Chocolate Buttermilk Surprise Cupcakes

I surprised my friend Natalie with these delicious cupcakes as a thank you gift. Her favourite chocolate is "kinder surprise" chocolate and hence they are fittingly named "Chocolate Buttermilk Surprise Cupcakes." The buttermilk within this recipe makes the chocolate cupcakes light and moist and pairs well with the chocolate buttercream icing. So, who will you be surprising with these chocolately little cakes?

Ingredients for Batter
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup [low fat] buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for Icing
260g icing sugar
110g butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk
1/3 cup cocoa (more or less to taste)
+ kinder surprise chocolates, chopped up roughly

Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (fan-forced) and prepare enough patty cases for 24 cupcakes. In a bowl, sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon and then create a well. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla. Pour this into the well of the dry ingredients, and using a whisk, combine the ingredients until smooth and no flour streaks remain. Your batter will be fairly liquidy, but pour them into the patty cases. Bake them for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with a miniscule amount of crumbs. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire tray and leave to cool before icing. To make the icing, beat together the butter and vanilla. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar until smooth. Then gradually the sifted cocoa; adding more or less to suit your taste. Top the cupcakes with roughly chopped up bits of kinder surprise chocolate.