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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Birthday party filled chocolate cupcakes

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my baby had turned a huge 5 years old.

I still can’t get my mind around it.

We had a small impromptu swim party on that Saturday, then he pretty much got whatever he wanted on the day of his birthday as he opened presents little at a time all day long and got to pick what we had for our meals all day long.

He actually said at one point, "I'm the boss of my birthday."  I guess since someone, whether his dad, me or his older sister is always the boss of him, he HAD to be the boss of something.  HA!

Back in May, during the last week of school, I took cupcakes up to his class so that he could celebrate his birthday in class with his friends.  When I asked him what kind of cupcakes he wanted, he made his request very specific.  He wanted chocolate cupcakes with white filling, white icing and blue sprinkles. 

No fire trucks this time.  Just very specifically chocolate cupcakes with white filling, white icing and blue sprinkles.

And when it came time for his actual party, he asked for the same exact thing.

Well, okay.

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Obviously, I’ve gotten pretty good at making these recently so I thought I’d share the recipe with you.  The chocolate cupcake recipe is one from Cook’s Illustrated that I have adapted to be a little more pleasing to the kid palette.  I’ve tried a few cream filling recipes, but this one that I discovered over at Evil Shenanigans takes the cake…. or fills it.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup cocoa powder (1 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup all purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine butter, chocolate and cocoa powder in heat-proof bowl and set over a small amount of barely simmering water in a sauce pan and allow to fully melt and combine until smooth.  (To quicken the process, you can melt the butter in the microwave and pour it over the chocolate and cocoa to begin the melting process sooner.)  Once melted, set it aside to cool for a few minutes until just warm to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs until smooth.  Add sugar, vanilla and salt and whisk until fully combined and smooth.  Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.  Sift in 1/3 of the flour mixture and whisk to combine.  Whisk in sour cream then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick.

Using a large scoop, place 1 just over-full scoop into each cupcake liner.  The recipe makes 13, so if you only have room for 12 cupcakes, you will have a bit left over.

Bake 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Allow to completely cool before filling and/or frosting.

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Cupcake Cream Filling

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 – 7 ounce jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Dissolve salt in hot water.  Whisk marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar & vanilla with stand mixer until fluffy.  Whisk in salt water until incorporated & fluffy. 

Use a pastry bag fitted with a decorating tip poke a hole down into the cupcake and fill until a little peeks out the top.  One batch fills approximately 3 dozen cupcakes.

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Top with your favorite butter cream icing along with some sprinkles if desired and enjoy.

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In this post:
Chocolate Cupcakes
Cupcake Cream Filling

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