Cupcakes
are about having your own little cake that you do not have to share. Did
you know that the name "cup cake" was first used, not to describe its
size, but to how the cake's ingredients were measured? It seems that
before the 1880s ingredients for baking cakes were 'weighed' so when
recipes started to be written with 'cup' measurements, they were named
'cup cakes' to reflect this difference.
Fast forward to today and cupcakes are now individual cakes that are baked
in either muffin pans or in cup-shaped molds. They are usually topped with
a frosting and candy sprinkles are entirely optional. Cupcakes may come in
many flavors, but chocolate and vanilla are still the most popular. With
that in mind, I
give you my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. This recipe produces
a cupcake with a nice chocolate flavor that comes from using
Dutch-processed cocoa
powder that has been dissolved in hot water to bring out its full flavor.
Once the cupcakes are baked and completely cooled, we cover them with a
delicious chocolate frosting.
There are so
many excellent chocolate frosting recipes that sometimes it is hard to
decide what frosting to use. You could frost these cupcakes with Ganache, but I found a delicious chocolate
frosting recipe on Shuna Fish Lydon's interesting food blog 'eggbeater.typepad.com'. It is
rich, creamy, and so chocolately that you will want
to use this frosting on all your cakes. You may think that adding sour
cream to a chocolate frosting is odd, but it really adds a wonderful depth
of flavor. Shuna Fish Lydon recommends using a 62 - 70% dark chocolate and
be sure that it is one that you enjoy eating out of hand. If you find the
frosting a little to thin for piping after it is made, simply place it in
the refrigerator until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
Cupcakes: In a small bowl stir until smooth
the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, whisk
together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Then in the bowl
of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar
until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Beat in the
vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Then add the
cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
Evenly fill the
muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 17-20 minutes or until risen,
springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove
from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have
completely cooled, frost with icing. If you want flat topped cupcakes then
slice off the dome of each cupcake, with a sharp knife, before frosting.
Chocolate
Frosting: Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl placed over a
saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and corn
syrup. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time (at this point the frosting will
be quite thick). Place the frosting in the bowl of your food processor and, with
the processor running, gradually add the sour cream and hot water. Process until
the frosting is nice and shiny. At this point you can simply spread some
frosting on the top of each cupcake. However, if you want to pipe the frosting
on top of the cupcakes you will have to place the frosting in the fridge for it
to firm up. Periodically check and stir the frosting until it is of the desired
piping consistency. Garnish each cupcake with shaved or grated white or dark
chocolate.
Makes about 12 cupcakes
Source:
Bell, Annie.
'Gorgeous Cakes'. Kyle Books. Distributed by National Book Network. Lanham, MD:
2005.
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