DARK CHOCOLATE MOIST MUFFIN

This recipe is a MUST-keeper and definitely my favourite! Chanced upon it on Bear Naked Food blog and decided to try it one night when I had chocolate craving after lesson. Oh! This really tasted so very good! Even my old folks gave me thumbs up, and my hubby who always stayed neutral about my bakes said this was really good. Of course getting good quality chocolate would made a great difference, but Little Mouse needed to be thrifty. I could not spend a lot of money to buy Valrhona on muffins for own stomach, my lovely hubby would have his eyes popped out!

I tried this chocolate couverture in Phoon Huat which I thought was value for money. It costs about a fourth of its Valrhona cousin and tasted better than the other chocolates that I previously bought from the bakery. I would strongly recommend dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content to balance out the sweetness of the muffin. Hence Bakeway Chocolate 73.5%  is good enough for me.

Believe me, this recipe is worth a try. It is super easy, and almost fool-proof (unless you do do not follow the recipe). It took me less than 45min from prep to finish. I would be making these for parties and I know my guests would simply find them irresistible! And I would not need to worry about melting frostings!

DARK CHOCOLATE MOIST MUFFIN (adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients

160g dark chocolate couverture droplets, at least 70% cocoa content

Wet Ingredients

120g unsalted butter, melted

240ml buttermilk (I used 1 tbsp vinegar and fill up to 240ml mark with full cream milk, set aside for 5 min)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract (okay, I used 1 tbsp!)

Dry Ingredients

170g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

70g unsweetened cocoa powder

190g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

More dark chocolate couverture droplets for toppings (Optional)

Methods

1. Preheat oven at 170C, line muffin tray with liners.

2. Beat eggs and add all wet ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.

3. Sift flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and salt into another bowl.

4. Stir in 160g dark chocolate droplets into dry ingredients.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir just to combine, do not overmix.

6. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tray till 70-80% full. Tap muffin tray on counter top once to release any air bubbles. You may top with additional chocolate droplets for visual enhancement (optional).

7. Bake at 170C for about 18-20 minutes. Do not over-bake or the cakes will turn out dry.

8. Remove baked muffins from tray to cool completely on wire rack.

Makes about 18 muffins (or 12 muffins plus a small loaf*)

*If you are baking in a loaf tin, baking time varies. My small loaf required 30mins bake time.

moist cake from loaf