For the last few weeks I have had a fierce craving for chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing, and in my experience there is only one way to make a craving go away. I almost never bake desserts unless they are cookies so I was amazed by how much work it is to make a simple cupcake! Don’t get me wrong. These are perfect, airy-moist-chocolatley goodness. But they are also serious high maintenance business, so be prepared. Both the cupcakes and the icing come from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything .
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups flour
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups milk
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a double boiler melt the chocolate, stir frequently so as to not let it burn.
3. In your mixer cream the butter until smooth (speed 4 on my mixer) gradually add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the yolks one at a time, followed by the melted chocolate.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to mixture a bit at a time and stir in by hand alternating with the milk. Don’t overmix.
5. Beat egg whites until they are soft peaks and gently fold into the rest of mixture.
6. Put batter into 2 well greased (or silicone) muffin tins and bake for ~25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack before icing.
Vanilla Butter Cream Icing Recipe:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
In your mixer cream the butter and gradually work in sugar and milk, alternating. Stir in vanilla. If it’s too thick add more milk\cream. If it’s not thick enough put it in the fridge and allow the butter to get more solid. (Don’t substitute margarine for the butter or you will have runny icing!)
More Recipes Worth Trying:
Caramel Pecan Squares
Chocolate Lavender Cake
Chocolate Drops
