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Chocolate Muffins with Chocolate Ganache (Olympics 2024)

Original recipe

• Substack - I Bake Mistakes - the highly sought after, Olympic chocolate muffin recipe

Ingredients

Muffins:

• 200 grams all purpose flour
• 70 grams dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso/coffee powder.
• 2 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt, use 1 teaspoon if using Morton’s kosher!
• 275 grams light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon milk powder
• 100 grams whole milk, if you’d like to skip adding instant coffee you can sub for cold coffee instead!
• 150 grams vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
• 2 large eggs (100 grams)
• 225 grams sour cream OR greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 115 grams semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks (plus extra for the tops)
• 115 grams milk chocolate chips or chunks( plus extra for the tops)

Fudge Center:

• 130 grams water
• 95 grams granulated sugar
• 35 grams dutch processed cocoa powder
• 20 grams corn syrup (I know corn syrup is a divisive ass ingredient, It gives the sauce a nice shine to it OKAY. You CAN leave it out if you want, I don’t want to hear it!!)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 80 grams heavy cream
• 140 grams dark chocolate chips, preferably 70% and above for a really rich filling. Use Semi-sweet if you don’t like it as rich.

Instructions

For the muffins:

1. Preheat the oven to 420F.
2. In a large bowl combine 200 grams all purpose flour, 70 grams dutch processed cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 275 grams light brown sugar, 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon milk powder. Whisk to combine the ingredients, set aside
3. In a separate bowl combine 100 grams whole milk, 150 grams vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice, 2 large eggs (100 grams), 225 grams sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Whisking to combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the center of the dry ingredients. Whisking to combine. Work slowly, so you don’t send all the dry ingredients flying!
5. Whisk just until no dry pockets remain, you do not want to over mix the batter.
6. Gently fold in the 115 grams dark chocolate chunks and 115 grams milk chocolate chunks with a rubber spatula.
7. Set the batter aside for 30 minutes to an hour to rest before baking. (BTW, If you want you can wait until this point to preheat the oven while the batter is resting.)
8. While the batter rests, this is a great time to prep the filling.
9. Once the batter has rested, place the muffin liners in every other cavity of the muffin pan.
10. Scoop the batter in to the liners. For jumbo muffins each cup should be filled a little over 3/4 of the way full and will hold 150-160 grams of batter. Check notes for baking smaller muffins!
11. Top each muffin with a sprinkle of reserved chocolate chunks before baking.
12. Bake for 6 minutes at 420F. When the timer beeps do not open the oven! Drop the temp to 350F and bake for an additional 15-18 minutes. Muffins are done baking when the center is set and a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it. Or the internal temp when taken with a thermometer is 200-205F, if you’re a head ass pastry cook like me.
13. Remove from baking pan and allow to cool completely before filling.

For the fudge filling:

1. In a sauce pot combine the 130 grams water, 95 grams granulated sugar, 35 grams dutch processed cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 20 grams corn syrup.
2. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium-heat. Stirring often to avoid burning the cocoa powder.
3. Once the mixture reaches a boil drop the heat to medium-low, cook it while stirring frequently until it thickens and by approximately 1/3 it’s original volume. This should take 5-8 minutes.
4. Add the 80 grams heavy cream and allow to boil for another 2 minutes.
5. Pour the mixture over the 140 grams dark chocolate chips. Allow the mixture to sit for a few moments to heat up the chips before whisking to combine. Optionally you can use an immersion blender to really get things nice and smooth.
6. Set aside to cool completely until it’s time to fill the muffins.

Ways to fill:

Once the muffins have cooled you have a few options on how to fill:

1. Fill a piping bag with the cooled fudge filling, cut the tip, insert into the center of the muffin and fill
2. Cut out a small crater in the center of the muffin using a paring knife and use a spoon to fill the hole with the sauce
3. Should you have a squeeze bottle lying around this can also be used similarly to the piping bag to fill the muffin!

For the full Olympic muffin experience!!!! (aside from flying to Paris and competing… yeah all of that aside…)

• Store the left over muffins in the freezer. Wrap the up in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container. When ready to eat, allow to thaw at room temp for and hour and a half. Like before you head to a swim meet or something idk. I promise, the freezer will change things for ya. The filling doesn’t magically become molten again, rather it stays a little creamier/fudgier, but I attribute that to the fact that these don’t have any of the crazy emulsifiers a mass produced muffin does lol

Notes

• One thing that other dupe recipes are lacking is a final “ingredient” which is time in the freezer! As we’ve discovered these are a mass produced, pre-baked, shipped frozen muffin. The website recommends thawing for an hour and a half before serving. So, eat the muffins you want now to satiate the craving. But, wrap the extras and store in the freezer ( up to 3 months). The flavors will meld, the texture after thawing does become more fudgey. This is not surprising as freezing cake layers is common practice in the baking industry.
• The cocoa here matters, it’s dutch processed which gives a robust chocolate flavor, a deeper brown color the the muffin. I use Valrhona for all my cocoa powder needs, but I also tested with Ghiradelli, which is more widely available at a more affordable price point, which also worked great!
• These dutch processed cocoas have reddish undertones to them when baked, if you want something more authentic in color opt for a dark/black cocoa. For this recipe use 25 grams black cocoa to 45 grams of regular dutch cocoa. Not necessary but if you want something more identical to the real deal, this is the way to go! I’m someone who always has black cocoa on hand, so it works out for me, I don’t think it’s 100% necessary to get it JUST for this muffin.
• The muffin cups! Very important to the overall authenticity of this muffin. I picked mine up from Surfas here in LA. But, you can also find them online on Amazon. These are jumbo muffin liners but the base is narrow enough to still be baked in a standard sized muffin tin!
• Letting the batter rest before baking really helps with the rise and over-all texture of the muffin. Time allows the starches to absorb liquids. Give the batter a minimum of 30 minutes to and hour rest before scooping and baking!
• Leave space between each muffin open while baking (skip and use every other hole) to promote even baking! Since the batter has to rest, it’s totally fine to bake these off in batches :)
• These are jumbo muffins! To make regular sized muffins you’ll need to adjust your bake times. For regular muffins 420F for 6 minutes 355F for 13-15 minutes. Fully set in the center is what you’re going for an overall the internal temp of a muffin should be 200-205F when checked with a thermometer!
• Any extra fudge can be stored in the fridge up to a week. Reheat it and pour over ice cream or into coffee with milk for a mocha!