Eggless Chocolate Cup Cakes

It was Rakhi's farewell get together and a pot luck. I decided to make cup cakes. Now Rakhi being a pure veg... the sort of vegetarian who does not eat cakes if it has eggs. I am not too fond of making cakes without eggs, as they have normally come out dense and not as fluffy and airy as the ones with eggs. But then the pot of luck was for Rakhi and I decided to risk an egg-less cake!! And wonder of wonders, it turned out great. So here goes -

My platter of cup cakes

Ingredients (for the Cake) Makes 16 cup cakes

• 1 Tsp instant coffee
• 70 g sugar
• 200 ml fresh milk
• 80 g semi-sweet chocolate
• 80 g butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 100 ml fresh curd
• 150 g flour (maida)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Method
Heat up the milk, add the sugar and instant coffee till it dissolves. Take off the flame and before it cools completely add semi sweet chocolate and butter.
 Sift the flour a couple of times, as it gives a good air to the cake.
Once it cools entirely, add beaten curd, vanilla essence and the sifted flour (add the flour in 2-3 stages) along with the baking powder and baking soda. I use my hand held mixer for mixing.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 deg C.
Pour the dough into the cup cake moulds.
Bake at 180 deg C for 12 minutes (till the tops are just springy to touch). Leave in the hot oven (switched off) for another couple of minutes before taking them out and de-moulding them. Enjoy as they are or with icing.

For icing, cool the cakes on a rack before you start.

This is a generic icing which can be used anytime. It is a choco lovers delight. I sourced it from Nigella Lawsons Devils food cake recipe.

Ingredients (for icing)

• 125 ml water
• 30 gms brown sugar
• 175 gms unsalted butter (i used regular amul butter, and it wasnt bad)
• 300 gms  dark chocolate (finely chopped) 

Method

Put the water,  sugar and butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.
When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy. At this point the mixture will seem very runny but rest assured, it will thicken as it cools.
Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again.
Use this icing to top off the cup cakes. 

with candied flowers

Top up with sprinkles (if you have some)
Enjoy....