Death by white chocolate: Episode II

Well, Green & Blacks made no difference at all. In fact it split from the butter in the melting stage and was only rescued with some very vigorous whisking (a drop of milk really helped to save this mix). So, tasty and organic it may be, but a solution to the problems of baking with white chocolate it is not.

I've put the goal of a gluten free white chocolate cupcake on hold for now and have started from scratch with a standard white chocolate sponge. This seems to have worked out ok - hurrah! Just as well, as I've had an order being collected this morning...

The recipe is: 125g caster sugar mixed into 125g soft butter, add two eggs and mix until light and fluffy; add 150g well-sieved plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder, plus about 70g grated white chocolate. Leave to sit in the cupcake cups for 20 mins or so before bunging in the oven at 180c for 25 mins (or until golden brown on top). This makes 12 'normal size' cupcakes or about 8 'power' cupcakes! (ie made in a muffin tin, as pictured.)

Death by white chocolate

This weekend I’ll be trying to resolve my current issues with white chocolate cupcakes. I’m advertising these already for Easter, so I’d better make the recipe work somehow!

Essentially I’m adapting a gluten-free chocolate brownie recipe, that I’ve already successfully converted to chocolate cupcakes, but my recent attempts to replicate this in white chocolate was disastrous (although still delicious, said our very polite guests). There was pouf where there shouldn’t have been pouf, and uncooked almond squish in the middle – yuk! In my opinion the only thing it had going for it was the topping.

Anyway, I think I know where it all went wrong, so for round 2 I will be experimenting to find out if Green & Blacks white chocolate, with its minimum 30% cocoa solids, makes a difference to the mix. Already I can report that Tesco white chocolate is much nicer than Sainsbury’s (who’d have thought it) and made a yummy white chocolate topping. Green & Blacks tastes very different to me – it contains real vanilla and tastes, well, of vanilla! So, even if it works in texture it maybe won’t taste of white chocolate. Oh what to do?

If anyone has any top tips for perfect white chocolate cupcakes, please let me know…