Friday, June 22, 2007

Sugar High Friday - I Crave Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes by Dorie Greenspan



It's been a while since I baked or took part in a blog event! Life kinda caught up with me hence I abandoned my oven, pots and pans for a while. Just to make sure I had a great excuse to start baking again, I equipped myself with new toys - a mixing bowl, spatula and whisk from
CuisiPro.

This month for Sugar High Friday, the Domestic Goddess started talking about cravings and the one dessert you really want to make. I know it is super lame but honestly I only crave for chocolate. It's what keeps me sane during that "time of the month" and my preferred choice whenever I scan any dessert menu at a restaurant. Another strange habit of mine is I love my chocolate really bitter. Not all people like it that way so usually whenever I make desserts, it's only Splashie Boy and I who relish it. Somehow I find it more virtuous to consume loads of bittersweet chocolate versus the sweeter variety.

Since I had bought Dorie Greenspan's new cookbook, Baking from my Home to Yours, I was eager to try something from it. I zoomed in on her Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes straight away. It's extremely chocolatey with cocoa powder and melted chocolate in the batter plus a shiny chocolate ganache topping. When you take a bite of the cupcake, the rich aroma of the chocolate will hit your nose giving you a slight "cocoa high". The other best part of this cupcake is it doesn't have that acidic taste from the baking powder and soda bicarbonate which seems to be found in most chocolate cakes. Another plus point about this recipe is how simple it is to make the cupcake and the ganache. For my ultimate crave, I used Valrhona Guanaja (70%) and my newly acquired Valrhona cocoa powder.

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcake

For the cupcake

1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 stick (8 tbs) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup caster sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk (I used a mix of yoghurt and milk instead)
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

For the glaze

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Fit the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan with paper muffin cups, or butter them with flour and tap out the excess.

To make the cupcakes:

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until it is blended into the butter. Add the egg, then the yolk, beating 1 minute after each addition and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Beat in the vanilla, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear. Scrape down the bowl and add the buttermilk, mixing until incorporated, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape down the bowl, add the melted chocolate and mix it in with the rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are dry and springy to the touch and a knife inserted into their centers comes out clean. Transfer the muffin pan to a rack and let the cakes cool for 5 minutes before unmolding. Cool to room temperature on the rack before glazing.

To make the Glaze

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Transfer the bowl to the counter and let stand for 5 minutes.

Using a small whisk or rubber spatula, stir the confectioners’ sugar into the chocolate, followed by the pieces of cold butter. The glaze may be very thin at this point or may be perfectly spreadable. If it is too thin to spread or use as a dip (I often dip the tops of the cakes into the ganache, then give the cakes a little twirl as I pull them out, so they have a squiggle of glaze in the center), stir it over ice water for a few seconds – really less than a minute. With a small metal icing spatula, give each cupcake a crown of shiny ganache, and let the glaze set at room temperature (or in the fridge if you are in a hurry). If the ganache loses its gloss and you miss it, give the tops of the cakes a puff of hot air from a hairdryer right before serving.

20 comments:

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

looks like you can bake a mean cake too!! saliva all coming out already man!..

Precious Pea said...

Err boo, I also like chocolate very much and doesn't mind bitter. Hint hint!

Tummythoz said...

So early in d morning. Now I'll have to chomp down a choc bar.

Babe_KL said...

i loved bitter chocs too and thanks for the hairdryer tip!

cHaR~ said...

Oh gosh, the chocolate cupcakes looks awfully tempting. By the way, how many grams is 8 tbs of butter? Can i replace buttermilk with just ordinary milk. Sorry but i'm still an new at baking.

fatboybakes said...

dear, what's shimmering water? do i add glitter to it? ;)

myCoffee said...

Looks divine! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Btw, mind telling me where you got those cupcake holders? Have been trying to locate those type for ages!

tankiasu said...

Yumm...feels like taking a bath in those chocolate cream.

Cutie said...

Oh, the chocolate cupcake looks good. Looks really yummy. Well, worth all the effort. hehe...=)

Rarebeet said...

Wow, my throat actually hurts just looking at your chocolatey cupcakes. Looks gooooood. Good tip about the hairdryer! Thanks!

Flower said...

Choc Cupcake might try this weekend. Cuisinpro, my kind of toys. The icypole mold looks so cute.

Lian Sim said...

the cupcakes looked yummy! Slurp! I tried to search for those paper muffin cups but I cant seem to find it anywhere in KL. Mind telling me where I can get those cups? Thanks!

Big Boys Oven said...

Cool! Now I got a friend baking too.... Anyone? looks great... hope to read more...

sher said...

Oh my goodness! Those are just insanely gorgeous!

Unknown said...

I've always though bitter's the best way to taste a good chocolate ;-) anyway, did you finish everything ? sob, sob ...

time for me to go bake myself ..

hehehe

boo_licious said...

joe - quick, get a bib.

precious pea - ok, I get the hint. May need to stock up first on chocs, will be experimenting with 55% cocoa mass soon so less bitter.

tummythoz - never mind, u have good food in penang this weekend.

babe - somehow bitter seems to be my preferred choice but not everyone likes it so am going to try with other varieties.

char - I use a conversion site so just google it and you can get the info on how many is one stick - it's 115grams butter. Buttermilk, I used a mix of 2/3rds yoghurt with milk for my substitution. You can also buy buttermilk in cartons from Cold Storage or Village Grocer.

fbb - sorry typo error. Corrected already, thanks for the sharp eyes.

mycoffee - I bought them from various places, Chang Tung at Taman Megah in PJ and Suanson in Chow Kit.

tankiasu - sounds like a good spa treatment. Yum!

cutie - very well worth it as I eat it slowly.

paprika - this one has eggs though so not as light as the eggless ones you tried from 500 cupcakes.

flower - hope they turn out ok.

misnail - Chang Tung from Taman Megah stocks them (just down from Bake with Yen) suanson at chow kit also sells them.

big boys oven - me small time home baker not like you pros so not in same league.

sher - thxs. Hi to sweet upsie and sundance kid. Must pop over afterwards to see what antics they are up to this weekend.

lianne - bitter is not everyone's fav though so my friends don't like it. Good luck with the cupcakes - I remember you're a bittersweet fan based on yr choc collection.

Melting Wok said...

Hey Boo, I for one is a sucker for bitter sweet chocolates :) Yayy !! Your muffins looked really great, the ganache toppings definitely did justice. You're a true overall flogger *thumbs up* :)

Fang Fang said...

hi.. maybe i know where can i get Valrhona chocolate in KL?

Unknown said...

hi, i would like to try make the cupcakes... can u pls lemme know where to get Valrhona chocolate? thanks a million!

boo_licious said...

thanks melting wok.

fang fang and chloe - check out www.gourmandines.com for it. There are outlets in Alliance Francais off Jalan Semarak and also at Cuisine Studio in Tropicana Golf Club.

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