The other cupcake was a Cappuccino cupcake.

Ingredients

½ cup soft margarine

½ cup superfine sugar

1 ½ cups of self-rising flour

2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa

2 large eggs

1tbsp corn syrup

¼ cup of chocolate chips

To decorate:

2/3 cup heavy cream

Chocolate chips to top

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Makes 12 to 14 cupcakes. Line muffin pans with 12-14 paper baking cups.

Place the margarine and the sugar in a large bowl, and then sift in the flour and unsweetened cocoa.

In another bowl, beat the eggs with t he syrup, then add to the flour mixture. Whisk together with an electric beater for two minutes until smooth. And then fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans and bake for 18 minutes, or until center is spongy.

To decorate, whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks then swirl over the tops of the muffins with a small spatula. Scatter the chocolate chips on top of the cupcake and eat that day or in the refrigerator for up to one day.

Try out these recipes and tell me what you think. That’s what’s cooking this week.