Bake Test: Hummingbird Bakery chocolate muffins

When I lived in London Hummingbird Bakery was the must pit-stop at Portobello Market.

Those fluffy little cakes with an equal portion of sugary, cream cheese icing were the rush we needed after a sleepless night out.

So I was pretty excited when a friend brought me the recipe book for my birthday a few years.

I've tried time and time again to recreate their cupcakes, but I seem to always do something wrong. Maybe it is the drier, warmer weather in Perth that stops the cakes from rising? Maybe I'm making excuses.

Determined to get it right, number 69 (he he) on my 101 in 1001 is to cook every single cupcake and give them away to others (that second part was for my hips).

To treat my dad and say thank you to my sister for looking after him for the week, I made the chocolate cupcake.

One of the problems I have with every single recipe I've ever made from this cook book is I can only get six cupcakes. Without fail. The recipe clearly says you can make 12 normal cupcakes. No. I can make 12 mini cupcakes, but six normal sized cupcakes. Or is miniature normal in the UK?

I was once again consistent in getting only six cupcakes out of the mixture.

As I put them into the oven I realised I had a brain burp moment... I had forgotten the baking powder. But it didn't seem to change the end result. The cakes were still fluffy and rose ever so slightly. Go figure.

The hero of this recipe was the chocolate icing. I had never made it before and am kicking myself. It was sugary, it was chocolaty, it was damn good icing. I brought nice, fancy cocoa and I think it did the trick.

My bake test score... six cupcakes out of ten (since it is all I can create!)