Double chocolate chip muffins, the regulars' favourite
Of all the muffins at the Sunshine Plaza shop, the double chocolate chip is the one Burpple reviewers returned to most. This is my version: dark, moist, and crackly on top.
Quick answer
For double chocolate chip muffins with crisp tops, whisk flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt; stir in eggs, milk, oil and vanilla until just combined; fold in dark chocolate chips. Fill cases to the brim, add more chips on top, and bake at 200 C for 5 minutes, then 180 C for 15 to 17 minutes.
Home recreation This is my own attempt, guided by published descriptions of the shop's pies. Oven Marvel never published its recipe. It is one of my Oven Marvel recipe recreations, and the recreation log shows how each one got here.
Ingredients
Dry
Wet
Chocolate
Method
Heat the oven to 200 C (fan 180 C). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Whisk the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, breaking up any lumps of cocoa.
In a jug, whisk the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Fold in 150 g of the chocolate chips with the last few strokes. Stop while the batter still looks lumpy.
Fill the cases to the brim and press the remaining chips onto the tops.
Bake for 5 minutes at 200 C, then lower the oven to 180 C (fan 160 C) without opening the door.
Bake 15 to 17 minutes more, until the tops are cracked and spring back when pressed. A skewer should come out with moist crumbs but no wet batter; melted chocolate on the skewer is fine.
Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then cool on a rack. The chocolate stays molten for about 20 minutes.
Why this muffin?
Because it was the shop’s quiet star. Among the muffins reviewers named between 2018 and 2020, the Double Chocolate Chip is the one that comes up most often as a favourite on Burpple (Burpple). There was also a chocolate muffin called Choco’Wanna. Prices ran from about S$2.20 to S$2.80 (SETHLUI.com, 2020), and the descriptions keep returning to a crisp top and a moist inside (Burpple). This recipe is my own, written to deliver that texture. Oven Marvel never published its recipes.
What makes the top crack and crisp?
The hot start. Five minutes at 200 C sets the outside of the batter quickly so it domes and splits, then the lower temperature lets the inside bake without drying. Filling the cases right to the top gives the dome room to rise above the paper. Chocolate chips pressed on top melt into glossy pools in the cracks, which is the look most people mean by bakery-style.
How do I keep them moist?
- Use oil, or oil and butter half and half. Oil-based muffins stay soft for longer, which matters in Singapore humidity, where muffins tend to go either sticky or stale.
- Do not overmix. Stop as soon as the flour disappears. Overmixed batter makes tough, tunnelled muffins.
- Start checking early. Chocolate hides colour, so use a skewer from 15 minutes after the temperature drops. Moist crumbs are right; clean is slightly over.
How should I store them?
At room temperature in a container lined with kitchen paper, for up to two days. They freeze well for up to two months. Warm a frozen muffin in a 170 C oven for 8 to 10 minutes and the chocolate goes molten again.
Variations
- Choco-banana: fold in 100 g of mashed ripe banana and reduce the milk by 60 g.
- Orange chocolate: add the finely grated zest of one orange, a nod to the shop’s Orange Peel muffin.
- Less sweet: cut the sugar to 130 g and use chips with 60 per cent cocoa or more.
For the shop’s other named flavour, try the banana walnut muffins, which include an apple raisin variation. For the history of the muffins, including why a pie shop sold them at all, see the curry puff and the muffins.
Questions people ask
Why use oil instead of butter in chocolate muffins?
Oil stays liquid at room temperature, so oil-based muffins stay softer and moister for longer, which helps in a humid climate. Melted butter gives more flavour and a firmer crumb. Either works.
Why are my muffins dry?
Usually overbaking or overmixing. Chocolate muffins are hard to judge by colour, so test with a skewer from the 15-minute mark at the lower temperature, and fold the batter only until the flour disappears.
Sources for this page
Every source we used, with notes on what each one says: sources and further reading.
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