I couldn’t wait to get home today to start those cupcake recipes. By 4:36pm I was setting up my mise en place and ready to go! The first recipe I tried was Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. I didn’t have as much regular flour as I thought I had so I used cake flower. On the box it said to add 2 tbsp per cup of regular flour for a substitution, so I did. The recipe was quite simple but the batter seemed a little thin for a cake batter. I’m not sure if that’s because I used cake flower.
Oh I forgot to mention that the other day Andy picked up some Cacao di Pernigotti cocoa powder from William Sonoma. The smell is just amazing, so rich and chocolaty – it just puts a huge smile on my face. Of course I had to use it in both recipes tonight.
Back to the recipe; so I was a little concerned whether the cupcakes would come out because of the thin batter. To my delight they were perfect, moist and chocolaty!! Before I started on Geni’s recipe Chocolate Malt Cake from Sweet and Crumby, I called Andy to pick up some regular flour for her recipe. This one came out to perfection also. Nice chocolaty and fudgy (thanks again for the recipe Geni!
I did have one more recipe to try out tonight from Gregg but its a little late so that will be my next one. To go with both cupcakes I decided to make a Swiss buttercream. It’s been awhile since I made it. The first batch came out a little grainy since all the sugar didn’t melt. So that went into the garbage and I had to start from scratch. The second batch though came out nice, smooth and silky. The Swiss buttercream holds up much better in this weather than the French buttercream (which is still my favorite) I just think the egg yolks adds a richness to a buttercream. Anyway here’s the recipe!
Chocolate Swiss Buttercream
5 Egg whites
1 cup sugar
A pinch of salt
2 Tsp vanilla
1lb unsalted softened butter
5oz melted dark chocolate (I like Valrhona 70%)
Place the sugar, corn syrup and egg whites in a double boiler whisking continually until the sugar dissolves and you reach 160F. Place in a mixer and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch (around 10 min). Add butter a few tablespoons at a time, add vanilla than add your cooled melted chocolate.
Thats it!
Chocolate cupcake with chocolate Swiss buttercream
Chocolate cupcake with chocolate Swiss buttercream
