Chocolate cupcakes. What could be better? Okay coconut cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes, yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing. Okay. I really like cupcakes.
I choose the smaller cakes because they help me with portion control. They are also much easier to save and store than regular cakes. I had the taste for chocolate on chocolate this time around. Both the cupcake and icing recipes come from Cook's Illustrated.
Cupcakes first. I decided to rock my mis en place skills.
Chop chocolate into small pieces. Use a serrated knife.
Combine the butter, chocolate and cocoa powder in a double boiler.
Whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to the touch.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Whisk the eggs, sugar vanilla and salt together.
Add the cooled chocolate.
Sift 1/3 of the flour over the chocolate and egg mixture. Whisk to combine. Whisk in the sour cream. Sift in the remaining flour and whisk to combine. You should have a thick, well-mixed, but not over-mixed batter.
Prepare your cupcake pan.
Portion the batter evenly in the cups (think ice cream scoop.) Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
While these cool, lets move on to the frosting, shall we? Measure out your bittersweet chocolate.
Place it in the food processor and give it a good buzz.
I believe that chocolate goes with coffee at all times, so I added some espresso powder and coffee liqueur. Coffee enhances chocolate's flavor.
Heat heavy cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
With the food processor running, add the hot mixture to the chocolate. I was afraid of spills, so I used a funnel.
Scrape down the bowl. Now with the processor running, add in the chunks of butter. You'll end up with this.
Allow to cool until spreadable. I got a little fancy and piped it onto the cupcakes.
I chose these recipes because they promised punch-you-in-the-face chocolate flavor. They delivered!Tools of the trade:
