Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm not really a fan of chocolate cake -- it's usually too rich for me -- but these cupcakes were light enough, and the icing was delicious enough, that I actually really enjoyed them. The trick with the icing is definitely to beat it until the cream starts to whip; it's much fluffier and lighter that way.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir the cocoa powder into the water until dissolved. Add the coffee, and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix until combined, then add vanilla. Alternate in the flour and coffee mixture, stirring unit all the ingredients are just incorporated.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. I used a larger size of cupcake wrapper, but if you are using normal sized cupcake tins you will get more and bake for less time: 10 minutes, turn, 10 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 12 large cupcakes, or 18 normal sized.

Chocolate Ganache:

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (like Ghirardelli), broken in pieces/chopped

Scant 1/2 cup heavy cream

Bring the cream to a boil slowly. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Wait a few minutes, then stir until the chocolate is fully dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

2-3 cups xxx sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2-3 tbsp heavy cream

Dash of vanilla

Beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. Add the sugar and cream and whip until the frosting is very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the cocoa powder and vanilla and beat a few more minutes.

Decorating:

Spoon a generous amount of ganache onto the top of each cupcake. Let it solidify.

Using a wide tip piping bag, pipe little blobs around the outside rim of a cupcake.

Use a small spoon to sort of press each dot gently towards the center, creating a small petal shape.

Pipe a second ring of blobs closer to the center ...

 ... and gently draw them towards the center as well.

The center may pile up with icing, and you will need to scoop it out carefully.

There will be a little hole in the middle afterward. Fill it with a small blob of ganache.

Congratulations! You have made super easy, super pretty chocolate chrysanthemums on your cupcakes!

Repeat with each.

Recipe adapted from Bakingdom.com