Chocolate Mud Muffins with Italian Meringue Maltesers Buttercream

I love this recipe because it is so chocolatey and luxurious. You can't stop at one!

1. 1

   Preheat oven to gas mark 3, line a muffin tin with muffin cases.
   Place dark and milk chocolate, butter, water, whisky, coffee, and sugar in a large saucepan.
   Stir over very low heat until chocolate and butter have just melted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
   When mixture has cooled, stir in egg. Gradually stir in flours.
   Divide mixture evenly between cases.
   Bake for about 25 minutes. A skewer or knife inserted into the centre of a cake should come out clean.
   Allow cakes to cool in tin
   
   For the Buttercream
   Put the water and 250g of the sugar in a saucepan and heat. Stir while the syrup is heating to dissolve sugar crystals, brush any crystals that are on the sides down into the pan. Don't stir the mixture once it is boiling. You need to boil it on a rapid speed so that it says white.
   Whilst the syrup is heating, whisk the egg whites on a high speed, when they are stiff, gradually add the remaining 50g of sugar.
   When the syrup mixture reaches 121 degrees, plunge the saucepan into a bowl of cold water (don't get any water in the saucepan)so it doesn't cook any further.
   Slowly pour the syrup into the egg whites whilst they are mixing, mix for approx 5 -7 (until the mixture cools down to luke warm)
   Add the vanilla extract and gradually add the butter and carry on whisking until the mixture thickens.
   In a food processor, whisk up a bag of the maltesers until they are in small chunks. Fold this into the buttercream mixture. Once the muffins are cool enough, pipe the buttercream onto them in a swirl and put one malteser on top of each cake.