Chocolate cherry cupcakes

These chocolate cherry cupcakes by Nigella Lawson (from How to Be a Domestic Goddess) taste absolutely wonderful. They are soft, delicate and beautifully fragrant, while the cherry jam keeps them wonderfully moist. I will definitely be returning to this recipe very soon, especially since my notoriously fussy children loved them ;).

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients for the chocolate cherry cupcakes:

• 125 g butter
• 100 g dark chocolate
• 300 g cherry jam
• 100 g caster sugar (you may use more or less, depending on the sweetness of the jam)
• a pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 150 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Towards the end of melting, add the broken dark chocolate. Warm briefly, remove from the heat and stir until fully melted and smooth. Leave to cool slightly. Add the cherry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then add to the mixture. Stir only until the ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix.

Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Divide the batter between the cases, filling each approximately three-quarters full.

Bake at 180°C for approximately 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Ingredients for the chocolate ganache:

• 100 g dark chocolate
• 100 ml double cream
• 12 glacé cherries

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling, then remove from the heat. Add the finely chopped chocolate and leave to stand for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth and glossy. Leave the ganache to cool slightly and thicken.

Spoon or drizzle the ganache over the cooled cupcakes and decorate each one with a glacé cherry.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.