a whisk and a spoon

CH#4: Minty Chocolate Cupcakes

Mint is a really friendly herb.  It gets along with so many things…coconut, almond, citrus, berries, melon, blah blah blah.  So when Laurie of Quirky Cupcake announced that this month’s Cupcake Hero theme is mint, I really had a hard time deciding what to pair it with.  In the end, I maybe went with the most predictable thing–chocolate– but only because I love it so. 

The combination of chocolate and mint around the holidays makes me think of Andes mints.  My mum rarley bought us candy, but for some reason every Thanksgiving and Christmas, she’d bring out Andes with dessert.  My brother and I would go nuts and eat them by the dozen, accumulating a huge mound of the shiny green wrappers next to our plates.  I haven’t had them in at least a decade…I wonder if they would taste so good to me today.  They probably would.

I made a plain chocolate cupcake, from a recipe (called “Peerless Chocolate Cake”) in The Fannie Farmer Baking Book that I have made a zillion times.  I worked the mint flavoring into both a white chocolate whipped ganache frosting and a pudding filling.  For the ganache, I infused a bunch of fresh mint into the cream.  I swirled a couple drops of red gel coloring gently through the finished frosting before putting it into a piping bag in hopes that it would look a little candy cane-like.

For the pudding, I’m not embarrassed to admit to taking a shortcut (hey–cupcakes should be easy, right?). I have this giant tub of Bird’s custard powder in my pantry from when I made Nanaimo bars. I followed instructions on the package to make what I needed for filling, and then mixed in some melted bittersweet chocolate and a couple drops of mint extract. At that point, it tasted pretty good on its own. You could use any brand of packaged mix, or make homemade if you can’t stand the thought of it.

This cake recipe makes a great cupcake.  And mint and chocolate really are perfect together.  The frosting had an earthy mint flavor from the fresh herbs, while the pudding had a snappy mintiness to it.

Natalie from Bake and Destroy! is co-hosting with Laurie this month. Thanks Natalie and Laurie…I’m looking forward to the round-up!

Minty Chocolate Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-size cupcakes

-Make and chill some minty chocolate pudding, using your favorite chocolate pudding recipe with mint extract added to taste, or prepare custard powder according to package instructions, flavoring with melted chocolate and mint extract.

-Bake and cool a batch of chocolate cupcakes (recipe below). 

-Make the minty white chocolate whipped ganache frosting (recipe below).

-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top).  Save the top bit of each plug.  Fill each cavity with minty chocolate pudding.  Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.

-Top with whipped ganache and decorate as you see fit.

Chocolate Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes
adapted from Marion Cunningham’s The Fannie Farmer Baking Book

1.5 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4 c water
1 c plus 2 T all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 c buttermilk

-Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin tin with paper cups. 

-Combine the chocolate and water in a small saucepan.  Over medium heat, stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Set aside to cool.

-Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

-Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth and well-blended.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well.  Add the vanilla and chocolate mixture and beat until blended.  Add the sifted dry ingredients and buttermilk in three parts, alternating and beating smooth after each addition.

-In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry.  Gently stir one-third of the beaten whites into the batter.  Fold in the remaining whites.

-Divide the batter among the paper cups, and cook for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the tins for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.  

Minty White Chocolate Whipped Ganache– makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes

1 cup heavy cream
couple handfuls of fresh mint leaves, picked from stems
7.5 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
7 T butter, very soft

-Put mint leaves in a medium bowl.  Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepot.  Pour hot cream over the mint leaves and let stand until room temperature to infuse.  

-Strain the cream into a measuring cup, pressing gently on the leaves to extract as much cream as possible.  Discard the leaves.  Measure the infused cream…if you have less than 1 cup, add cold cream to make up the difference.

-Put chopped white chocolate in a medium bowl.   Reheat the cream to a simmer in a small saucepot.  Pour hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes to begin to melt.  Gently whisk chocolate and cream together to form a perfectly smooth ganache.  If the taste of mint is not strong enough for your tastes, you can boost it with a couple drops of mint extract.

-Cover and refrigerate for about 45 minutes, until the ganache  is cool and begins to firm up, but is still soft enough to whip.

-By hand with a whisk or with an electric mixer, whip until fluffy frosting consistency.  Whip in the soft butter, piece by piece.  If it starts to look split (mine did), chill it a couple more minutes and it should come together with a bit more persistent beating.

CH#3: Cranberry Bliss Cupcakes

A couple of months ago, my cherry lime rickey cupcakes were chosen buy Quirky Cupcake Laurie as the winner of the first-ever Cupcake Hero event!  What an honor!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to come back and defend my title for last month’s clove edition.  I did make two different types of cupcakes for it and both were awful!  Well, I’ve put that mess behind me and come back with a vengeance for this month’s event with a cranberry theme.

My inspiration for these cupcakes is the Cranberry Bliss bar that Starbucks sells around the holidays.  Yes, even in Australia you can find these in the display case at this time of year.  If you are a seasoned Cranberry Bliss bar eater, you will probably recognize me for the fraud that I am.  I have never had one…don’t even know what’s actually in one.  So this is a loose interpretation, containing things that I think are blissful with cranberries!

I seem to be a fan of filled cupcakes lately (there were the rickeys, the Bostinis and the linzers), and I knew I wanted to make a cupcake that would be filled with Thanksgiving-style cranberry sauce.  I actually even used my leftover sauce for this!  The bar from Starbucks has a cake or cookie base that looks to contain brown sugar, so I went poking around for a brown sugar cupcake recipe.  I found one from Nigella, the beautiful Domestic Goddess, for burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes.  I liked the sound of that–brown butter gives beautiful flavor to baked goods.  I also liked that the batter is quickly blitzed together in the food processor…not a lot of technique involved there.

The Bliss bars also appear to have a white chocolate topping, so after baking and filling my cupcakes, I frosted them with a white chocolate whipped ganache, into which I had folded toasted pecans and dried cranberries.  I sprinkled some toasted unsweetened coconut flakes and more dried cranberries over the top to finish.  Lush!  The tart cranberries really balance out the sweet frosting and cake.  And the next day, cold out of the fridge, OMG!  My brother declared the cold cupcake to be “f-ing amazing” (please excuse his language).

I don’t find the pictures of cupcake insides to be all that appealing, but here’s a picture of the “guts” anyway…

Thanks, Laurie, for another fun event!  Can’t wait to see December’s theme!

Cranberry Bliss Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-size cupcakes

-Make and chill the cranberry sauce filling (recipe below).

-Bake and cool a batch of burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes (recipe below). 

-Make the white chocolate whipped ganache frosting and flavor it with pecans and dried cranberries (recipe below).  

-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top).  Save the top bit of each plug.  Fill each cavity with cranberry sauce filling.  Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.

-Top with whipped ganache and garnish with lightly toasted unsweetened coconut flakes and more dried cranberries.

Cranberry Sauce Filling– makes about 1 cup

just under 1/2 cup sugar
just under 1/2 cup water
2 t orange zest
pinch of salt
6 oz whole cranberries, fresh or frozen

-Bring sugar, water, orange zest and a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepot.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and add in the cranberries. 

-Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the cranberries pop. 

-Transfer to a nonreactive bowl and cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate until using.

Burnt Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-sized cupcakes
modified from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess

1/2 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter
3/4 cup self-rising cake flour
3 T sugar
5 T brown sugar (I used dark, but light would be fine, too)
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla bean paste (can substitute vanilla extract)
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
2-3 T milk

-Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C and line a muffin tin with paper cups. 

-To brown the butter, put it in a small saucepan on medium heat, leaving it until it turns light golden and has nutty-colored brown bits on the bottom (will only take a couple of minutes).  Take the pan off the heat and pour the butter into a bowl or cup, scraping the brown bits (if you have accidentally gotten your butter too dark, strain it, leaving the dark sediment behind). Let the butter begin to solidify again, but you need it to remain soft for the cupcakes.  You can do this by either leaving it at room temperature, which will take awhile, or putting it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.   You want it to be the consistency of regular softened butter.

-When the butter is solid but still soft, put all the cake ingredients except the milk in a food processor and blitz to a smooth batter. As normal, add the milk down the funnel, pulsing sparingly to form a soft, dropping mixture.

-Divide among the paper cups, and cook for 15-20 minutes.  FYI, this does not make much batter, and the cups will not be very full.  Don’t worry, as the combination of self-rising cake flour and baking powder give it a lot of oomph in the oven.  They should rise to normal cupcake size!

White Chocolate Whipped Ganache with Pecans and Cranberries– makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes

7.5 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
7 T butter, very soft
handfull toasted pecans, cooled and roughly chopped
handfull dried cranberries

-Put chopped white chocolate in a medium bowl.  Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepot.  Pour hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes to begin to melt.  Gently whisk chocolate and cream together to form a perfectly smooth ganache.

-Cover and refrigerate for about 45 minutes, until the ganache  is cool and begins to firm up, but is still soft enough to whip.

-By hand with a whisk, whip until fluffy frosting consistency.  Whip in the soft butter, piece by piece.  If it starts to look split, chill it a couple more minutes and it should come together with a few more strokes.  Don’t overbeat the frosting, however, or it may make it too firm.

-Gently fold in pecans and dried cranberries before topping the cupcakes.

Cupcake Round-Up 2: Linzer Cupcakes

I always like making the traditional versions of my favorite classics, but I’m game for a bit of a switch-up, too.  Reinvention using seasonal ingredients is actually the theme for the second Cupcake Round-Up, co-hosted by two cupcake bakers extraordinaire: Garrett of Vanilla Garlic and Cheryl of Cupcake Bakeshop.  Inspired by a packet of raspberries in the fridge, I thought the flavors of a linezrtorte would translate well into a cupcake.

I admit I’m a little confused about seasonality here in Australia.  Things that I would never think I would find at certain times of the year pop up in the framers’ market unexpectedly.  And some things, like rhubarb, seem to be widely available year-round.  I have started to see Aussie raspberries, while still outrageously priced (I’ve had to get used to the fact that produce in general is much more expensive here than in the US), being sold for about half the super-outrageous price they were sold for a couple of months ago.  Based on cost, I have decided that raspberries must at least be coming into season (it is almost summer here).  I haven’t had a fresh raspberry since I moved here nine months ago, so I bought a packet. 

I began my little linzer cuppies with a recipe for hazelnut cake from Gina DePalma, pastry chef of the excellent Babbo Restaruant in Manhattan.  As written below, I tweaked it a bit to incorporate some of the other flavors found in a linzertorte (and to use up some sour cream I had in the fridge), but if you want Chef DePalma’s original recipe, you can find it here on Babbo’s website.  The recipe, originally for a single 8″ round, makes twelve perfect cupcakes…I was so pleased.  I made sure they stayed moist with a little douse of simple syrup and filled them with fresh raspberries.  Topped off with raspberry buttercream and garnished with more fresh berries and candied hazelnuts, they were every bit as good as the real thing, and without any fussy lattice work or soft dough. 

The cupcakes take several steps, although none are hard.  But, if it’s one of those days, and you don’t feel like futzing with buttercream and candied nuts, everyone will still love you if you do a simplified version…

Linzer Cupcakes– makes 12 regular-size cupcakes

Note:  If you don’t have seedless raspberry jam for this recipe, just press jam with seeds through a strainer to remove.  Or if you want the seeds, use seeded jam instead.

-Start with a batch of simple syrup (recipe below).

-Bake the hazelnut cupcakes (recipe below).  Lightly brush warm cupcakes with simple syrup, then cool completely.

-Make and cool the candied hazelnut garnish (recipe below).

-Make the raspberry buttercream (recipe below).  

-Prep the fresh raspberries.  Depending on size, estimate 3 or 4 raspberries for filling each cupcake, plus extras for decoration.  Loosen few tablespoons (or as much as needed to coat your berries) of raspberry jam with a squirt of lemon juice.  Toss the raspberries into the jam, turning them to coat.  Keep them whole– try not to smash them up.

-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top).  Save the top bit of each plug.  Spoon a small amount (about 1/4 teaspoon) of simple syrup into each cavity.  This is just to keep the cakes moist…don’t drown them.  Put a few jammy raspberries into each cavity.  Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.

-Top with buttercream and garnish with candied hazelnuts and jam-coated raspberries.

Simple Syrup– makes more than you will need, but keeps for a long time and has many uses

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

-Combine sugar and water in a small saucepot.  Mix gently with your finger so sugar isn’t stuck to bottom or corners of pot.  Try not to get a lot of sugar on the sides of the pot above water level (cooking time is short, so it shouldn’t crystallize, but just to be safe…)

-Bring just to a full boil, at which point all the sugar should be dissolved.  Shut off heat.

-Transfer to a jar or airtight plastic container for storage.  This will keep in the refrigerator for weeks.

Hazelnut Cupcakes– makes 12 cupcakes 
adapted from a recipe by Gina DePalma

Note:  If you can’t find hazelnut flour in stores, you can make your own by toasting 1 cup of skinned hazelnuts for five minutes in a 350°F oven.  Cool them completely and pulse them along with 1/4 cup all-purpose flour in the food processor until finely ground but not pasty.  Substitute this mixture for the hazelnut flour in the recipe and only use 1 cup of all purpose flour when proceeding with the third step (as the extra 1/4 cup is already accounted for in your hazelnut flour mixture).

1 cup hazelnut flour
1 ¼ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
10 T (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 1/2 t lemon zest, finely grated
2 T hazelnut paste or hazelnut butter
3 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1 t vanilla extract
½ t kosher salt
1 t baking powder

-Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Line your cupcake tin with paper liners.

-In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, lightly whisk together the eggs and sour cream.

-In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until very light.  Beat in the spices and lemon zest first, followed by the hazelnut paste or hazelnut butter.  Then gradually add the egg and sour cream mixture.  Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and beat in the vanilla extract.  In a small bowl, mix together the hazelnut flour, all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder.  Beat the dry ingredients into the batter until just combined.

-Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.  Lightly brush tops with simple syrup while still warm.  Then gently remove from the tin and cool completely on a rack.

Candied Hazelnuts

handful of skinned hazelnuts
simple syrup to coat (couple tablespoons probably)

-Preheat oven to 350°F.

-Pop hazelnuts in half by sticking the tip of a small sharp pairing knife into the tops of each one.

-Toss them with enough simple syrup to lightly coat (just to make shiny).

-Turn them into a small sheet pan or baking dish, keeping them in a single layer. Bake just until golden and simple syrup hardens, about 10 minutes. 

-When cool enough to handle, separate them so they don’t stick together and cool completely.

Raspberry Buttercream– makes about 2 cups
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe for vanilla buttercream in Baking Illustrated

2 large eggs
1/2 cup (3.5 oz) sugar
1 t vanilla extract
pinch of salt
8 oz unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into pieces 
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam, loosened with a squirt of lemon juice
1/4 t cinnamon

-Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a medium saucepot.  In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Set the bowl over the simmering water (making a double boiler).  Whisk gently but constantly until the mixture reaches 160°F.  It should be thin and foamy.

-Transfer the bowl to the mixer and whip until light, airy and room temperature.  This should take about five minutes.  Reduce the speed and whip in the butter, piece by piece.  If it looks curdled halfway through, it should come together as you add the remaining butter.

-Once all the butter is incorporated, beat on high speed for about a minute until light and fluffy.  Add the raspberry jam and cinnamon and beat until just incorporated.  You can refrigerate, covered, for up to five days.