#SamLikesItHot: Choco-hazelnut cupcakes with Horlicks mud

MANILA, Philippines – Chocolate is comfort food for so many people — myself included — so I’m only too happy to wrap up comfort food month with a really decadent chocolate cupcake. 

I used a recipe I encountered not long ago that produced amazing basic chocolate cupcakes and got really naughty by dreaming up a hazelnut center and Horlicks icing.

Aren’t you glad it comes in cupcake form? I am. Automatic portion control!

This recipe yields 12 slighty-smaller-than-standard cupcakes and you’ll need:

• ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ cup flour
• ½ t baking soda
• ¾ t baking powder
• ¼ t salt
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• ½ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• ½ cup buttermilk [To make substitute, add 2 t vinegar into a ½-cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with milk. Stir and let sit for 5-10 minutes.]
• Nutella as desired or 12 pieces Ferrero Rocher or a bit of both!

1. Pre-heat your oven to 175 C/350 F. Add the butter and chocolate chips into a medium bowl and heat in the microwave to melt. Do this in increments — about 20 seconds on low — and stir in between until everything is melted. Set aside to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, add cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk in melted chocolate mixture from Step 1. Add half the mixed dry ingredients from Step 2 and half the buttermilk into this bowl and mix until everything is well-incorporated. Repeat with the rest of the dry ingredients and buttermilk.

4. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Fill with cupcake batter, almost all the way to the brim. Now, the fun part — hazelnut centers!

I couldn’t decide if I wanted a gooey, molten hazelnut center or something a little more surprising like a whole Ferrero Rocher so I did both. All you have to do is drop a dollop of Nutella [chill it a little bit before dropping] or press a Ferreo Rocher down the middle.

5. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted on the side [not in the gooey center!] comes out dry. Set aside to cool.

To ice these babies, I attempted a Horlicks buttercream icing. Operative word “attempted.”

I used:

• ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¼ cup milk at room temperature
• A pinch salt
• 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 cup Horlicks powder

1. Add all ingredients into a medium bowl. Sift the confectioner’s sugar and Horlicks to avoid lumps. Whisk everything with a hand mixer.

This turned out like buttercream icing in a really-insulting-to-buttercream-icing kind of way.

Perhaps I didn’t use enough confectioner’s sugar. I really wanted to avoid the saccharine-sweet kind of icing. But it was most likely the Horlicks powder. I could see how it would weigh down something that is supposed to be light and airy.

But it’s not the end of the world.

If you watch Top Chef, I’m sure you’ve encountered episodes where the judges are disappointed with a dish because they were promised one thing on the menu but given something else, usually because of some kitchen mishap.

Like when “ice cream” melts and becomes “cream sauce” or when “crème brulee” is reduced to “custard” because the torch wouldn’t work.

My point is, to save all of you a world of disappointment, I decided to call my icing “Horlicks mud.” I tried piping it on to my cupcakes but my piping skills are atrocious. But hey, a generous dollop spread on top with a spoon slowly worked its way to the sides like mud. Horlicks mud, I told you! [See lead photo]

Let’s slice into one, shall we? It was fun working my way to the middle to find out what surprise was waiting for me.

Aha, a Ferrero Rocher! The outer chocolate shell is melted at this point so you still get a gooey center and the nuts in the chocolate are a nice textural addition. Next!

Nutella, my love. My clumsy attempts at describing your deliciousness would only diminish you.

As for the Horlicks mud, it was like a thick blanket of ooze-y Horlicks love so all’s good in the ‘hood!

There’s more to life than chocolate-y dessert but not right now. Enjoy! – Rappler.com

Check out our other recipes:

• #SamLikesItHot: Seafood laksa
• #SamLikesItHot: Adobo flakes
• #SamLikesItHot: Pizza pot pie
• #SamLikesItHot: Warming chili
• #SamLikesItHot: Kimchi jigae

Sam Oh is a professional TV and events host, radio jock and foodie. Catch her on radio at First Thing In The Morning with Sam and Gibb on Magic 89.9, Monday to Thursday, 6am to 9am. She is also a food blogger. If you have questions or recipe requests, email desk@rappler.com with subject heading SAM LIKES IT HOT.