Chocolate & Raspberry - A Great Combo!

I know the popular combo is white chocolate and raspberry, but I'm not a huge white chocolate fan. So I like pairing raspberries with milk or dark chocolate. I really like using the freeze dried raspberry powder at the moment - it gives a real raspberry flavour, though the colour isn't a strong pink so you may want to add some colouring to the icing if you want a deeper pink colour.

I was introduced to the 1M piping nozzle a while back (relatively late in my cake decorating experience really!) and its great - so easy & quick to make cupcakes & cakes that look fancy!

Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes!

1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup boiling water
1 1/3 flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
115gm butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2tsp vanilla
2 crunchy bars, chopped (optional)

• Stir boiling water & cocoa in a small bowl. Leave to cool.
• Cream butter & sugar.
• Add eggs one at a time.
• Beat until smooth, stir in vanilla.
• Add dry ingredients & beat til just incorporated.
• Add cocoa mix & stir til smooth.
• Add crunchy bar pieces if using.
• Place in cupcake papers & bake 16-20mins at 180'C.
• Ice with your favourite buttercream frosting when cool.

Makes 16 standard cupcakes.

Do let me know what you think if you give them a try 😊