Friends Food Family

Sarabeth's Black Beauty Cupcakes

 

Finally, Round 2 of my cupcakes. This past week, I made cupcakes for a presentation I made for the Women's Business Network. I made Red Velvet Cupcakes with a Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting and decided I wanted something chocolate...rich, dark, chocolate for my second recipe.

I think I found the best chocolate cupcakes and I understand why Chef Sarabeth Levine calls them Black Beauty Cupcakes. This recipe is from Sarabeth's cookbook, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours which presently is my most favorite cookbook. I have such a sweet tooth so every recipe I read of hers intrigues me. With Easter just around the corner, I've got some Sarabeth desserts in mind. If you enjoy making desserts as much as I do, purchasing this cookbook is worth the investment.

After making these cupcakes, I never tasted them until after I presented them to my family, the Women's Business Network and assorted friends. Jeff even waited a few days before he broke down and had one. Most times when you think of any type of cake or cupcake, you get a moist cake with an incredibly sweet frosting. What was incredible about these cupcakes was the slightly dense chocolate cake and a bittersweet chocolate ganache. The ganache wasn't overly sweet and that's what made the cupcake so delicious. I chose to make the ganache with Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips versus semi-sweet chocolate chips (which you can use if you want.) This made the ganache rich but not too sweet, the chocolate was very smooth.

The other great part to this recipe was how easy they were to make. No butter, no eggs, just mayonnaise, similar to a chocolate mayonnaise cake. It's amazing what mayonnaise can do for a cake recipe.

What I ended up with was...

a chocolate cake + a bittersweet ganache = one incredibly delicious black beauty cupcake

...a perfect adult dessert.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes
½ cup of Dutch-processed cocoa powder, divided
1 ½ cups of all purpose flour, divided
1 cup of hot water
1 cup of superfine sugar (I used regular white sugar)
1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
¼ teaspoon of fine sea salt
¾ cup of mayonnaise

Ganache
1 ⅓ cups heavy cream
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips) finely chopped
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes, at room temperature

Preparation:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.

Place foil cupcake liners in tins. (I like foil because they have a better weight than paper.) If you choose to make the cupcakes liner free, then butter the insides of 12 muffin cups. Sift together 2 tablespoons of the cocoa and 2 tablespoons of the flour. Dust the insides of the molds with this mixture and tap out the excess.
Combine cocoa powder and the hot water in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Whisk to dissolve the cocoa. Whisk in the sugar. Attach the bowl to the mixer and fix with the paddle attachment. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together. With the mixer on low speed, in thirds, add the flour mixture, alternating with two equal additions of the mayonnaise, and mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the batter is smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and fill 3/4 full.

Bake until a cake tester inserted in a cake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Gently remove the cakes onto the rack and let cool completely.

To make the ganache, bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Let stand for 3 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Add the butter, whisking until it has totally melted into the chocolate. Transfer to a bowl and let cool on a wire rack until the ganache thickens to a glaze consistency and the cupcakes can be dipped or allow it to become thicker and frost the cupcakes.  

Epicurious' Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Tomorrow, I am presenting marketing strategies using my Friends Food Family website to the Women's Business Network in Mansfield. This is a great group of women who own small businesses, network like no other and bring their face to face relationships on-line. We are going to discuss ways of helping each other grow our businesses on-line using social media.

Since I am a food blog, I wanted to bring a sweet treat. I decided that I was going to bring cupcakes because...

1. People will eat a cupcake quicker than a piece of cake.

2. Easter is coming and I love to find new cake recipes very year for my 20+ guests.

I decided last week I wanted to make a red velvet cupcake because everytime I go to a  bakery, they are showcasing red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. I knew that I also wanted to make a rich chocolate cupcake because I am a chocoholic and lastly, I wanted to bake something that was fruity. Sweet, rich and delicious.

Epicurious had a great Red Velvet Cupcake recipe with great recommendations and it only made 18-24 cupcakes...perfect. It was really easy to put together and the color was amazing. It was interesting to watch this cupcake mixture come to colorful life. This recipe didn't have a frosting to match. I found a cream cheese frosting that was too heavy in cream cheese. I adapted the recipe and decided to add a hint of cocoa, not necessarily for taste but color. The red velvet cupcake recipe had a hint of cocoa, why not add it to the frosting.

So far, the response has been positive. My family loved them...then again, they love sweets, especially since we don't have cake or cupcakes on a regular basis.

Hopefully, after serving these red velvet cupcakes tomorrow, you'll see all sorts of comments. Try them out, if you like them then consider them for the next few holidays which are almost upon us. Whether Easter, Mother's Day or Father's Day, I'm sure you'll have a big fan base after creating these decadent cupcakes!

 Red Velvet Cupcakes 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1/4 cup of water
1 tube of red food coloring (I used the gel)
1 cup of buttermilk
1 teaspoon of vanilla 
1 teaspoon of white vinegar
1 teaspoon of baking soda

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake tins as directed.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and blend well. Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring and add to the butter mixture. Sift flour and salt together into this mixture.

One at a time, add the following ingredients: buttermilk, vanilla, and water. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda. Fold it into the cake batter. Make sure it's incorporated, but don't beat it.

Pour the batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cake springs back when touched. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn the cupcakes out of the tins and onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 - 8 ounce package of cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup of butter, softened
1-1/2 to 2 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation:

Place cream cheese and butter into a bowl. Using a hand beater or mixer, beat until well incorporated. Add cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Taste after 1-1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar has been blended. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar. When desired sweetness is achieved, add the vanilla.
Frost cupcakes. Eat with pleasure!

 

 

Chocolate Root Beer Cupcakes

  
When I started getting ready to promote the Friends Food Family Blog, I came across a very interesting food blog called gastronomy. I was really impressed with the site. They had showcased a recipe called Root Beer Bundt Cake. It had come from a cookbook called Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, written by Baked, a bakery in New York City. If you have time, check out both sites, they are fun and offer great food products and services.

Since Christmas with Root Beer Schnapps in hand, I've been wanting to make this cake. Yesterday, I had a spare hour and thought I'd take on the cake. Next thing I knew, the oven was being used for a number of things...proofing bread, corn bread for the chili...and I found I had 30 minutes not 1 hour.

So, why fret, make cupcakes. I took the recipe and made 30 chocolate root beer cupcakes. My son, Stephen, and I had to try them first, even if they were hot and unfrosted. They were delicious and had a wonderful aftertaste of root beer. I frosted the cupcakes and covered them until this morning. So, for breakfast I enjoyed a cupcake with a big cup of coffee (Oh, another breakfast of champions). The cupcake was even better with the frosting, but the root beer was more of a hint than a strong flavor.

If you need a quick dessert for kids or adults, especially with Valentine's Day coming, consider these over your average chocolate cupcakes. I'm bringing them to a Super Bowl Party tonight. Results in the morning!

Ingredients for the Cupcakes

• 2 cups of root beer (do not use a diet root beer)
• 1 cup of dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona
• 1 stick unsalted butter, chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cups dark brown sugar (packed)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs

Baked Note: If you can find root beer schnapps, substitute 1/2 cup of root beer with root beer schnapps. The root beer flavor will be more pronounced.

Ingredients for Frosting

• 2 ounces of 60% chocolate (melted and slightly cooled)
• 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup root beer
• 2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Preparation for Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 325º degrees.

Line the cupcake tins with liners, if you don't have liners, spray with Pam and lightly flour, tapping out the excess flour.

In a small saucepan, heat root beer, cocoa and butter over medium heat until butter is completely melted. Add both sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove mixture from heat to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs until just beaten, then whisk into cooled cocoa mix until combined.

Gently fold flour mixture into chocolate mixture. Mixture will be slightly lumpy—Do not over-beat which could cause the cake to be tough.

Pour mixture into cupcake tins, I used a 1/3 measuring cup to pour . Fill about 2/3 full. Bake approximately 30-35 minutes. Rotate tins half-way through bake time. Cupcakes will spring back to touch, or use a toothpick, coming clean.

Cool cupcakes on rack. Make sure they are cooled completely before adding frosting.

Preparation for Frosting:

Place all ingredients, chocolate, butter, salt, root beer, butter, and confectioners sugar, in a food processor. Pulse in short burst until fudge frosting is shiny and smooth. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the tops of the cupcakes. Let frosting set before serving.

 
The next time I make these I'm going to try a vanilla bean frosting. What better than a root beer float cupcake.