Recipe Day!

It's an "I got nothing" day so I thought I'd post the recipes for those chocolate cupcakes I made a while back. I don't hold with people who say they can't cook. If you can read, you can cook. I never make up recipes. I rarely add to established recipes. I just read and do. Easy peasy. I can follow instructions. Looks like I pass kindergarten.

Yield 18 decadent over-the-top cupcakes

Ingredients
Chocolate Mousse:
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Pastry bag and coupler
Wilton tip 12

1 batch chocolate cupcakes (below)
Chocolate sprinkles
1.5 batches Italian Meringue Buttercream
11 oz. bittersweet chocolate melted and cooled

Large star tip

Directions:
1. To make chocolate mousse, in a medium sized chilled bowl using an electric mixer, beat cream until soft peaks form. Fold in melted chocolate until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate until chilled.

2. Place mousse in pastry bag fitted with 12 tip and insert right down into the centre of each cupcake. Squeeze to fill with mousse. As soon as the top of the cupcake begins to expand and crack, ease up on pressure-- the cupcake has taken as much filling as it can. (Aim for about 1 tbsp. filling per cupcake.) Refrigerate cupcakes while you proceed.

3. Place the buttercream in a large bowl and beat in the melted chocolate. Using pastry bag with large star tip frost each cupcake with a large swirl on top. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles on top.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1.5 cups flour
.5 c cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 c milk at room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place 18 cupcake liners in tins

2. Whisk flour, cocoa, soda and salt in a small bowl, set aside.

3. On medium high speed, beat butter until cream. Add sugar gradually beating about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla then eggs one at a time. Add the flour in 4 additions alternately with the milk, beating between additions.

4. Divide evenly between cupcake cups. I use an ice cream scoop. Bake for 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes then remove cupcakes to cool completely.

Italian Meringue Buttercream

2/3 cup plus 3 tbsp sugar
1/4 c water
4 egg whites at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1.5 c unsalted butter at room temperature

Directions

1. Place 2/3 cup sugar and the water in a small pot. Stir to wet sugar. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, swirling pan occasionally. Dip pastry brush in cold water and wash down sugar crystals from the sides of the pot once or twice. Turn down heat to simmer gently.

2. Place the egg whites in a clean grease free mixing bowl and whip until frothy. Add cream of tartar and turn speed to medium high. When soft peaks form, add remaining 3 tbsps sugar gradually. Continue whipping until stiff glossy peaks form.

3. Bring the sugar-water mixture to a rapid boil and cook until it reaches 248 to 250F. Pour a thin, steady stream over meringue, without pouring any on the rotating whip or the sides of the bowl. Whip on high speed until cool. When the bowl is no longer warm, stop the machine. On medium speed add the butter until buttercream in completely smooth.

See? Easy!

kxx