Triple Chocolate Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Toasted Hazelnuts

Whenever I need to bake something that is a little decadent, I better have a good enough reason for making it because sugar, butter and refined flour aren’t the three best words to use in this household. My mom’s been impressing upon me to cook something healthy instead of feeding my love handles with all the baked goodies. But I just can’t get myself to cook the way I bake; baking is way more fun and they photograph better as well. So what’s today’s baking excuse? My cousin is coming over!

I wanted to make a dense chocolate cake with chocolate chips and toasted hazelnuts and started looking through my books to find the right recipe for a good chocolate cake to which I could make the chocolate chip and hazelnut additions. My search came to an end when I found a recipe for Devil’s Food Cake in Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey. However, I made drastic improvisations, like use yoghurt instead of buttermilk, granulated sugar instead of brown sugar and milk instead of water. So at the end of it, there wasn’t much left in common between the recipe I ended up with and the one in the book. But the cake, oh my, the cake turned out beautifully! So, so moist with the hot milk and yoghurt and wonderfully chocolatey with not one, but three types of chocolate – semi-sweet chocolate chips, cocoa powder and the best of all, 60% cacao dark chocolate.

This is going to be my to-go recipe for my chocolate cake. If you’re a fan of hazelnuts, then go crazy and add more of it in the batter and sprinkle some on top of the batter just before you push it into the oven. And I think this would be great with walnuts as well.

1. Grease the cupcake moulds or the cake pans with non-stick cooking spray or butter. When using the pan, line it with parchment and spray another layer of cooking oil. Preheat the oven to 350F or 175C.
2. In a large bowl combine the cocoa powder and chocolate and pour in the hot milk. Stir till the chocolate has melted and the mixture is consistent. Stir in the vanilla and yoghurt.
3. In another large bowl or a bowl of a stand mixer, beat the oil and butter together until light on medium speed. Add the sugar a little at a time and beat until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time; beating for about 1-2 minutes after each addition.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the ingredients in the following order – 1/3 flour, ½ liquid, 1/3rd flour, 1/2 liquid. Fold in the final third of the flour by hand using a large spatula until the flour is just combined.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts. Reserve some to sprinkle on the top.
6. For a 9 inch cake bake for 25-30 minutes or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool completely before unmoulding.