Chocolate Olive Oil Cupcakes
Adam is amazing at a lot of things. He’s a brilliant cook, incredibly thoughtful and is always there to lend a helping hand when I’m about to rage quite on Crash Bandicoot. Some days, he goes out of his way to drop me off at work, just so I don’t have to pay for parking. He’s also known to surprise me with coffee and, on one occasion, he’s even brought me a bouquet of churros.
While he has all of these positives going for him, there is one thing he is terrible at: remembering and communicating small, but important, details. An example of this was recently when we were invited to a wedding. He let me know we were invited and it would be near the end of the year but failed to tell me the actual date until nine days before, giving me nine days to try fit into my good dress (spoiler alert, I gave up attempting to diet on day three, lost no weight and opted into buying a dress that actually fitted instead).
On another occasion, we were leaving for a friend’s birthday party in less than an hour when Adam sprung on me we were meant to bring a plate. In that moment I felt like a mum who has been told, just before dropping the kids at school, that they’re having a shared lunch. Adam probably didn’t see the issue with telling me this last minute and assumed we could just grab something from the supermarket, but I had something else in mind.
These cupcakes are not only crazy delicious, but take all of 30 minutes to make from start to finish. They are a great go-to when you need something, and you need it fast. I like to serve them either ‘naked’, as they are or topped with a chocolate ganache. However, they also work really well with fresh raspberries mixed through or with a spoon of jam dropped in the middle. They really lend themselves well to a world of different flavour combinations and ideas.
Chocolate Oil Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes (oven depending)
1 and 1/2 cups of olive oil
2 Cups of castor sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp of Vanilla extract
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°f) on the fan bake setting. Once the oven is on, start the cupcake mixture by placing the sugar and oil into a cake mixer. Work the mixture until it turns slightly creamy and lightens in colour. Once the mixture is light and creamy, add in the eggs and vanilla extract and continue to mix together until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour and cocoa power together to remove any lumps. Once you are finished, there should be no traces of white. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and finish by mixing everything together for the final time.
Now it’s time to prepare your cupcake tins! My go to are silicone cupcake trays which don’t require any butter or oil, but if you’re using metal tins either line them with cupcake wrappers or butter/oil the sides so the cupcakes come out in one piece.
Spoon the mixture into the tins, making sure they’re all the same size so they cook evenly. Place the cupcakes in the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. My rule of thumb is when you can smell them, they’re either ready or near ready. Do not be worried if they do not rise a lot as this recipe does not have any added baking powder.
Leave the cupcakes to cool for a few minutes before removing them from the tins. I can never resist them when they’re warm and serve with a strong cup of coffee. If you’re making them in advance for something you can also freeze them for up to a month or keep in an air tight container for up to a week.
