These chocolate muffins are moist and rich in chocolate flavour, yet still soft and fluffy in texture. My favourite version is to sprinkle some good-quality chocolate chips on top before baking – a chocolate oozy delight when I dig into the warm muffins.

I like making muffins / small cakes for breakfast. They are individually-portioned and portable, and the paper / foil liner allows one to consume it without using a fork or a spoon. I can also vary the topping for each small cake, so while the base is the same, each cake is still slightly different.

I have two everyday chocolate cake recipes on the blog (okara, eggless), but one requires okara (soybean pulp), and the other is a little not as rich as these chocolate muffins. These chocolate muffins’ chocolatiness comes from both dark chocolate and cocoa powder.

A Note on Chocolate

I personally like to use either Valrhona or Callebaut brand of chocolate when it comes to baking. Dark chocolate is my top choice because of the strong and intense chocolate flavour, and also because I’m not a fan of milk or white chocolate.

On cocoa powder, I prefer Dutch-processed cocoa powder (again, Valrhona or Callebaut brand) to natural cocoa powder (e.g. Hersheys). I find the chocolate flavour more intense. I will not elaborate much on the difference between the two because SeriousEats has explained the difference very clearly here.

To amp up the chocolate flavour, I add boiling water to both the dark chocolate and cocoa powder. The original recipe calls for only adding boiling water to the dark chocolate to melt it. I included the cocoa powder as I want to “bloom” the cocoa powder. Blooming cocoa powder draws out chocolate’s rich flavour – read more on The Spruce Eats.

Over-Filling the Muffins + Two Baking Temperatures

Making the batter is pretty straight-forward. The batter will be thick but still pourable. Hence I like to use the measuring jug to fill the muffin tins. If using a standard muffin tin, the batter should be divided among 8 muffins. It will look really full, especially after sprinkling the toppings. But these gave me really nice and tall chocolate muffins after baking. If you are worried, you can always make 9 muffins for the first attempt.

The oven is first preheated at a higher temperature, then lowered after the muffins are put into the oven. The higher temperature at the start helps the muffins to puff up higher, while the lower temperature helps to ensure the chocolate muffins are baked through.

Conclusion

I think these are one of the best chocolate muffins I’ve baked so far. I’m pretty satisfied in terms of the rich chocolate flavour and the fluffy texture. The only thing I wish is for them to have a more crisp exterior. Perhaps I will have to play around more with the baking temperature the next time. But until then, I hope you enjoy these chocolate muffins as much as I do!

Step-by-Step Photos

1) Place chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a measuring jug.	2) Pour in boiling water and whisk until chocolate has melted and cocoa powder has dissolved.

3) Add in butter and whisk until butter is melted and incorporated.	4) Whisk in yogurt and milk.

5) Whisk in egg, vanilla and salt.	6) Sift flour, caster sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda to get rid of lumps.

7) Whisk until well-mixed.	8) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

9) Whisk well until completely incorporated. Use a rubber spatula and scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure the batter is well-mixed.	10) Pour the batter back into the measuring cup (for easy pouring). Alternatively, you can use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter.

11) Divide the batter among the 8 liners, it will be about 90% full. Sprinkle a little topping such as chocolate chips, nuts etc on top of the batter if desired.	12) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a skewer inserted to the centre of the muffin comes out clean.