Squidgy spider’s web cakes

I love the novelty of these and the ease with which they are achieved. Who knew that dragging a toothpick through icing could produce such a thing of beauty? Kids love these for obvious bug-related reasons. Adults love them for their squelchy chocolate hit. I don’t use expensive chocolate, just mid-range stuff. And they’re so dense, fudgy and filling that kids are happy with just the one. Meaning less batch baking for you.

FOR THE CAKES:

INGREDIENTS

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

50g dark chocolate

100g plain flour

100g dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

75ml sunflower oil

50ml double cream

50ml water, cold

1 large egg, at room temperature

FOR THE GANACHE:

250g white chocolate

125ml double cream

black writing icing tube

or chocolate writing icing tube

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C and place the shelf in the middle of the oven. Fill a 12-hole cupcake tin with cases. Break all the chocolate up into pieces and place in a food processor with the blade attachment fitted. Whizz until you have pieces the size of chocolate chips.

Put all the other cake ingredients into a bowl and use a handheld mixer to beat until smooth, about 4 minutes. Add the chocolate then spoon about a tablespoon of the mixture into the cases until just under half full, but no more than this as you will need room for the ganache. If you find you have too much mixture for your cases simply fill a few more. Bake for 20 minutes until the tops start to crack. Remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the ganache. Chop the chocolate finely, then gently heat the cream in a small saucepan until hot and bubbling. Remove from the heat and immediately stir through the chocolate until lovely and smooth. Pour or spoon the ganache over the cooled cakes until you have completely ‘flooded’ the top.

When all the cakes are covered with ganache take the icing tube and draw a spiral from the middle outwards. Immediately drag a toothpick from the centre of the cupcake to the outside 6–8 times, dragging to separate points on the top. This will create a web effect. Leave to dry completely

#normalmum #cupcakes #chocolate #chocolateganache