Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Muffins

Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Muffins

Body Content

Cherries are really at their very best at the moment and they look so glorious on top of a cake or muffin, although I have to admit that I often top half of mine with sprinkles, because everybody loves sprinkles.

These are great if you don’t have a mixer as you just stir the ingredients into a custardy batter in a saucepan with a wooden spoon. No creaming or whipping required. Adding the rich ganache is gilding the lily really, but it serves as a delicious chocolate glue to stick the cherry on top.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100g soft brown sugar
220ml water
50g cornflour
75g butter – cut into cubes
75g good quality milk chocolate – chopped
50g dark chocolate – chopped
75ml sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
125g caster sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder sifted into 125g plain flour

Topping

120g chocolate
120ml double cream
Cherries

Method

1 Put the cocoa, soft brown sugar, water and cornflour into a medium, non-stick saucepan and stir gently but constantly with a wooden spoon until it melts, then thickens.
2 As lumps appear, pull it off the heat and beat with the spoon.
3 Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and chocolate until it’s melted.
4 Add one egg and the oil and vanilla and stir well.
5 Add the second egg and caster sugar and stir again.
6 Pour the flour/baking powder in and stir well until completely mixed.
7 Spoon into 12-13 muffin cases in a muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes at 170ºc

To finish

• While they are cooling heat 120ml of double cream in a small pan.
• When it is hot, and as it starts to bubble at the edges take it off the heat and stir in 120g of chocolate.
• Let this cool a little until it is thick and spoonable then spoon onto the muffins.
• Top with a cherry.

We’d love to see your version of these rich and gorgeous cakes, so leave a message in the comments if you give them a go.