Tag Archives: dessert

Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream + 5 Classic Cupcake Links

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When I overthink things I get myself into trouble.  I overthought these chocolate cupcakes. I agonized over thoughts of various fillings, my mind racing with options: raspberry curd, mocha whipped cream, chocolate ganache, Dulce de Leche.  [No, next.]  So, I focused on frosting choices: Swiss meringue buttercream, sea salt caramel frosting, dark chocolate ganache, a simple fruit icing.  [No, no. Tasty, but not what I’m looking for…today.]

“Keep it simple, Kel.” She tells me, one hand on the steering wheel as she applies a thick coat of lipstick without looking, once, in the mirror.  [Light blue Ford Taurus station wagon that smells like sour milk and old coffee.  She doesn’t care.  She gave up on caring about incidentals a long time ago.  I get that…now.]  

I stare, memorized by her confidence, memory recall, her lips as they transform from a pale, wrinkled pink to a smooth, as, buttercream mauve.  How does she do that?  A mystery to me in so many ways.  

Her beautiful bright blue eyes dart over me, examine my face.  “What’s with you today?”  I turn my face into the light coming through the passenger’s window, a rural landscape runs alongside.

“Nothing.”  My go to answer for many decades to come.  Poor Mom, tormented and relieved by the unknowns.  Juxtaposition at its best.

“Keep it simple.”  These words coming from a woman who has never kept anything simple in her life.  A woman who counted on plan b and plan c .  If the levy should break.  

She doesn’t know I will take her words, carry them with me, and sing them like a psalm.   

So, I  pushed options to the side.  Tucked them safely in a place, a corner of my brain, where they sit patiently and wait.   Wait for a day when I need them.  After all, I am my mother’s daughter.

So I kept it bald, bare, naked and made a rich, moist chocolate cupcake paired with a sweet and light white chocolate buttercream.  Nothing fancy, in fact, quite simple, but altogether delicious.

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Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream

Cupcake recipe from Not Without Salt

Buttercream recipe adapted from What To Bake & How To Bake It, Jane Hornby

Makes 24 cupcakes ( You may get more. I got 36!)

Ingredients for cupcakes:

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 + 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 + 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3 eggs

1 + 1/2 cups milk ( I used 1%)

3/4 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 + 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.  Line two 12 cup muffin pans with cupcake liners and set aside.

Grab a large bowl and sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Using the a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla on medium speed.  Reduce the speed to low and add the sugar and dry ingredients.  Mix on a low speed for a couple of minutes, then increase the speed to medium and mix until the batter is smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  (You should not see lumps.  If you do, keep mixing.)  Slowly, add 1 cup of boiling water and mix on the lowest speed until completely smooth.  (Alternatively, mix the water into the batter with a wooden spoon until smooth.)  The batter will be quite thin.  Let the batter rest for about 15-30 minutes.  I let it sit for closer to an hour.  When ready to bake, gently stir the batter.

Fill the cupcake liners, about three-quarters the way full.  Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched or when a cake tester inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 20 minutes.  Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.  While the cupcakes cool, make your buttercream frosting.

Ingredients for white chocolate buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 1/2 ounces white chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a good pinch of kosher salt

2 cups of confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:

Grab a small saucepan and heat the cream until the edges just begin to bubble.  Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.  Once melted, stir until smooth.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy.  Add the vanilla and salt, scrape down the sides and continue to beat.  Slowly, add the confectioners’ sugar.  Continue to beat until fluffy and pale.  Pour in the cool chocolate and whip on high for 5 minutes.  Add more sugar if it seems too thin.  ( I didn’t need to add more sugar.)  Frost cupcakes with an offset spatula or fill a pastry bag and add your favorite piping tip.  Cupcakes are best the day they are made.  However, they taste just fine if made a day in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Eggs

Ingredients:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

piping or Ziploc bag

parchment paper

Directions:

Using a pencil, lightly draw desired shapes on parchment paper: eggs, flowers, butterfly etc.

Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate in an oven proof glass bowl either using the microwave or nestled on top of a small saucepan with simmering water. * If using the microwave, watch carefully, as it will burn easily.  If using the stove top, be sure the bowl does not touch the simmer watering.*  Stir until the chocolate is smooth and allow to cool for a couple of minutes.  Pour melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag and trim just a bit of the corner with scissors.  Trace your drawings using the melted chocolate.  Allow to dry until completely hard, about 30 minutes.  Remove the chocolate from parchment paper with a spatula and carefully add decorations to cupcakes.

 5 Classic Cupcake Links!

My favorite cake and frosting match up is yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  Sally’s Baking Addiction has a recipe that is making me drool: moist yellow cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting.

Red velvet will never go out of foodie style.  Averie Cooks has a recipe for red velvet cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting that looks divine!

Looking for a mouth watering all chocolate cupcake?  Head to Sweetapolita for Rosie’s dark and dreamy double fudge cupcakes.  

Kids and adults will go crazy for My Baking Addiction’s vanilla bean cupcakes.

I love all lemon desserts, but Cooking Classy’s lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting is really pulling on my heartstrings today!

Chocolate-Rye Crumb Cake + 5 Chocolate Desserts to Get You Through Winter!

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I flagged this recipe from Bon Appétit a couple of months ago, placed the magazine on top of a collection of sloppily organized cookbooks and walked away.

I’ll make it next week…

Weeks passed, more snow fell, kids got sick, training runs got longer and more depleting, I avoided my cookbooks and magazines.  I made easy comfort food and desserts.  My cooking self hibernated, hunkered down, got through…winter.  It wasn’t until last week I felt motivated to make something new.  Maybe the sudden sound of songbirds in the early morning, or the longer days woke me up.  I can’t say.  Maybe spilling the red bowl of Kosher salt that sits next to stove near the cookbooks was the catalyst for cooking something new.  The spill did force me to clear the entire counter, wipe it down and then sort of organize my cookbooks and magazines.  So forget the songbirds or the longer days.  My clumsy self set off a series of events that forced my withdrawn self to wake up.  Or least make this long forgotten recipe: chocolate-rye crumb cake.

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I have never baked with rye flour.  As I folded the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, the dough became quite sticky and dense.  I thought about throwing it out, but I carried on, spread the batter into my prepared pan and sprinkled the top with the cacao nib crumble.  55 minutes later the cake was ready.  I let it cool and went about my day.  (This is not normal behavior, I know.  Fresh chocolate cake sitting on the counter begs for a knife and fork, and a plate is optional.)  I guess I assumed the cake would taste like cardboard, despite containing plenty of butter and sugar.

I should never assume anything again.  One bite and I was hooked.  Moist and tender with a mellow rye flavor, this chocolate crumb cake is one I will make for years to come.  The chocolate flavor is robust and overpowers the rye flour, but that doesn’t bother me.  The crumble, similar to chocolate cookie crunches, but not nearly as processed, is the highlight of the cake.  The cacao nibs add a pure chocolate element to the cocoa powder.  Then all of that antioxidant wholesomeness pairs perfectly with butter and sugar.  Can it get any better?  I doubt it.  Enjoy!

Chocolate-Rye Crumb Cake

serves 8

barely adapted from Bon Appétit January 2015

Ingredients:

For the crumble:

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/4 rye flour

3 tablespoons cacao nibs

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s Special Dark)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

For Cake:

Non-stick spray

3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

3/4 cup rye flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s Special Dark)

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

heaping 1/4 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt

Directions:

Make your crumble.  Whisk together sugar, flours, cacao nibs, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl until combined.  Using your fingers work the cold butter into the dry ingredients until large clumps form.  The crumble should resemble wet sand and there should be no dry spots.  Keep chilled until ready to use.  (Crumble can be made 2 days in advance.)

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.  Spray a 8×2 inch round cake pan with non-stick spray.  Set aside.  Whisk together flours, baking powder, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment beat butter, sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy or about 5 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowls and add your eggs  and vanilla.  Mix for another 2 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add half of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk.  Mix well.  Add other half of dry ingredients followed by the yogurt.  The batter will seem stiff and sticky. That’s ok!

Scrape batter into prepared pan and spread crumble over.  Bake for 55-60 minutes.  The middle should spring back when touched lightly.  Allow cake to cool in pan on a wire rack before removing.  Serve at room temperature alone or with whipped cream or ice cream.  (Cake can be made a couple of days ahead. Store well wrapped at room temperature.)

5 Chocolate Desserts To Get You Through Winter

St. Patty’s Day is next week so why not celebrate with stout cupcakes with chocolate covered pretzels or triple chocolate Guinness cookies.  Beer and chocolate almost always taste good together!

I have a tub of mascarpone sitting in my fridge and now I have a plan: chocolate mascarpone cake with berries.

Raspberry season is coming.  If you see some raspberries at the grocery store, buy them and make double chocolate raspberry brownies. Go ahead, treat yourself!

My brownie pie will help soothe your winter blues, I promise.