Monday Recipe: Double Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes

Raspberries go fabulously with chocolate, better I think than strawberries. So last summer I came up with these. I normally use dark chocolate but if you don’t like dark chocolate you can substitute whatever chocolate you prefer.

Please note these quantities are designed for use in a Cupcake Maker, but the recipe can also be baked in the oven. This amount will make approximately 6 fairy sized cakes, but can easily be scaled up to make more.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
30g/1oz Self-rising flour, sifted
20g/1oz Coco powder, sifted
50g/2oz Caster sugar
50g/2oz Softened butter or margarine
approx 25g/1oz of dark chocolate chips
a handful of raspberries

Method:
Cream together the butter and sugar then beat in the egg.  Fold in the flour and coco powder.
Put the raspberries in a small bowl and crush them lightly with a fork, then add to the cake mix along with the chocolate chips and gently stir them in.
Divide between 6 cake cases and then bake in the cupcake maker for approximately 10 minutes or in the oven at Gas 4/180 C for about 15 minutes. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean!
Leave on a wire rack to cool.

Just a quick warning, the whole fruit inside these means they are very soft when removed from the oven/cupcake maker. So be careful when putting them out to cool as it’s very easy to get a misshapen cake!
I like to leave these cakes plain mostly, but they do go very nicely with a chocolate or vanilla butter cream. Or better yet, top with melted chocolate, preferably the same type as the chocolate chips!