Lindt Lindor Cupcakes

These might be my favourite cupcakes ever. I know that's a lofty claim, but man alive, do these taste good! They are rich, decadent, and taste of the most amazing chocolate in the world. (Although they are a little messy to eat!)

I had a big box of Lindor leftover after Christmas, and the birthday of a friend coming up, so I decided to turn those gorgeous little truffles into gorgeous little cakes. My friend Dale described them as "an amazing little chocolate bomb" - I'd say he's not far off! I used a variety box of Lindor, so ended up with 4 different flavours of cupcake, but you could just as easily use the instructions below to make just one flavour :-)

Ingredients:
65g Cocoa powder
100g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
60 ml water
60ml milk
75g butter
150g granulated sugar
1 medium egg
24 Lindor truffles (I had 6 each of the Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate and Hazelnut varieties)
150g unsalted butter
300g icing sugar

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Makes 12 cupcakes (3 of each flavour)

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and line a bun tray with cupcake cases.
2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder together into a bowl and put to one side. In a second bowl or jug, mix together the water and milk.
3. Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the egg and beat until combined.
4. Stir half of the dry ingredients mixture into the butter and sugar, then add the milk and water, followed by the remaining dry ingredients, beating until combined between each addition.
5. Spoon 1tsp of the mixture into each cupcake case, then gently press in a truffle. Spoon another 2 tsp of the cake batter over the truffle to cover it completely, then bake for 15 minutes until firm around the edges (you'll notice the middle sinks slightly where the truffle has melted, don't worry, this will be filled with delicious buttercream!) Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan.
6. Whilst the cakes are cooling, prepare the butter cream topping. You should have three of each flavour truffle leftover - melt these in the microwave in 10 second bursts, stirring between each stint in the microwave to ensure they don't burn, then put them to one side to cool.
7. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy, then stir in the icing sugar a little at a time until combined. Divide the butter cream equally between your bowls of melted chocolate, and stir int quickly to combined.
8. Once the cakes have cooled, spread the butter cream over them (if you're making different varieties like I did, make sure the flavour of the butter cream corresponds with the truffle inside the cake!)
9. Stuff one in your mouth and try not to faint from the chocolaty goodness!

 

Happy Thoughts
x