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.

Tagged with: Sugar High Friday + Chocolate Cupcake + Dorie Greenspan