Do the Viral Olympic Village Chocolate Muffins Live up to the Hype?

Before you try making the viral double chocolate muffins, read below to hear my honest thoughts after making them at home! If you’ve been watching highlights of the Paris Olympic Games on Tik Tok, you’ve likely heard of the viral chocolate muffins that were being served in the Olympic Village dining hall/cafeteria for all the athletes competing in the 2024 summer games. These muffins went viral when an olympic swimmer from Norway named Henrik Christiansen made several hilarious Tik Toks about the chocolate muffins.

A hand holding a double chocolate muffin with ganache

What are athletes saying about these muffins?

Although only people inside the Olympic Village have tried them, many athletes say they taste more like cake or a brownie instead of a muffin
It’s a rich chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with milk and dark chocolate chips

How did you find the recipe?

Famous social media personality Jordan Howlett (aka @Jordan_The_Stallion8 on Tik Tok and Instagram), known for finding secret recipes for fast food restaurants and restaurant chains, claims to have found the recipe after “three days and four phone calls”. Because this is not my recipe, I’m not posting it here. Ethically, I don’t like completely copying another person’s recipe and posting as my own. And if I’m personally not a fan of a recipe, I won’t post it to my site either!

A chocolate muffin with chocolate ganache from the olympic village

The steps to make the chocolate muffins

Mix the base of the chocolate mixture for the muffins on the stovetop in a saucepan, then let cool
Add eggs, brown sugar and regular sugar, vanilla, and oil the cooled chocolate mixture

Cocoa and milk mixture in a saucepan for chocolate muffins

Mixing the batter

Fold in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in three phases, making sure not to overmix
Scoop into a muffin pan and use either muffin papers or muffin papers made out of parchment paper
Top with a mix of dark and milk chocolate chunks or chips and bake

A grid of photos mixing Olympic chocolate muffin batter together

Making the ganache

While the muffins are baking, melt chocolate chips and heavy cream over medium heat to make a ganache filling
Set aside and let cool a bit

A grid of photos making ganache in a saucepan

Olympic Village chocolate muffins baked in a muffin pan

Once the muffins come out of the oven, let them cool a bit. Then scoop out a portion of the center of the muffin and pipe in a little chocolate ganache until it’s covering the top a bit.

Then enjoy!

Filling ganache in a double chocolate muffin

Do these muffins live up to the hype?

These are definitely not muffins, they are a cross between a brownie and a cupcake with ganache on top, ha!
So I hate to say this, but they are TOO MUCH!
I am a chocolate lover if there ever was one and I found these to be too intense and dense for my taste.
Even my kids who love chocolate took only a couple of bites of ONE muffin and didn’t want anymore because they were too rich.
So this is why I’m not posting the recipe as is because I don’t see myself making them again

My ALL-TIME FAVORITE and most-raved about cake recipe from family and friends are my Chocolate Financiers (aka French browned-butter mini chocolate cakes)! They are a one-bowl recipe, besides browning the butter, and are so much easier to make. Plus, they taste SO MUCH better in my opinion.