Tropical Chocolate Cupcakes

Our answer

Nigella's Tropical Chocolate Cake (from FEAST) is a chocolate cake that is rich and moist thanks to the inclusion of canned pineapple and cream cheese in the cake batter. Layer sponge cakes can usually be converted to cupcakes and as this recipe makes two 20cm/8-inch layers it should yield between 20 and 24 cupcakes. The cupcake cases should be filled half full with the cake batter and we suspect that the baking time will be around 20 minutes at 180°C/350°F, but we suggest checking at around 18 minutes and you may need to bake for as long as 25 minutes. Once baked, the tops of the cucpcakes should spring back when gently pressed and a cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean. However as we have not tested this cucpake version we are unable to guarantee the results.

The frosting is a meringue-style frosting and does not keep very well so if you need to frost the cupcakes in advance and carry the cupcakes to a party then we would suggest using a different frosting, such as the buttery cream cheese frosting from Nigella's Red Velvet Cupcakes. If you are going to use the meringue frosting then we would suggest, for a baby shower, that you make the frosting with pasteurised egg whites as the version using raw egg whites may not be particularly suitable for pregnant women or those with a weakened immune system.