Olympic Village Chocolate Chip Muffins
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
- 300g/10.6ozs cake flour*
- 200g/7ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 3/4 cup/75g/2.6ozs cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 170g/6ozs yogurt or sour cream (skim or light also works)
- 170g/6ozs soda water or Coke (any carbonated drink)
- 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 400g/10.6ozs chocolate chunks (I used a mix of milk and dark)
Chocolate Ganache
- 70g/2.5ozs dark chocolate
- 70ml/2.5flozs pure or thickened cream
Cake flour can be bought at the supermarket. You can also make it at home. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container ready for baking cakes as it produces a softer texture.
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced. Line a giant muffin tin with giant liners (or make your own with parchment, see above). In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together until well distributed.
Step 2 -In a jug whisk the yogurt or sour cream, carbonated beverage, oil, coffee powder, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and slowly add in the wet mixture stirring with a spatula slowly to ensure that there are no lumps (but try not to overmix the batter as it can produce tough muffins as the gluten is overworked). Stir in the chocolate chunks but reserve a small handful for decorating on top. Scoop into the muffin liners (I use a spring loaded ice cream scoop) dividing equally among all 6 muffins. Sprinkle extra chocolate chunks on top. Bake for 30-33 minutes or until the centre springs back.
Step 3 - While the muffins are baking make the chocolate ganache to give it time to cool down and thicken. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and heat the cream up until boiling. Pour the cream all over the chocolate chips and then cover with a plate and let rest for 7-8 minutes. Remove the plate and stir until smooth and no lumps remain.
Step 4 - With the fatter end of a chopstick make a deep hole in the muffin and spoon the chocolate ganache into the hole and in the centre of the muffin.
Notes: muffins are always best on the day they are baked. They can also be frozen where they'll keep for up to 3 months wrapped well. Otherwise if your muffins are a day or two old, try reheating them before eating.