Pages

26 May 2013

UP cupcakes



You may have worked out by now, dry cake is just a small pet peeve of mine. It's so disappointing. When you sit down to a really good looking piece of cake and in your mind you're thinking just how great it's going to be then you have the first bite and...meh, it's dry. Massive waste of cake-imaging and excitement. So this recipe right here, it's definitely not for a dry cake. In fact, these little gems or so dang moist and the chocolate flavour is so intense, this recipe might have just snuck it's way into my top 5 recipes. Oooo bold statement. 

I had intended to go all-out with the decoration with these UP themed cupcakes but I certainly got hit by serious tiredness last night that I sadly never got round to it. Do you ever suddenly just feel crazy tired and like it takes so much effort just to lift a limb? Maybe it's just me, but that's how I felt either way. Anyway, I'm going to create a little mental picture for you so you can at least imagine the finished effect. All the little cupcakes would be beautifully arranged on a sky blue board with the little house down at the bottom. There would be strings coming up from the roof of the house onto the bases of the cupcakes. It would be an edible version of the coolest house ever. 



I started by making up a cup of coffee and then pouring it over 50 grams of dark chocolate and leaving it for 5 minutes to melt


Whilst the chocolate was melting I whisked an egg until it was slightly fluffy and airy. To that I added the sour cream, oil and vanilla and then mixed it all until it was evenly combined



I then poured in the chocolate and coffee mixture and beat until it was fully mixed in




In a separate bowl I whisked together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, two sugars and cocoa powder


I folded all the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until I had quite a runny batter


I divided the batter between 12 regular cupcake cases and 9 mini ones


Once they were cool the cupcakes were topped with multiple shades of vanilla buttercream

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup coffee
50g dark chocolate
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup oil
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup soft light brown sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to fan 150
If you want bigger, doming at the top cupcakes just line a 12-hole cupcake pan, if you want flatter cupcakes like I did, line a few extra too
Make a cup of coffee. Chop up the chocolate into small chunks then pour the coffee over and set aside to cool for five minutes
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the egg slightly to make it frothy. Then add the sour cream, oil and vanilla and beat together
Stir the chocolate mixture slightly to make sure it is also evenly melted then pour into the egg and sour cream mixture. Stir together until evenly combined
In a smaller bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, two sugars and cocoa powder. Fold this into the wet ingredients, making sure not to over-beat the batter
Pour the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes. Since the oven is at a slightly lower temperature than usual, I left mine in for the full 25 minutes. They are done when an inserted skewer comes out clean...or with only a few teeny tiny crumbs
Leave them in the tin for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely 

Icing Ingredients:
100g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp milk
lots of food colours

Method:
Cut the softened butter into small chunks. Add the icing sugar and beat together until fully combined. Add the vanilla and milk and then beat with an electric whisk for a few minutes until fluffy
Now go to town with the colours. I had a pink, red, blue and yellow then made up a green and a purple

Here's a little snap of my pre-tiredness plan



1 comment: