Mississippi Mud Cupcakes

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meee, happy birthday dear Marisaaaaaaa, happy biiiirthday to me! I decided to take a day off work on Wednesday (it's criminal to work on your birthday don't you think?) and spend the day  surfing the web and baking cupcakes.

Well, that was the plan. Unfortunately our internet service was down (Booo!) and I had to occupy myself with other, more nerdy pursuits, the details of which I'll spare you.  I did manage to whip up two dozen decadent cupcakes (say that five times fast) to celebrate though. And I feel no shame in admitting that I spent the day eating said cupcakes, speckled eggs (these were procured for legitimate purposes, I swear - refer to photos), and fistfuls of peanuts & raisins. On a side-note, I seriously need to do something about my peanut & raisin addiction. It's getting out of control.

But I'll deal with that later; first, I need to polish the remainder of the cupcakes. TheHusband, helpful soul that he is, has generously offered to help me with this arduous task. If ever you've wanted a hit of chocolate indulgence, look no further, this is truly *it*. And if you don't know what *it* is, then you're clearly not a chocoholic. In which case we really need to get you that appointment with the psychiatrist. Or shove one of these biscuity-crunchy, choc-chip-fudgy cupcakes in your mouth to make you come to your senses. Speckled eggs optional.

Mississippi Mud Cupcakes
Adapted from Dana Treat (Original source: Cupcakes! book)
Makes 24

For the cupcake batter:
100g (3 1/3 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

To assemble:
2 1/4 cup roughly chopped chocolate sandwich cookies*
150g (5 oz) dark chocolate chips

To decorate:
100g (3 1/3 oz) dark chocolate, chopped

*To give you an approximate idea of yield, I used a 200g packet of Romany Creams plus a 125g packet of generic sandwich cookies.

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (350F). Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. Start making your batter - melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler over low heat, stir to dissolve everything and set aside to cool down slightly.
3. In a large bowl, combine oil and sugar and beat briefly with an electric whisk. Add eggs, one by one, beating after each addition.
4. Add vanilla essence and beat for another minute or so or until batter lightens slightly and looks creamy. Add sour cream and beat until fully incorporated (you should see no more white streaks).
5. Sift the dry ingredients together - flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt - then add half to the batter. Stir to combine, then add water, stirring again to ensure it is properly mixed in before adding the remainder of the flour mixture. Beat briefly to incorporate the flour - the result should be a smooth looking batter. I found it to be slightly more runny than normal cake batter, but this won't pose a problem as we will be layering it with drier ingredients.
6. To assemble the cupcakes - place a tablespoon full of the chopped cookies in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Top with a spoonful of chocolate chips (approx 6 per cupcake), then pour over a scant (i.e not filled to the brim!) 1/4 cup of batter. Top with another spoonful of cookies and the remainder of the chocolate chips. Press the topping slightly into the batter (but not so much that it drowns in the batter...).
7. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the pan and allow to cool on a wire-rack.
8. To decorate, melt chocolate and drizzle over the cooled cupcakes.