Have you been keeping up with the Olympics like myself? Apart from the games, i love me some good social media content by the Olympic players themselves, and of course we could not forget the viral and iconic Muffin Man. The Norwegian swimmer, Henrik Christiansen has taken the internet by storm with his hilarious content with the Olympic Village’s chocolate muffins. And where would i be if not recreating them for you 🙂 this is my take on the Olympic Village Chocolate muffins.

These muffins are a triple chocolate muffin batter with a milk chocolate ganche filling. They are super moist, from the use of a neutral oil, super decadent and indulgent. This recipe is not too sweet, however, if you prefer a sweeter muffin, please increase the sugar content by 25-50%.

The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and some tips!

1. Chocolate: i highly recommend buying good quality chocolates for this recipe since it’s such a dominant and forward flavour in these muffins. I recommend you mix and match between milk and dark chocolates, and playing with the ratio. I prefer milk chocolate in the batter itself so that the muffins are not too rich and heavy, and using dark chocolate for the ganache for a nicer contrast.
2. Cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder: there are 2 types of cocoa types out there for baking – dutch-processed and natural. Natural cocoa powder comes from roasted cocoa beans while dutch-processed comes from raw cocoa beans that have been washed in a alkaline solution. The difference: natural cocoa powder is acidic and bitter, and is commonly used in recipes that require baking soda (which is a base) that neutralises the acidic cocoa powder, meanwhile, dutch-processed cocoa powder is already neutralised and is more commonly used in recipe that requires baking powder instead. Dutch-processed is also much darker in colour (closer to black) and will give your baked good a much darker colour. This recipe uses natural cocoa powder as i prefer the lighter colour aesthetics of a chocolate muffin. If dutch-processed is what you prefer or have on hand, then go for it! This recipe has both baking soda and baking powder to help with the rise of the muffins regardless of the type of cocoa powder you use.
3. Buttermilk: buttermilk is essentially a by-product when butter is made from churning cream. It is used in this recipe to make the muffins extra moist while adding flavour to the muffins. If you don’t want to buy buttermilk, you can make some by adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon to 1 cup of normal dairy milk, and let it sit for 5 minutes (this will make 1 cup of buttermilk).
4. Vegetable oil: It’s going to be an oil based batter to make for extra moist muffins! Please use a neutral oil, like vegetable oil or canola oil – we don’t want strong-flavoured oil in this recipe as it can overpower the flavour of the chocolate.
5. Batter: the base of the muffin batter will be the usual flour, eggs, sugars and salt.
6. Vanilla extract: there is a difference between vanilla extract and vanilla essence. I highly recommend you use vanilla extract for baking as it contacts real vanilla seeds which leads to a more strong vanilla flavour. Vanilla essence does not have real vanilla seeds in it.
7. Chocolate chips: i prefer to use a real bar of chocolate and chop it up into small squares of chocolate for this recipe. I find that store-bought chocolate chips are mixed with other ingredients that prevent the chips from melting and also make the chips less flavourful.
8. Chocolate Ganache: it’s as simple as cream and chocolate so use good chocolate!! Heat up the cream in the microwave, no need to use the stove, and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt slowly and then whisk well to combine.

Ingredients

Batter:
180g plain flour
60g white sugar
60g brown sugar
60 cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
290ml buttermilk
145ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g milk chocolate, melted
50-100g milk chocolate chips

Chocolate Ganache:
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Chocolate Ganache: Heat your cream in the microwave in 20 second intervals until hot to the touch (i did 1 min for mine). Add in the dark chocolate chips, leave for 3 minutes and then stir until it is well incorporated. Set aside in the fridge to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
3. Batter: In a bowl, combine the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla and mix well until combined (do not overmix!). Add in the melted chocolate and fold gently into the batter. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
4. Divide the batter evenly into a lined muffin tray, for 6 muffins. Top with extra chocolate chips and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out dry with small crumbs. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes, otherwise it will melt your ganache too much.
5. Meanwhile, stir your ganache and transfer into a piping bag. Now that your muffins have slightly cooled, make a hole in the middle of each muffin using a chopstick. Then pipe some ganache into each center. Enjoy!