Fudgey “Ferrero” Muffins
Fluffy, chocolatey sponge topped with fudgey hazelnut frosting, crumbled hazelnuts, chocolate sauce and a gluten free “ferrero rocher”.
BUT would you believe me if I told you I have made these muffins with less butter and sugar than I usually would use by replacing it with sweet potato and avocado?! Yep…its true!!
- The Full Green sweet potato rice adds a sweetness and velvetty texture that I haven’t been able to achieve with any other ingredient!
- And the avocado….woahhhh…. you can’t taste it AT ALL but you get the silkiest, fudgiest, most amazing frosting. Without ANY butter or icing sugar.
I’ve given a lot of these muffins away to make sure neither ingredient is detectable. Most say, if anything, “is there dates in there?!“. NO ONE has guessed.
Fudgey “Ferrero” Muffins
Servings: 4 muffins
Ingredients
"Chocolate Paste"
- 35 grams Full Green Sweet Potato Rice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp coffee powder
- 3 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 2 tbsp mylk of your choice
- 2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Cake Ingredients
- 75 grams gluten free self-raising flour
- 50 grams dairy free spread - e.g. flora dairy free, vitalite, pure
Frosting
- 4 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder
- 1 large avocado - mine weighed 90g with the skin off and stone removed
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 10-15 grams crushed hazelnuts - blended into a fine powder if possible
Decoration – this bit is up to you but here's what I used
- 30 grams hazelnuts
- 2 gluten free "ferrero rochers"
- Squeeze of natural chocolate spread - e.g. Natures Store/Sweet Freedom
Instructions
Cakes
- Line a baking tray with 4 muffin cakes and preheat oven to 160oC.
- In a smoothie maker/blender, blend all of the "Chocolate Paste" ingredients until you've got a smooth, runny paste.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until fully incorporated (takes 1 min).
- Crack 1 egg into the butter/sugar. Sift in the flour. Whisk until just combined.
- Add the chocolate paste and whisk again until just incorporated.
- Pour into the muffin cases, so they are approx. 2/3 full.
- Bake for 20-23 mins or until a knife comes out almost clean when poked in the middle and the tops are firm and springy.
Frosting
- Blend together all of the frosting ingredients until you have a smooth paste. I used a smoothie maker to do this but you could also mash the avocado with a fork until its smooth and then use an electric whisk to mix everything together.
- Place in the fridge for at least 15 mins to firm up.
- Add the mix to a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe in any pattern you like! If you need help, there's tons of Youtube videos on how to do this.
Decoration
- This part is up to you! Here's what I did: I crushed some hazelnuts with a rolling pin and scattered over the cupcakes. I then squeezed on some natural chocolate syrup, added some more hazelnuts and half of a gluten free ferrero rochers.
Notes
Its notoriously difficult to get a perfectly ripe avocado. As long as you have a good blender, it shouldn’t matter if its a little hard! Have sneeky taste before you get piping. If it tastes like avocado still – get adding more of everything!
Want dairy free muffins? Everything is suitable except the “ferrero rocher” – just replace them with some whole hazelnuts!
