Almond-Hazelnut Cupcakes with Secret Fudge Frosting

Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes with Secret Fudge Frosting

I've had some really bad experiences using ground nuts/nut flour in recipes, so I was reluctant to try this recipe at first. I'm glad I did! The use of two other flours takes care, I think, of some of the problems I've had in the past, and the chocolate frosting really pulls it together. Unfortunately, the frosting is one of my mother's old Charleston receipts, and I did not get permission to share it -- in fact, I didn't even make it. After one unsuccessful attempt, I had to ask her to make it for me.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup toasted almonds

1/2 cup  toasted hazelnuts

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup milk

4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Using a food processor or something roughly equivalent, pulse nuts until they are finely ground. Be careful not to go too long, or the oils in the nuts create a kind of paste. Sift together both flours and baking powder, then whisk in the ground nuts.

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in vanilla. Alternate in flour mixture and milk and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they reach soft peaks. Gently fold them into the batter, being careful not to over mix. The egg whites lighten the batter because of all the air in them, and if you are too rough with them they'll just flatten out again.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 13 minutes, then turn tins and bake 13 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 18.

Frosting:

Martha Stewart suggests a dark chocolate frosting. Her recipe is just a simple butter cream with cocoa and melted bittersweet chocolate added. You can also do a more complicated cooked frosting (that's what my mother's is). Honestly, simply spreading nutella on these babies would work.

When the cupcakes are cool, gently slice them in half using a serrated knife. Spread the centers generously with your favorite frosting, then press the two halves together and frost on top. Decorate with a toasted hazelnut.

Cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart.

Frosting recipe a closely-guarded family secret.

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

My mom makes these amazing pumpkin cookies, and this was my attempt to replicate them as cupcakes. I decided to do mini cupcakes on the grounds that that would get the cupcake/icing ratio closer to the ratio of the cookies. I also used a few more spices in the cupcakes themselves, but I don't think that hurt anything. The soft crumbly texture of the cupcakes goes great with the crunch of pecans, and the brown sugar icing provides moisture and some extra sweetness.

Cupcakes:

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/2 cup buttermilk

vanilla

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

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cup pumpkin

1 bag (12 oz) pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one a time. Stir in half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the rest of the flour. Fold in the pumpkin, then the pecans, stirring by hand.

Spoon the batter into mini cupcake tin. Fill cups most of the way full. Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake for 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 48.

Brown Sugar Icing:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

6 tbsp butter

8 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups xxx sugar

vanilla

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar, butter, and milk to a boil, stirring frequently to avoid burning. After 2 minutes of boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the xxx sugar and the vanilla.

Use immediately, spooning generously over each cupcake.

Decorate as desired.

Cupcake recipe adapted from The Baking Robot

Icing recipe by my mother

Marzipan-Filled Chocolate Almond Cupcakes with Marzipan Frosting

Marzipan-Filled Chocolate Almond Cupcakes with Marzipan Frosting

A few weeks ago, my friend Joyce bought me a cupcake pan specially for baking filled cupcakes! It has spines in the center of each cup to impale something that will then be secured in the middle of the cupcake (rather than sinking to the bottom during baking)! I've been dying to try it out, so this week I decided to do something filled.

Cupcakes:

1 cup blanched almonds (blanching removes the skin; you can blanch regular almonds yourself by pouring boiling water over them and letting them sit for a minute, then slipping off the skins)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla

4 oz marzipan (about 2/3 of a 7 oz stick)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

There are two methods you can use to prepare tins with spikes. The first dozen I did butter and flour, which is the best and most reliable method of getting cake to come out of the pan in one nice piece. Cooking sprays are never as good. The second dozen I didn't have the patience to do this way, so I just poked holes in the bottom of cupcake liners and used those.

In a food processor, process the almonds and 1/2 cup of sugar until fine ground. Transfer to bowl and sift in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time. Add in chocolate. Alternate in milk and flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add vanilla and mix briefly.

Roll the marzipan into small, marble-sized balls.

I tried adding the batter to the cups in two different ways. The first time I made the marzipan balls first and poured the batter around them. 

The second time I poured the batter in first and poked the marzipan balls on top.

I think the second method worked best; the first way caused the batter to weight to marzipan down to the bottom of the cupcake, even with the spike to sit on.

Bake for 12 minutes, turn tins, bake for 13 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Makes 24.

One more note: the original recipe I used called for coconut milk instead of buttermilk, but I didn't want that extra flavor competing with the marzipan. However, coconut milk is more oily that buttermilk and I think the cupcakes came out a bit dry as a result. I would recommend substituting 1/2 cup of buttermilk with 1/2 cup oil, or using the original measure of coconut milk to get a more moist texture.

Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

4 oz. marzipan

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

3-4 cups xxx sugar

2-3 tbsp cream

1 tsp almond extract

Beat butter until fluffy; add marzipan and xxx sugar. The result will resemble a thick, white paste. Add chocolate and cream and beat until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. Add the almond extract and beat until mixed.

I more or less invented this frosting for the recipe; I included the 2 oz of chocolate because nice chocolate like Ghirardelli typically comes in 4 oz bars, so this will use up the extra chocolate left over from making the cupcakes. However, if that's a bit too much chocolate for you, you can definitely leave it out. The marzipan adds more texture and body to the icing, but the almond extract is where the flavor really comes from.

Frost your cupcakes generously.

Use any leftover marzipan to make decorations. Marzipan is easy to dye using regular food dyes, and you can roll and shape it like modeling clay. I used pie crust cutters to make colored leaves for decorations.

Cupcake recipe (considerably modified) from Epicurious.com

Frosting recipe by me.

Black Walnut Cupcakes

Black Walnut Cupcakes

This week I'm traveling! I had to borrow a friend's kitchen, and I'm always a little out of my depth when I'm not in my own baking stuff. So I picked a really easy recipe (one bowl) that can be topped with an ice cream of your preferred flavor.

Cupcakes:

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup cake flour (or regular flour, sifted three times)

2/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream shortening and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs one by one. Sift together flour, baking soda, and nutmeg in a bowl, then add to batter alternating with buttermilk. Add in walnuts and vanilla.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes, turn, bake for 15 minutes. 

Makes 14.

While cupcakes are still warm, remove from wrappers and top with a scoop of ice cream (I used cookie dough at the request of a housemate). The subtle crunch of the walnuts contrasting with the fluffy cupcakes is a great texture, and the ice cream kind of gets everything soggy in a delicious way.

Adapted from Cooks.com.

Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes with Chocolate Almond Ganache

Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes with Chocolate Almond Ganache

Cupcakes:
2/3 cup finely ground bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
3/4 cup self-rising flour, sifted
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp warm milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix together chocolate, almonds, and flour. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar under thick and pale. Stir in the chocolate mixture, then the milk. The mixture will be incredibly thick at this point. I did not thin it, but in retrospect I think I would add a little more milk to make the batter thinner and more liquid.

Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form. Fold them into the batter until just combined (and this is why I think you could stand to thin the batter; I was not able to fold the egg whites because the batter was so thick, I had to beat them in with an electric mixer).

Bake for 6 minutes, turn, and bake for another 6 minutes. Let cool.

Ganache:
2/3 cup dark chocolate
1/3 cup (5 1/2 tbsp, or about 3/4 of the stick) butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp almond extract

Create your own double boiler using a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Melt together chocolate, butter, and cream, and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Chill in the fridge until set.

Take the finished cupcakes and cut a small divot out of the top of each. Spoon in the chilled ganache (or pipe, if desired). If you wish, you can save the part of the cupcake that you scooped out and use it to top the ganache. Decorate with sprinkles.




I found that these cupcakes have a really interesting texture. Because of the bittersweet chocolate, they are not overly sweet, and the nut flour makes them very dense. I made some both mini and regular sized cupcakes, and I found that the mini ones were better because of the denseness.


Cupcake recipe from Cupcakes by Anneka Manning.
Ganache recipe by me.

Candy Bar Cupcakes

Candy Bar Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 2/3 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup toffee pieces
1/2 cup cashews, smashed into bits (or your favorite nut)
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together flour and baking powder. Cream butter and sugar together. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. At this point, the batter is really, really thick. Add in the fixin's. Again, the batter feels a lot like cookie dough at this point.

Drop chunks of it in prepared cupcake tins, filling about 3/4 full. Bake 15 minutes, turn pans, bake for 10 minutes and test to make sure cupcakes are done; if not, do another five minutes.

My experience with these cupcakes is that they are very, very crumbly. Everyone who tried them said they tasted great, but they really had no structural integrity. They were also very heavy, more like a brownie/blondie than a cupcake. I think if I made these again I would probably double the batter but keep the amount of fixin's the same, or use a lighter vanilla cupcake recipe and use the same fixin's. On the other hand, if you like a thick, cookie bar type of baked good that happens to be cupcake shaped, then change nothing!

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes