230 replies to this topic

[Lisa2k]

i like the loose look - has a certain charm - not too structured....lucky friend

Thank you, and to say he got better pretty quickly, is an understatement. Chocolate has magic powers :) That said, I kind of liked the imperfect ganache too, as imperfections lend that 'homemade-grandma's cozy kitchen' look and feel to baked goods.

Edited by Lisa2k, 19 June 2008 - 06:25 AM.

[whisks]

definitely - and you can't buy anything like that, and that's better than anything you can buy; funny how things have come full circle now, homemade being more treasured.
ahhh, the healing properties of chocolate....

[iii_bake]

Has anyone tried Alton Brown's recipe?:

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcake
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008
Show:  Good Eats
Episode:  Honey, I Shrunk the Cake
4 ounces cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup hot water
1 1/4-ounce cocoa powder
5 large egg yolks
6 ounces sugar, divided
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

I think he recommends 2 muffing tins or 12 coffee mugs for these muffins.

You whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Then mix the hot water and the cocoa powder into a small bowl and thoroughly combine. In a stand mixer you place the egg yolks and 5 ounces of sugar and whisk on high for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes pale yellow and 'ribbons' form.  Mix the cocoa mixture, vegetable oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl while you whisk the egg whites.

Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into a bowl and whisk on high using the whisk attachment, until foamy. Decrease the speed to low and slowly add the remaining ounce of sugar. Once the sugar  been added, increase the speed back to high and continue to beat until stiff peaks.

Transfer 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter and whisk untill combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in slowly. Transfer batter into prepared tins or mugs, Put ints in middle rack or, if using mugs, place all of them on a half sheet pan and set on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or the cupcakes reach an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F.

Remove to a cooling rack. cool completely before frosting.

I have been having problems of shrinking chiffon cake...wonder if this one shrinks at all?
( The episode title makes me wonder!)

[pastrymama]

I think he is refering to making cupcakes instead of a full size cake. But chiffon cakes do tend to shrink a little anyhow.

[emmalish]

I posted this in Daily Sweets as well, but then figured they really should be in this thread as it's what got me thinking about making cupcakes in the first place.

I can't remember the last time I made them. I usually make muffins or full cakes, but you guys inspired me.

I had to go out and buy papers and a mini cupcake pan (which is another story). I also really wanted to top them with fondant flowers. I've never made them before so had to buy the cutters and fondant too, but had a lot of fun doing this! I just used some pre-made Wilton's rolled fondant for these...



For the cupcakes, I was going to make the chocolate cupcakes from Elinor Klivans' Cupcakes!, but didn't have any sour cream and was too lazy to go buy some. So I did some googling and found the Magnolia recipe which calls for buttermilk – which I also didn't have, but I do have lemons and milk. The recipe makes 2 dozen. I halved that, but I still got a full 2 dozen minis and 10 full-size cupcakes from that. Because it was so hot this weekend, the butter was too soft and this mixed up really light and fluffy. They baked beautifully with a lovely dome... and then fell. Oh well. Serves me right for baking when it's so hot. I just made a butter & sugar buttercream. I would have rather done an Italian buttercream, but it was too hot and I didn't want to use the stove any more.

[Kouign Aman]

Well, it took a year, and another birthday, but I made the Chocolate Bar cupcakes finally. They were a big hit, both at 'school' and at home. Nice brownie flavor.
The 'chocolate bar' was 62% ghiradelli chips. We got to use the scale for the first time, and herself measured all the dry goods.

The dairyfree restriction was lifted by changes in class population, and the frosting color restriction was also lifted, so I frosted them with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache. The munchkin decorated the tops with mini marshmallows.

We scaled the recipe to 150%. We baked 24 cupcakes, then 12 more. The batches were indistinguishable. The batter had nice stability. The finished cupcakes were very delicate and rich.

Somewhere, there's a picture.

Kim Shook's Chocolate Bar Cupcakes

I need to bake some dairy-free chocolate cupcakes ....

I've never made cupcakes before & wont have time for a retry (then again, the intended audience wont be deducting points for appearance).

.....


thanks for any and all suggestions, comments and help.

<et correct username spelling>

[Kim Shook]

Well, it took a year, and another birthday, but I made the Chocolate Bar cupcakes finally. They were a big hit, both at 'school' and at home. Nice brownie flavor.
The 'chocolate bar' was 62% ghiradelli chips. We got to use the scale for the first time, and herself measured all the dry goods.

The dairyfree restriction was lifted by changes in class population, and the frosting color restriction was also lifted, so I frosted them with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache. The munchkin decorated the tops with mini marshmallows.

We scaled the recipe to 150%. We baked 24 cupcakes, then 12 more. The batches were indistinguishable. The batter had nice stability. The finished cupcakes were very delicate and rich.

Somewhere, there's a picture.

Kim Shook's Chocolate Bar Cupcakes

I need to bake some dairy-free chocolate cupcakes ....

I've never made cupcakes before & wont have time for a retry (then again, the intended audience wont be deducting points for appearance).

.....


thanks for any and all suggestions, comments and help.

<et correct username spelling>

I'm so glad you liked them! It's one of my favorite cupcakes. I make them a lot after Christmas - we always forget whether we have chocolate or not for fudge when we are out shopping and see the bars on special. We always end up with extra bars to use up!

[DonnaMarieNJ]

Has anyone tried the "key lime cupcakes" from Bon Appetit this month?

[ablosh]

Chocolate Cupcakes

Checkered with Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache

I laughed when I came across this thread and saw my post! The pic above is from my first cupcake tryout!

Here are my recent cupcakes:

[FrogPrincesse]

I decided to bake cupcakes for my daughter's birthday next month. I bake regularly but have never made cupcakes. I actually never saw a cupcake until I moved to the US from France more than 10 years ago. At the time, muffins had just started becoming popular in Paris. I don't even think there is a French word for cupcakes even today (they just say 'cupcake' which a French accent...).

Anyway, I am very picky with cupcakes but like the ones they make at Sprinkles, so I am using them as my model. Additionally, they have the advantage of having a semi-hard frosting, which it should make transportation much less stressful. I plan on baking approximately 4 dozen cupcakes and they will have to be transported by car.

I am thinking of baking two different flavors. Dark chocolate is a must because we are chocolate addicts in our household. However for my first attempt I decided to try the Sprinkles strawberry cupcake recipe that I found online because I had all the ingredients on hand. I made the recipe with no modifications with a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I made a half batch (yield of 6 cupcakes instead of a dozen) and used fresh strawberries since we can find excellent ones in San Diego.

Sprinkles strawberry cupcake recipe, video (which also shows what the cupcake looks like)
Sprinkles strawberry frosting, video

Here is the batter. I love the pretty pink color, and the fact that the recipe does not use food coloring.




The frosting, which I blended a little further after I took the picture.



I forgot to take a picture of the cupcakes after they came out of the oven, but here is the finished product.



They came out pretty well for a first try, but I need your advice to fine-tune the recipe. The cupcakes tasted great, so I don't want to depart too much from the recipe, but maybe tweak my technique to improve the results.

First, the cake itself. It did not rise much beyond the paper liner unlike the cupcakes shown in the video and there was no overhang. And as a result, it was too dense.
A few things could have caused this... The batter may have been overbeaten, my baking powder may be too old (I forgot to check the date), or maybe the oven temperature was not quite right. The yield was exactly 6 cupcakes so the amount of batter for each one should not be the issue. Could the fact that I only made a small batch have been a factor? I wonder what will happen when I scale up the recipe. The recipe is by volume unfortunately, which could be another source of error.

The buttercream frosting was delicious, however it was not as smooth and spreadable as what is shown in the video. The instructions say not to overwhip to avoid incorporating too much air so I stopped mixing as soon as everything was incorporated. The frosting had a somewhat dense texture, but maybe I should have transferred it to the refrigerator for a short time before using it?

Next, I will be testing a chocolate cupcake recipe. I am going to use this Sprinkles dark chocolate frosting recipe but don't have a cupcake recipe. I will be needing dark chocolate sprinkle flakes, which unlike regular sprinkles are flat and square (see the picture of the dark chocolate Sprinkles cupcake here). I am hoping I won't have to order them online.

Edited by FrogPrincesse, 11 May 2012 - 12:14 PM.

[Kouign Aman]

I can let you have half a box of Hagel from The Netherlands. Not the right shape,but you wont have to py shipping. I think the brand I have is the one in the picture I linked here

[FrogPrincesse]

Thanks Kouign Aman, I sent you a message regarding the sprinkles.

I checked the expiration date for my baking powder, and sure enough, it had almost expired (June 2012). So I threw it away and bought a new one.

I tried another test batch of cupcakes this weekend, this time a chocolate recipe. It's interesting to see how few chocolate cupcake recipes use actual chocolate. The majority just seem to use cocoa powder. I eliminated recipes not using dark chocolate and recipes using ingredients that I would rather not see in my cupcakes (e.g., oil, condensed milk, Hershey's syrup, vinegar, mayonnaise (!)), or ingredients I did not have on hand (buttermilk). I was using Eat Your Books for my search which is very handy to eliminate specific ingredients.

I came up with this recipe from "Confession of a Tart" that looked promising. I followed the instructions as is, even the step where the cocoa powder is added to the butter + chocolate mixture in the bain-marie (I am not sure why it's not mixed with the dry ingredients). I used the weight measurements because I really don't like baking with volume measurements as this can be another big source of error. Everything went well. Using an ice-cream scoop to portion out the batter was a revelation for me - so much easier than a spoon or a spatula! The batter was quite thick/sticky.



The cupcakes rose this time but they also cracked badly. I made sure not to over-bake them by checking them regularly.




For the frosting, I used the Sprinkles recipe (here).




The verdict? The frosting is perfect, absolutely delicious. But the cake left to be desired. It was light and the taste was good, but it was also on the dry side, incredibly crumbly, and way too messy for a cupcake.

I since found a recipe from Dorie Greenspan for chocolate cupcakes so I will try it next (recipe here).

Edited by FrogPrincesse, 15 May 2012 - 12:24 PM.

[Kouign Aman]

Try Kim Shook's chocolate bar recipe. Good cupcakes!

[Toliver]

...I eliminated recipes not using dark chocolate and recipes using ingredients that I would rather not see in my cupcakes (e.g., oil, condensed milk, Hershey's syrup, vinegar, mayonnaise (!)),...

There should be nothing wrong with using mayonnaise in your cupcake recipe. If made properly, it's just oil and eggs, ingredients which you'll find in most chiffon-type cake recipes.

[FrogPrincesse]

...I eliminated recipes not using dark chocolate and recipes using ingredients that I would rather not see in my cupcakes (e.g., oil, condensed milk, Hershey's syrup, vinegar, mayonnaise (!)),...

There should be nothing wrong with using mayonnaise in your cupcake recipe. If made properly, it's just oil and eggs, ingredients which you'll find in most chiffon-type cake recipes.

Sorry, I just can't bring myself to doing it. It must be a cultural difference, but I used to bake a lot when I grew up in France, and never once encountered a recipe using these ingredients. It has to be butter for me.

[FrogPrincesse]

Dorie Greenspan's chocolate cupcakes

The recipe used volume measurements (at least the online version - I don't own the book). I must admit that this was a little disappointing, although this seems to be the norm in the US. The instructions were very detailed and made more sense (e.g., mixing the cocoa powder with the other dry ingredients). I had to make one substitution - I had forgotten to buy buttermilk so I used milk with a little white vinegar.

I had a small issue with the melted chocolate re-solidifying very rapidly before being mixed with the other ingredients. So in the end, there were a few little chunks of solid chocolate in the cupcake, but this was not a bad thing and I may want to replicate that in the future based on feedback from my daughter, who thought that this was a great surprise.

As is apparent in the pictures, my liners are not the right size and therefore they make these weird folds. Since I have a thousand of them (literally), I am using them for my trial runs. I will use correctly-sized brown Regency liners from amazon for the birthday party; hopefully they will look nice.



The top are cracked; but so far all of my batches have had the same issue. I am not too worried about it because the frosting will cover any flaws.
Here is finished product.



They are a little difficult to frost because the ganache solidifies quite rapidly.

The cake itself was much better than the recipe from Confession of a Tart: less crumbly (but still a little too crumbly), more moist, overall a very nice flavor. It was a nice cupcake, but nothing especially memorable. I liked the ganache frosting from Dorie's recipe a lot, but everyone else preferred the much richer buttercream frosting from Sprinkles (and I have to agree that it looks more festive). Dorie's recipe seems more restrained, more refined maybe (more French dare I say it?). But my "client" is my daughter and she is not looking for subtlety.

Cross-section (minus test bite)



I am starting to think that macarons are easier to master than cupcakes. I made two batches of Pierre Herme chocolate macarons so far without any major issues (keeping my fingers crossed)...

[cookingofjoy]

FrogPrincesse - I had the same reaction to Dorie's cupcakes. The cake itself really wasn't memorable, but I have used the ganache quite a few times. I really like it for topping hostess-style cupcakes. What I've used so far is the revised double chocolate cake recipe here in the 'finding the best chocolate cake' thread, post 598.
I've not made Kim Shook's chocolate bar recipe, so it's on the list with all the recommendations!

[FrogPrincesse]

I made the strawberry cupcakes a few more times since my last posts. I made the Sprinkles recipe as is again, but using a fresh jar of baking powder since the one I had used in my first attempt was only a few weeks away from expiry.

There was no difference - excellent taste and very good frosting, but the cake itself was still quite dense.






After that, I had to bake a couple of dozens so my daughter could take them to school. I tweaked the recipe as much as I could (without making any drastic changes) - adding a little bit more baking powder, slightly more liquid, etc). But in the end there was no noticeable difference. So I concluded that it was just the type of cake that was not to our taste. I believe we would prefer the cupcake with a different type of cake that is inherently lighter, such as maybe a genoise/sponge cake. It's still a pretty good recipe and the frosting is great.

I baked a dozen of them for the actual birthday party. Everyone seemed to love them and the natural light pink color is very pretty. I would be curious now to buy them again from the Sprinkles store and see how they compare. I am more or less convinced that the recipe that they have made available to the public is not what they use.

[FrogPrincesse]

So after all this experimenting with the strawberry cupcakes, I did not have any time left to tweak chocolate cupcake recipes before the actual birthday party. I was not satisfied at all with the two recipes I had tried and did not feel that modifying them would give me the result I was looking for. So I was looking for a recipe that I could trust. In the past I found that David Lebovitz had consistently reliable recipes so I decided to use his devil's food cake recipe. (Surprisingly the recipe is by volume - as he explains it is a good recipe if you have to bake but your scale does not work).

I made it as is, using the best cocoa powder I could find (i.e., Scharffen Berger). He gives the option of using coffee or water as the liquid and I opted for water since I was baking them for a kids birthday party.
There were no surprises. The batter used considerably more liquid than the recipes I tried before (see upthread) so it was less dense. So this all looked very promising.





They rose well and cracked a little, but much less than the other recipes.



The recipe yielded 2.5 dozens cupcakes.

For the frosting, I used the dark chocolate frosting recipe from Sprinkles since it is so decadent, with Trader Joe's pound plus 72% dark chocolate. And I used the chocolate "flakes" on top, which are square-shaped sprinkles made with real chocolate, and I was relieved to find them in a local store (although they cost more of less their weight in gold. If I make the recipe again I will try to buy in bulk!).

The finished result and cross-section.



One of the two platters we had at the birthday party. Some slight damage during transportation and handling, but nothing too bad.



Well I have to day, David Lebovitz is a genius, because this was really fantastic, The cake was moist and delicate, more or less crumbless, and had an intense chocolate taste. I could not have been happier and here ends my quest for the perfect chocolate cupcake.

[cookingofjoy]

Those chocolate cupcakes look fantastic! I love the sprinkles!

[lorinda]

FrogPrincess, thanks for your reports and fabulous photos of your cupcake testing. I'm glad you found a good recipe.
I too enjoy searching, tweaking, sometimes it is easy to get obsessed with discovering the *perfect* recipe and very rewarding when that happens.