Completely Chocolate Cupcakes

If you are looking for a total chocolate experience, these cupcakes might be a good place to start.  This Cook’s Illustrated recipe caught my eye when I was looking for a cupcake to bring to a friend’s birthday beach BBQ.  It seemed risky to attempt buttercream on such a sweltering day, but the recipe was so tempting I decided to go for it anyway.

The basic construction combines dark chocolate cake, truffle-like ganache filling, and a fluffy bittersweet chocolate buttercream frosting.  You drop the ganache filling onto the top of each unbaked cupcake, and it sinks down and melts as it bakes.   In theory the ganache settles in the true center.  Perhaps because of my ganache-drop technique, or perhaps because the ganache was too warm,  but a few of mine ended up with the filling at the bottom.  I thought it may have had something to do with my doubling the ganache filling amount, but  it still happened when I used a lesser quantity as well.  No matter, it just created a little depression in the cupcake that filled up nicely with piped frosting

The buttercream was a little tricky in the heat, but after transferring it to the freezer once or twice for a few minutes, it turned out perfectly.  And though normally I wouldn’t put my cupcakes in the refrigerator, I made sure to thoroughly chill the finished cupcakes before bringing them in the hot car to the hot beach.  Cupcakes can be vastly improved by the quality of their chocolate, so something like Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Semisweet Chips.  A combination of bittersweet and semisweet would also work well.

Completely Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Ganache Filling (note you can make half the amount of filling if preferred)
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Chocolate Cupcakes
3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water or hot coffee
3/4 cup bread flour (for a sturdier cake)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg whites
Pinch of salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut in  1 tablespoon pieces
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. For the Ganache: Place chocolate, cream and powdered sugar in a bowl that fits over  a pan of simmering water.  Melt and stir until smooth.  Place in the refrigerator until just chilled.

2. For the Cupcakes: Set the oven rack in the middle position and turn on the oven to 350 degrees.  Line your muffin pan with baking cup liners.  Place chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.  Pour the hot water or hot coffee over the mixture and stir until smooth.  Place in the refrigerator to cool for about twenty minutes.  In a separate bowl, whisk flour, sugar, salt and baking soda together and set aside.

Whisk melted butter, eggs, vinegar and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mix until smooth.  Add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.  Divide the batter as evenly as possible into the muffin pan cups.  Cooks Illustrated recommends using an ice cream scoop.  Place a heaping teaspoon or two of ganache filling on top of each unbaked cupcake.  Bake until the cupcakes are set and firm to touch, about 17 minutes.  Cool in the pan about ten minutes, then transfer to a wire wrack to cool completely before frosting.

3. For the Frosting: Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Use your stand mixer bowl if you have one.  Whisk the mixture over heat for about 2 to 3 minutes, until just thickened and the temperature reaches 150 degrees.

Place the bowl in the stand mixer with the whisk attachment (or use your hand mixer). Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until fluffy and shiny.  Cooks Illustrated describes it as the texture of “shaving cream.”  Continue to beat as you drop the butter in, one piece at a time, allowing each piece to incorporate.  Somewhere in the process the frosting may look terrible and ruined, but just keep beating and it will come together eventually.  If after all the butter is added, an inordinate amount of time has passed, and it still is not coming together, you can try putting it in the freezer or putting it back over the pot of simmering water for a minute or two depending on whether you think it might be too warm or too cold.

Once it is all combined and smooth, add the cooled melted chocolate and vanilla and mix until combined.  Increase the speed to medium high and beat for an additional 30 seconds until fluffy and fully incorpoated, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

To frost you can either pipe the frosting on using a pasty bag or place a 2-3 tablespoon dollop on each cupcake and smoothly distribute with a  butter knife.