Monthly Archives: September 2012

Intense Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Posted in Chocolate, Filled, Fruit by

I’ve officially become the crazy office baking lady.  At the last birthday cupcake celebration, I got word that another birthday was coming up and that chocolate was key for it.  Why are there so many fall birthdays?  It must have been a long and snowy winter for these people’s parents.  Okay, never mind.

So I knew I had to find a super chocolatey cupcake to make.  It had to be something intense.  After much searching on Pinterest…yes, I’m clearly obsessed…I saw a chocolate and raspberry combination that I thought might fit the bill.

[Inspired by The Curvy Carrot]

For Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes (it probably could have made about 30 but I filled them up a lot)

  • 3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 and 1/2 cups hot water
  • 1 and 1/2 cups milk
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 Tsp. baking soda
  • 3/4 Tsp. baking powered
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 Tsp. vanilla
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake tins with 24 liners
  2. Place chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl and pour hot water over them.  Let sit for a minute and whisk until smooth
  3. In a large bowl whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
  4. In the stand mixer bowl beat eggs for about a minute then slowly add in milk, oil, and vanilla
  5. Add in dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the bowl as necessary
  6. Mix in chocolate and water mixture until smooth (the batter will be very liquidity)
  7. Divide batter among liners and cook 20-22 minutes

For Raspberry Ganache

  • 18 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 and 1/4 cup whipping cream
  • 3 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam
  1. Place chocolate in a medium bowl
  2. In a small pot gently bring the cream to a slight boil over medium heat
  3. Remove cream from heat and pour over the chocolate, let sit for about one minute and whisk until smooth
  4. Whisk in raspberry jam until smooth
  5. Refrigerate until ready to use

For Frosting

  • 16 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
  • 4-5 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 3 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam
  1. In a heatproof bowl, melt chocolate chips in the microwave at 30 second intervals, mixing in between each turn, let cool to room temperature
  2. Beat butter until smooth and add in powdered sugar until combined
  3. Mix in raspberry jam and add in chocolate until the frosting is smooth and creamy

I once again got to use my handy dandy cupcake plunger for these.  Man is is so much easier than cutting out each cupcake center with a knife.  All I had to do was core, fill with the ganache, and frost.  Cuts down a lot of time.   I even managed to get a (not so good) picture of the delicious ganache in the middle of the cupcake.

Since the recipe made more cupcakes than I can carry on the bus to work, they did double duty for the first day of Sunday football.  I just happened to have these cute football decorations in my baking cabinet so I figured I could get some use out of them!

Now when I say these are intense chocolate cupcakes, I’m not kidding.  These aren’t for the faint of heart, I mean it’s chocolate, on top of chocolate, with chocolate in the middle.  Oh, and a nice hint of raspberry flavor.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these might be a chocoholic’s dream.

xoxo,

~CurlyCupcake

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Guinness and Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

Posted in Alcohol, Birthdays, Chocolate by

Everyone needs cupcakes on their birthday, and I feel like a kid in elementary school bringing in cupcakes to work so everyone can celebrate another occasion. I think I’m going to need a birthday calendar to keep up with everyone’s birthdays (and obviously the calendar would have to include flavor preferences). So when I was told that a birthday was coming up and that the birthday person might like Guinness or more specifically car bomb cupcakes I decided to get a little greedy. Since I’ve already made car bomb cupcakes a few times and have written about them, I had to go with a different Guinness cupcake. I did a lot of research on recipes before I settled on a Guinness and chocolate cupcake with salted caramel. And then it would by my first shot at making caramel.

For Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 stick melted butter
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 a bottle of Guinness beer
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners
  2. In a large mixing bowl whist together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt
  3. In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time
  4. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full and bake for 18-20 minutes

For Frosting

Salted Caramel Sauce

    • 1 cup sugar
    • 1 Tbsp. water
    • 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
    • 1/2 cup heavy cream
    • Sea salt
    1. Combine the sugar and water over medium-high heat in a saucepan
    2. Stir until the sugar completely melts and starts to boil
    3. Let the sugar brown for just a minute, don’t let it get too dark though
    4. Once it’s ready, remove the pan from the heat and pour in the heavy cream, butter, and sea salt.  Be careful since it can steam and foam up a lot
    5. Add in salt to taste

    For Frosting

    • 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
    • 4-5 cups powdered sugar
    • Salted caramel sauce
    1. Whip butter in mixer and add in powdered sugar one cup at a time
    2. Mix in salted caramel sauce until desired taste
    3. Decorate cupcakes

    I had some extra salted caramel left so I decided to drizzle over the top of the cupcakes to make them pretty.  The salted caramel was good but I’m thinking I let it cook just a tad bit too long because it had a slight bitter taste to it.  But when it was mixed with sugar and butter you couldn’t really taste it.  They seemed like another office hit.  I’ve got to keep them coming for the compliments!

    xoxo,

    ~CurlyCupcake

Celebration Cupcakes: Champagne and Strawberries

Posted in Alcohol, Filled, Fruit by

There’s nothing better to celebrate a special occasion with than a glass of bubbly.  And what goes better with champagne or sparkling wine than strawberries?  They’re a match made in heaven.  So when I heard that a coworker was leaving for a new job I knew we had to celebrate with some champagne cupcakes!  Champagne cupcakes are the equivalent of raising a glass of bubbly but not actually boozing in the office.

For Cupcakes

[Inspired by 20 Something Cupcakes]

Makes 12

  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 cup Champagne or sparkling wine
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line cupcake tin
  2. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  4. Add vanilla and beat in egg whites one at a time.
  5. Beat in flour mixture and champagne in three alternating additions, starting and ending with dry mixture.
  6. Divide batter among tins and bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

For Filling

  • About 3/4 cup champagne
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
  • 1/2 a package of frozen strawberries
  1. Bring champagne and strawberries to a simmer in a pot until the berries are thawed
  2. Mash the strawberries slightly with a wooden spoon to break them into smaller pieces
  3. Add in cornstarch and water mixture to the strawberry mixture and bring back to a boil
  4. Process mixture in a blender so it is smoother but still has pieces of strawberry

For Frosting

  • 2 sticks of butter at room temperature
  • 3-4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup champagne
  • Remaining 1/2 of package of frozen strawberries
  • 1/2 a cup of sugar
  1. In a medium saucepan, combine the strawberries, sugar, and champagne.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth and strain in a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds
  2. Beat butter in bowl of stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition
  3. Add in vanilla and mix in strawberry puree into the frosting
  4. To assemble cupcakes cut a small hole in the center and fill with the strawberry filling, put cake piece back on as a top.  Frost cupcakes

I was worried when I tried the strawberry and champagne filling that it was going to be too tart but once it was combined with the sweet cake and frosting it paired really well.  I did think the frosting was a little too buttery for my liking so I’d probably cut down to one stick of butter in the future.

The cupcakes were very light and fluffy from the champagne and egg whites and they paired perfectly with the strawberry filling and frosting.  Definitely a celebration cupcake do!

This was such a fun recipe because it gave me a chance to use my cupcake plunger to fill the cupcakes.  I love this thing, it takes the core of the cupcake perfectly out!  If you don’t know what I’m talking about you can see it here.  I got it as a gift and it’s such an awesome cupcake tool!

Xoxo,

~CurlyCupcake