Gg's Double Chocolate Cupcakes With Caramel Mascarpone Frosting

A light and not-too-sweet chocolate cupcake topped with caramel Mascarpone frosting and mini chocolate chips.

Double Chocolate Cupcake Recipe:
(yields 20-24 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate buttons
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick salted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk (room temperature)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and place rack in center of oven. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. 
2. In a stainless steel or heatproof bowl combine semi-sweet chocolate buttons, unsweetened cocoa powder and boiling water. Stir until melted. Set aside to cool while you make the batter. 
3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine. 
4. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. 
5. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is fluffy. About 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 
7. Add vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture. Beat to combine. 
8. Add the milk and flour mixtures in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat only to incorporate between additions.
9. Evenly divide the batter among the muffin cups, and bake for about 18 - 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. 

Caramel Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 stick salted butter (cold & cubed)
• 
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons heavy cream, at room temperature

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, cook sugar over medium heat, whisking as it melts. 
2. When it turns a deep amber color, add butter cube by cube and stir between additions until butter melts and is incorporated. 
3. Add heavy cream and whisk until the caramel is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool. 

Caramel Mascarpone Frosting Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup caramel
• 1/2 stick salted butter (room temperature)
• 
1/2 cup icing sugar
• 3/4 cup Mascarpone cheese (chilled)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and Mascarpone cheese until light and fluffy using the lowest setting to begin, gradually moving it up to the highest setting. About 5 minutes.
2. Add icing sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.
3. Add pure vanilla extract and caramel, and beat on low then medium-high speed until light and airy.  About 2 minutes. For a stiffer frosting, add more icing sugar.

The Almost Perfect Chocolate Cupcake

In my last post I mentioned I'd made a batch of chocolate cupcakes. These required more work than the last two recipes but when I popped one in my mouth for a taste test, it made me smile. 

Texture-wise, it was airy, crumbly, light and moist. Taste-wise, chocolatey, not too sweet and nommy! Alas, still not the perfect chocolate cupcake...

Firstly, they sank a little in the middle after I took them out of the oven. I wonder if it was due to opening the oven and checking for doneness. They took more than the 20 minutes most cakes take. I did a spring test (touching the top of the cake to see if it springs back, if it does, it's done. If your finger leaves a bit of an indentation, it is not.), realised it needed more time and let it continue to bake another 2 minutes. They were nice and puffy when I took them out of the oven but the pretty rounded tops sank once cooled. Just a wee sinking that was easily camouflaged by frosting.

The second reason is the chocolatey-ness of the cake. It was more chocolatey than my first two attempts. But not enough. I'd thought that with 2 chocolate components and the addition of more chocolate than the original recipe called for it would have been more chocolatey...

I've mentioned I'm not big on chocolate but I think chocolate lovers would prefer that anything chocolate  should pack a certain oomph. I got a hit but I wanted a Bazinga! (Yes, I am a fan of 'The Big Bang Theory'.)

My verdict is that this is a good chocolate cake to top with chocolate or Nutella frosting but not good enough on its own or if topped with a lighter frosting like the caramel Mascarpone one I made. I did go 'Mmmm...'  though when I popped one in my mouth. See recipe here.

I have a lovely friend Elaine who is very supportive of my baking endeavours. She randomly bought 6 Kahlua cuppies I made awhile back and has told me to let her know when I bake as she would like to continue supporting me. She loved those Kahlua ones (topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting and Maltesers). 

I brought a box of these chocolate, caramel Mascarpone frosting cupcakes down to Elaine and as expected, she too felt that the chocolate cake was good though it could be more chocolatey, the caramel Mascarpone frosting was a little too light for her liking and she still preferred my Kahlua cuppies. I was right. Chocolate lovers want chocolate overload when they eat anything chocolate. If I had topped these with the Nutella butter cream I made previously, she would have gone to chocolate heaven for sure.

My cousin-in-law and BFF (I shall call her my Sayang) who also got a taste of these chocolate cupcakes liked them plenty. She preferred the lightness and ate 3 of the 4 she had (she told me she would have finished all of them if her maid had not asked to try one).

I'll definitely tweak the recipe and attempt making chocolate cuppies very soon as my quest for the perfect chocolate cupcake continues...

Gg's All Together Chocolate Cupcake With Nutella Butter Cream (2)

An easy all in one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe paired with a luscious, sinful Nutella butter cream frosting simply spread on and decorated with mini marshmallows.

All Together Chocolate Cupcake (2) Recipe:

(yields 20-24)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coffee powder/ granules
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons of Nutella
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
2. Sift cocoa powder into a measuring cup, add coffee powder and warm water. Stir to combine into a smooth paste. Leave to cool.
3. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Add sugar and salt. Stir to mix.
4. Add buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla  to the cocoa and coffee mixture, stir to combine.
5. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Using handheld electric mixer on the lowest setting, mix until smooth, 1 - 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
6. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes. Do not open oven door while cupcakes are cooking. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. 

Nutella Butter Cream Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 /2 stick salted butter 
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• As much Nutella as you like

Directions

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy using the lowest setting to begin, gradually moving it up to the highest setting. About 5 minutes.
2. Add icing sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.
3. Add pure vanilla extract and Nutella, and beat on low then medium-high speed until light and airy.  About 2 minutes. For a stiffer frosting, add more icing sugar.

Gg's All Together Chocolate Cupcake With Nutella Butter Cream (1)

An easy dump everything in a bowl and mix chocolate cupcake recipe paired with a luscious, sinful Nutella butter cream frosting simply spread on and decorated with mini chocolate chips and little heart sprinkles.

All Together Chocolate Cupcake (1) Recipe:
(yields 20-24 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coffee powder/ granules
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons of Nutella
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Add coffee, sugar and salt. Stir to mix.
3. Combine buttermilk, eggs, oil, warm water and vanilla in a bowl or measuring cup, stir to combine.
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Using handheld electric mixer on the lowest setting, mix until smooth, 1 - 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed. You should get quite a liquid mixture.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full (transfer batter into a measuring cup with spout to make this easier). Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes. Do not open oven door while cupcakes are cooking. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.  

Nutella Butter Cream Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 /2 stick salted butter 
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• As much Nutella as you like

Directions

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy using the lowest setting to begin, gradually moving it up to the highest setting. About 5 minutes.
2. Add icing sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.
3. Add pure vanilla extract and Nutella, and beat on low then medium-high speed until light and airy.  About 2 minutes. For a stiffer frosting, add more icing sugar.

Still Searching For The Perfect Chocolate Cupcake

The perfect chocolate cupcake. What exactly constitutes as the perfect cupcake? I think the perfect chocolate cupcake should be fluffy, light, soft and moist texture-wise, not too sweet (to allow for frosting) and it definitely needs to be intensely chocolaty.  

In my quest for the perfect chocolate cupcake, I'd done additional research and read that mixing cocoa powder with hot water would better bring out the chocolate flavour. I tweaked the All Together Chocolate Cupcake (1) recipe to make some birthday cupcakes for my sweet friend Cynthia. This would be my contribution to her little pot luck birthday party at another friend Charmaine's home.

The result was a slightly more chocolaty cake, a little lighter in texture than the All Together Chocolate Cupcake (1) which made it a tad better but it still wasn't perfect. It's a good thing there's that Nutella butter cream to save the day.

Baking them in pretty pink and white polka dot cups and adorning with mini marshmallows as well as a sprinkle of icing sugar after spreading on the Nutella butter cream made them almost too adorable to eat! Almost.

I recommend eating these with a teaspoon. They can get quite messy. See recipe here.

They were quite a success at the party so I was a happy girl. 

But I knew I was still unsuccessful in my quest for the perfect chocolate cupcake so I researched cupcake recipes all weekend and came up with one which I made tonight since my DCM was out. Look out for my next post to find out if I was successful!

In Search Of The Perfect Chocolate Cupcake

Honestly, I'm not a fan of chocolate cake. I might get a very rare random craving and even then I won't actually act upon it. But I know a lot of people love chocolate and because my cousin Winnie asked if I could make her some, I went on to search for and attempt to make chocolate cupcakes. 

I did not know how elusive a good chocolate cupcake recipe was! I tried three before I found one that was decent. Not 'better than sex' or 'so amazing I cried' but they didn't sink like the first recipe's (although the flavour was great) or not taste chocolatey (even though I added a lot of chocolate) and had a weird sticky texture like the second recipe.

This recipe is fairly easy to make, rose quite nicely, tasted relatively chocolatey and has a fluffy but sightly dense texture. It also does not contain butter and yields chocolate cupcakes that aren't very sweet. This means, no guilt about the nommy Nutella Butter Cream Frosting I made to go with these cuppies! 

Then comes the back-breaking part. Frosting the cupcakes was relatively easy. It was individually applying the mini chocolate drops and heart sprinkles that was hard work. I tried using my fingers but they didn't work very well. I also tried kitchen tweezers. Finally, I got a skewer, dotted it with the teeniest, tiniest amount of icing which acted as a sort of 'magnet' for the decorations and arranged them one by one on the cupcakes.

Behold the fruit of my labour!  

I had my DCM take them to work today as one of his colleagues is leaving the company. They were a hit!

I'll shall continue in my quest for a better chocolate cupcake. These were chocolatey but I felt not chocolatey enough. There are so many recipes out there that there must be one that is perfect. I must say though that working with cocoa powder is very annoying. That stuff gets everywhere! 

Hopefully the next batch I attempt will be better. See recipes here.