This is my attempt at not posting anything sweet during January. In my defence, I’ve come to the conclusion that life without cake is boring.  I’m sure it’s far better for you to have a cake every now and then (like every other day, not once a month - that’d be ridiculous) than to have no cake. Cake = endorphins No cake = miserable Nicky (who ends up hiding in a cupboard anyway - eating chocolate chips from the baking shelf or that Christmas chocolate I found down the back of the sofa) So I’m sticking to cake.  And spin class too. Now these chocolatey treats took me a couple of attempts to get right.  I’ve got my recipe for fruity gluten free muffins sorted.  Chocolate-gluten-free is another story though. My first attempt had a good flavour, but ended up quite dry (sorry Kath - didn’t mean to try to weld your mouth shut with cake last week).  So I spent Monday morning playing with the recipe, and got it spot on.  Chocolatey, light in the middle and no welding of mouths.  My kids have been taking the un-iced ones to school for snack time.  Personally, without the topping, I think they need a few chocolate chips in, but it’s probably not a good idea to force chocolate chips on kids when they’re happy enough without them. The topping to these cupcakes consist of: Homemade marshmallow fluff - which is really a version of Italian meringue.  Other marshmallow recipes on the web contain corn syrup - which isn’t readily available the UK, but I think this version works really well.  It also gave me the chance to use my new candy thermometer yay! Chocolate Ganache - I love how fancy the word ‘ganache’ sounds.  Even though it’s just a mixture of cream and chocolate and probably the easiest sauce in the world to make. Since I’ve been slightly obsessed with Greek yoghurt lately, and I also still had a tub left that Rachel’s Organic kindly sent me (thanks guys!!)  I also used that in the recipe.  I find it helps to ensure a more moist cake, and it also acts as an acid, which works with the baking soda (alkaline), to help the cupcakes to rise.

Hopefully you don’t need any more persuading to make these cupcakes, but just in case you do:

The cupcakes themselves are so easy to make.  No mixer required.  Just mix all the ingredients in a bowl and spoon it out (the marshmallow does need a mixer, but it’s still pretty easy) You don’t need cake cases.  These cakes should easily pop out of a non-stick metal muffin tin without leaving half your cake behind.  Just spray or wipe the tin with a little oil or butter first and they come out really easily. They’re far more tasty than chocolates found down the back of the sofa

Gluten Free Chocolate Ganache Marshmallow cupcakes Recipe:

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Gluten Free Chocolate Ganache Marshmallow cupcakes - 44Gluten Free Chocolate Ganache Marshmallow cupcakes - 4Gluten Free Chocolate Ganache Marshmallow cupcakes - 77Gluten Free Chocolate Ganache Marshmallow cupcakes - 6