• Preheat your oven to 180oC (fan).
• Place 12 cupcake cases into your cupcake/muffin tray.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the butter & both types of sugar until fully combined.

  >You’re looking for the mix to be paler, smooth & creamy! I use an electric whisk for 1 min.
  
• Crack all the eggs into a separate bowl & beat together until just starting to froth up, like the picture.

  > Takes 5 seconds. You can use the electric whisk for this too.
  
• Add the flour and eggs to the butter/sugar. Whisk together until JUST combined (10 seconds).

  >Don’t over whisk, otherwise you’ll lose the air bubbles & your cake won’t be quite so fluffy!
• In a mug, mix the 3 tbsp of cocoa powder with 2 tbsp of boiling water. It will form a thick paste.
• Add the cocoa powder paste to the cake mix and whisk in

  >Again, try not to over whisk. 5 seconds at most.
• Scrape right around the sides of the bowl and to the bottom, to pick up any excess flour and check there’s no bits of cake mix without the cocoa powder on the bottom of the bowl. Give the mixture one final everything is fully combined. >Still try not to over whisk! 3 seconds at most.
  
• Place 1 heaped tbsp of the cake mix into each cupcake case.

  >I find its best to do this using two spoons – one to scoop up the mix and the other to scrape it into the cupcake case.

  >Each case should be about 2/3rd full.

  >GENTLY level each of them out slightly, so the cake mix is spread around the case quite evenly. Try not to get too much around the top 1/3 of the case (this is just to make your end result look extra neat!)
  
• Place the cupcakes into the centre of the oven. Bake for approx 17 mins.

  >If, like me, your oven is hotter at the back/front, you might want to very quickly rotate your cupcake tray around halfway during the cooking time to give an even bake.

  >WARNING: Do that quickly and don’t open the door again otherwise you’ll risk your cupcakes not rising properly.

  >How do you know if they’re ready? You’re looking for them to be firm on top but springy to touch and a knife/skewer poked into the middle of the cake should come out relatively clean!
• Once cooked, leave the cupcakes in the tray for 5 mins to cool and firm up slightly. Then transfer to a cooling rack.
  

Buttercream

• Add the butter and icing sugar to a bowl. Whisk until smooth. This will take at least 2 mins. >It should have lightened in colour and look airy/fluffy!
• How to fix a common compliant: "Mybutter icing was too soft/didn’t hold its shape when piped”. My tip: Once you’ve made your icing, scrap right around the outside of the bowl and gather the butter icing together in the middle. Leave it to sit at room temperature for at least 30 mins. At that point, give it another little mix with a spoon and see how it feels – it should be smooth, quite firm and look like it’ll hold its shape. If not, add a few heaped tbsp of icing sugar and mix again. If its reaaaally firm and looks too tough to pipe, add a tiny dash of milk and whisk again.

Construction

• Optional but helpful: If you have the time (and room in your freezer!) place the cupcakes into the freezer for at least 10 mins to firm up the buttercream in preparation for the next steps!
• Melt your chocolate. My preferred method: This is a cheating way of "tempering" chocolate – will keep it shiny and keep its texture once its set again.

  >Add about an inch of water to a saucepan and bring to a simmer

  >Break up 2/3rds of your chocolate and place into a mixing bowl, over the saucepan. Make sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water

  >Stir until melted and then take off the heat.

  >Add the remaining 1/3rd and stir (off the heat) until its all melted too.
• Drip a small teaspoon of chocolate onto each cupcake.
• Take a strawberry, dunk it in the remaining bowl of melted chocolate and place onto the top of each cupcake. Hold it for 10 seconds before letting go - this will help it keep in place ontop of your cake!