Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing

I'm currently in my homecity, Pune.I love catching up with my family and friends here. I baked these cupcakes for most of my friends here and they enjoyed it a lot! You just cant go wrong with these cupcakes..Give it a try and you will enjoy baking it for your loved ones

Ingredients

For cupcakes

200 gms plain flour

200 gms caster sugar

100 gms unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

4 tbs cocoa powder

150 ml milk 

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

For icing

100 gms unsalted butter, softened

175 gms gms icing sugar

25 gms cocoa powder

sugar sprinklers (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Sift the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add sugar, salt and butter. Mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla essence until well blended

Slowly pour in the eggs mixture to combine. Gently whisk until smooth. 

Place the paper cupcake cases into the trays. Carefully spoon the mixture into the cases, filling each only only half full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly coloured. Check with a toothpick, by inserting it in the muffin- it should come out clean.  Leave for few minutes, then transfer the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool completely.

For icing, beat together the butter, icing sugar, and cocoa powder until smooth.

Transfer the icing into a piping bag and pipe onto the cupcakes. Decorate the cupcake with the sugar sprinklers of your choice.

One more variation to the above cupcakes which I baked for my daughter's 3rd birthday are Strawberry cupcakes with pink icing!

Strawberry cupcakes with pink icing

Use all the above ingredients for cupcake expect for the cocoa powder. Instead, use 3 tbs of strawberry crush (add to the egg mixture)

For the icing use 3-4 drops of food colour to make it pink in colour.

** These cupcakes can be stored upto 3 days in a airtight container

Amrakhanda

A mango flavored 'Amrakhanda' (mango flavoured hung curd) is a popular sweet dish in Maharashtra and prepared on the day of 'Gudi Padwa', which is the new year for Maharashtrians. It is a sweet dish which is best enjoyed on this particular day with fried puris. The mango puree is mixed with sweetened Shrikhand (hung curd). I have added small mango pieces to this Amrakhanda to give it a different twist.

Ingredients
home made Curd 1 Ltr 
1.5 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Alphanso mango pulp
saffaron 1 tsp ( mixed in 2 tbs of milk)
1 Alphanso mango cut into small pieces

Method 
Take a muslin cloth and put curd tightly in that cloth for whole night

Next morning, remove the hung curd in a large mixing bowl and add all other ingredients expect mango pieces and keep stirring for 10 mins unless it is properly mixed. Mix the saffron in this amrakhanda. Use a hand blender to make a smooth paste.

Garnish with mango pieces. Store in refrigerator and serve with hot puris.