The VIRAL Olympic Village Chocolate Muffins!

Everyone is talking about the viral Olympic Chocolate Chip Muffins made famous by Olympian Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen. Try these light and fluffy chocolate muffins studded generously with chocolate chunks and filled with a centre of dark chocolate ganache! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader. I agree with Henrik, these are an OBSESSION!

One of the funniest things to come out of the Olympics were these TikTok videos by Henrik Christiansen proclaiming his love for the chocolate muffins in the Olympic village. I was so intrigued by them, so much so that I had to try my hand at recreating them. These breakfast muffins are pure chocolatey heaven. Don't bother with these unless you love chocolate because these are intensely rich with chocolate but also light and fluffy too. These are not a subtle muffin. These muffins walk into the room and cause a stir!

Tips For Making Olympic Village Chocolate Muffins

1 - These chocolate muffins are baked in a giant muffin tin but you can make these in regular muffin tins. The muffins will only need around 20-23 minutes to bake in regular tins and you will get a dozen chocolate muffins out of the recipe instead of 6 giant chocolate muffins.

2 - I always add coffee when I want to have a rich chocolate cake. You don't really taste the coffee once it is baked (although unbaked you can smell it). But if you're sensitive to caffeine you can use decaf or leave it out if you prefer but the flavour will be less rich.

3 - The original chocolate muffins use chocolate chunks that are well, chunkier than chocolate chips. You can find these at the supermarket or you can also cut up blocks of chocolate into chunks. I used a mix of milk and dark chocolate chunks.

4 - I used a cola drink because the carbonation gives the muffins a lighter texture. But feel free to use soda water if you don't want to use cola.

Make Your Own Giant Muffin Liners

1 - There's no need to buy giant muffin liners (they're hard to find here too and sometimes you don't want to buy 100!). All you need is a muffin tin, a glass or cup that fits snugly into the muffin cavities and 6 20x20cm or 8x8inch parchment squares.

2 - Take the glass and turn it upside down. Place the glass in the centre of the square and then press the paper against the glass pressing or folding the paper to make creases. Then turn the cup upside down and place it in the muffin tin and wiggle it around a bit to press it into shape further. Repeat with the remainder of the paper squares.

If you're a Muffin lover like Henrik then here are some other muffins you just have to try: Triple Chocolate Muffins, Muesli Muffins or if you're going healthy try these low fat Pumpkin Muffins that I swear don't taste low fat! These Matcha and White Chocolate Muffins seem a bit more Olympic athlete to me but then again I'm the furthest from being an athlete there is haha!

When I used to use cookbooks I was one of those people that has to see pictures to see whether a) I will make it and b) what it should look like. It helped me aim for something. I tried to make these look as much as the Olympic Village muffins as possible. I used dark and milk chunks and although I don't know if these were jumbo or regular sized muffins they looked on the larger side to me. The ganache was applied a bit more liberally (It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me) than the Olympic village muffins but having too much ganache can only be a good thing. They ended up looking just like a chocolate muffin you might get in a café, and one that you might just become obsessed with.

My friends know that I am a visual person. Whenever they start telling me a story (or gossip really) about someone the first thing they have to produce is a pic. My friend Agatha* was telling me about a couple in her town that she had met and was trying to figure out their personal situation because she was helping out the husband with free legal advice but she was only allowed to make appointments with him through his wife. This is the kind of intrigue I like to be part of.

"Can you source me a photo of them and let’s run scenarios?" I asked her.

Agatha went onto facebook and dug deep in to find a photo. The woman was gorgeous and the husband a bit more average looking. We both analysed the pics and the relationship between all parties like we were planning a military operation - if we had laser pointers available we would have used them. She told me everything that she knew about the couple personally and we both came to a conclusion based on our best guess. The woman was clearly the boss and he was just along for the ride and he deferred to her because he knew that he was batting out of his league. And I'm happy to report we are available for consultancy for any personal situations and for advice too. We just need a picture haha!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you a visual person? Have you heard about these Olympic chocolate muffins?

*Agatha is not her real name, she's a friend that appears here but she wanted to be incognito ;)

Olympic Village Chocolate Chip Muffins

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

• 300g/10.6ozs cake flour*
• 200g/7ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 3/4 cup/75g/2.6ozs cocoa powder, sifted
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 170g/6ozs yogurt or sour cream (skim or light also works)
• 170g/6ozs soda water or Coke (any carbonated drink)
• 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 400g/10.6ozs chocolate chunks (I used a mix of milk and dark)

Chocolate Ganache

• 70g/2.5ozs dark chocolate
• 70ml/2.5flozs pure or thickened cream

Cake flour can be bought at the supermarket. You can also make it at home. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container ready for baking cakes as it produces a softer texture.

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced. Line a giant muffin tin with giant liners (or make your own with parchment, see above). In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together until well distributed.

Step 2 -In a jug whisk the yogurt or sour cream, carbonated beverage, oil, coffee powder, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and slowly add in the wet mixture stirring with a spatula slowly to ensure that there are no lumps (but try not to overmix the batter as it can produce tough muffins as the gluten is overworked). Stir in the chocolate chunks but reserve a small handful for decorating on top. Scoop into the muffin liners (I use a spring loaded ice cream scoop) dividing equally among all 6 muffins. Sprinkle extra chocolate chunks on top. Bake for 30-33 minutes or until the centre springs back.

Step 3 - While the muffins are baking make the chocolate ganache to give it time to cool down and thicken. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and heat the cream up until boiling. Pour the cream all over the chocolate chips and then cover with a plate and let rest for 7-8 minutes. Remove the plate and stir until smooth and no lumps remain.

Step 4 - With the fatter end of a chopstick make a deep hole in the muffin and spoon the chocolate ganache into the hole and in the centre of the muffin.

Notes: muffins are always best on the day they are baked. They can also be frozen where they'll keep for up to 3 months wrapped well. Otherwise if your muffins are a day or two old, try reheating them before eating.