brownie cupcakes with chocolate frosting and strawberries
June 19, 2008
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Most people are supportive of my food experimentation. This may be because few are actually forced to taste everything I produce, and can comfortably come and go online, peering at my haphazard creations from a safe, virtual distance.But one reader had a recent complaint: “You never make anything with frosting.”Catherine, these are for you… and for Michael, too, whose birthday finally gave me an excuse to make chocolate icing. Though I' d been told the birthday boy favored chocolate cake with strawberries, I opted for cupcakes to make sharing easier. Nobody wants to stare down a birthday cake all alone at the office—a dozen miniatures strike me as slightly less overwhelming.
My only regret is that cupcakes provide significantly less surface area for strawberries. I stuck them on where I could, but didn' t want my precious icing to be pushed too much adrift because too many fruits had been crammed on.
The recipe was remarkably easy and might have been ready in under an hour, had I not opted to chill the frosting a while. Which actually was a wise move, as it provided added traction and control. I' m sort of a klutz, so I need all the help I can get when frosting.
I took the recipe from a favorite food site Joy of Baking, which has nothing to do with the cookbook of a similar name. Stephanie Jaworski took her recipe from Judy Rosenberg’s “All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar- Packed No-Holds-Barred Baking Book.” I MUST get my greedy little hands on that book.
For the cupcakes:
Melt 4oz unsweetened or very dark chocolate, chopped and 4 oz chopped butter in a saucepan. (Be careful not to let this boil, or even simmer…) * Once the chocolate is melted completely, remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. * Stir in 1 and 1/4 cup granulated white sugar (unless using sweetened chocolate, in which case use only 1 cup sugar). * Add 1 tsp pure vanilla * Add three eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. * Mix in 3/4 c all purpose flour and 1 tsp. salt until well blended. * Bake at 320 degrees in cupcake holders lined with paper baking cups.
For the frosting (weeee!)
Melt 4 oz unsweetened or dark chocolate and 6 oz butter in a saucepan (if you use the same one as before, you don’t have to wash it first, hoorah! * Remove from heat and stir in 3/4 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tsp light corn syrup. * Whisk in the 1 and 1/3 c powdered sugar, a little at a time. * Don’t get scared, Catherine. At this point, your frosting will be thick. * Add 1/2 c sour cream plus 1 tsp hot water and mix thoroughly until smooth, shiny, creamy–all of that good frosted stuff. Chill it for an hour before spreading onto completely cooled cupcakes. FYI, I made these without an electric mixer or food processor. Good old fork and forearm did the trick just fine.
Garnish with strawberries and deliver.
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- Aug 25, 2008: chocolate cupcakes with white icing « TASTE
Those cupcakes are absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to make some this weekend for guests. Thank you for your recipes as well as your sources and the best part are the little stories you tell as you are cooking all these delightful things.