Red Velvet Three-Chocolate Hi-Hat Cupcakes

Red Velvet Three-Chocolate Hi-Hat Cupcakes

Happy birthday to my great friend Dal.

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour, sifted

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp red food color (or as much as you need to make batter red)

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together flour and cocoa. With an electric mixer, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs one at a time. Add food color and vanilla.

Add flour in three batches, alternating with buttermilk.

In a little bowl, stir together the baking soda and vinegar until combined. Add to the batter and mix for 10 seconds.

Divide batter into cupcake tins. Bake 10 minutes, turn, and bake another 10.

Makes 24.

Frosting:

3 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

In a heatproof bowl, combine sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar. Beat until foamy, about 1 minute.

Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and beat on high speed until frosting forms stiff peaks, about 12 minutes; use a candy thermometer to make sure frosting is 160 degrees. You definitely want an electric handheld mixer for this. I had to do part of it by hand because my handheld broke, and yeah, it was miserable.

Remove from heat, stir in extracts, and beat for two more minutes.

Using a piping bag with a large tip, pipe a spiral of frosting into a cone shape about two inches high.

Once the cupcakes are all frosted, stick them in the freezer for an hour.

Chocolate coating:

1 bag dark chocolate chips

1 bag milk chocolate chips

1 bag white chocolate chips

6 tbsp vegetable oil

Melt together each chocolate with two tbsp of oil, each in a separate bowl, being careful not let the chocolate burn (I used a double boiler, but the microwave will work fine here too as long as you take it out and stir often).

Let it cool down to room temperature, about fifteen minutes.

When the cupcakes and the chocolate are cool, remove the cupcakes from the freezer. Carefully turn them upside down and dip them into the dark chocolate until it covers all the frosting. Lift it out, let it drip for a few moments, then turn it right side up again.

WARNING: the frosting, for some horrible reason, will try to melt anyway. I don't know, it's mean. So you will need to be quick with this step. Once you have coated all the cupcakes, return them to the freezer for 10 minutes.

Once the first layer is solid, repeat this with the white chocolate. You may have to heat the white chocolate again -- it solidifies faster than the other two, maybe because it's not real chocolate. Make sure you don't cover up the dark chocolate. Then back into the freezer!

Finally, dip the very tops of the cupcakes into the milk chocolate, making sure to leave a line of white chocolate showing, then freeze again.

It is best to serve these cupcakes chilled, because the chocolate gets melty again with very little provocation. On the other hand, they look super cool, and they taste pretty great! :D

Cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.
Frosting adapted from marthastewart.com
Chocolate coating instructions from bakeitinacake.