#36 Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of this heart felt holiday and because it's also that time of month for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club I decided to kill two birds with one stone and did the chosen flavor chocolate chip cupcakes and topped them off with over sized conversation hearts made from pound cake. I have to say that they turned out pretty good. I was a little skeptical of the chocolate chips sinking but with the help of the flour coding they stayed in place perfectly. The dark chocolate frosting was amazing!!!! A perfect V-day pick. So grab your special Valentine and whip up a batch you wont be disappointed!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes(courtesy of Martha Stewart)

This is the cupcake version of the cookies for sure! Coating the chocolate with flour really prevents the chips from sinking.

The Goods

3 1/4 cups plus 1tablespoon sifted cake flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp

1 3/4 cups sugar

5 lg egg whites room temp

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used the mini ones)

The How To

Preheat oven to 350degrees. Whisk together 31/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt then sit aside.

Stir together the milk and vanilla and sit aside.

Cream the butter in medium speed until smooth.

Add the sugar to the butter in a steady stream and beat until pale and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low and the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of the milk mixture, and beating until just combined. I totally forgot to take a picture of this step so on to the next step!!


In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. The gently fold the remaining whites until just combined.

Looks like big blobs of marshmallows!! And FYI this isn't combined yet just wanted to show off the egg whites :)

Toss the chocolate chips with the remaining tablespoon of flour and gently fold into batter.

Had help from my little valentine

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick comes out clean about 17-20mins. transfer to wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Make sure it's taste tested too!!!

While the cupcakes are cooling move onto the frosting.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

The Goods

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I subed the 2 tablespoons with the black chocolate powder I bought from King Aurthur's Flour)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temp

1/2 cup powder sugar

1lb semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Pinch of salt

The How To

Mix the boiled water and cocoa powder and set aside to cool.

Melt the chocolate chips using a double boiler and set aside to cool.

After the chocolate has had time to cool mix together the butter, sugar and salt on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low and add the melted/cooled chocolate, beating until combined.

Looking good but not done yet

Beat in cocoa mixture.

MMMMM!!!

I found my frosting a little on the runny side so I put it in the fridge to thicken up a bit.

Now for the conversation hearts I baked up some pound cake. If you have time I would suggest doing this the day before.

yes I got a little lazy and used a box mix.

It reminded me of corn bread but without the corn ;)

After the cake has had time to cool cut out the heart shapes with a cookie cutter

Now you can either use store bought or homemade vanilla frosting. I used homemade and split it between 4 microwave safe bowls. Color the frosting I used pink, purple, and yellow. The red is for the lettering and will not be melted down.

Choose one bowl and microwave on defrost for 30seconds. The butter will look a little separated but stirring it a little will mix it back together. Don't over microwave it either or the top layer of the pound cake will come off while your dipping it. Be prepared for a mess but the outcome is worth it!!

Make sure to setup a wire rack over a cookie sheet.

After all the hearts have been dipped place in the fridge until the frosting has hardened  up. Once the frosting has hardened take the red frosting and pipe on the writing.

Now pull out the chocolate frosting and put a thick layer on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Now add the hearts to the top.

Now hand them out to your favorite valentine.

With the extras I topped them with hearts and chocolate sprinkles.

Enjoy!!
xoxo

Up Next...
Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

#30 Pink Velvet Raspberry Cupcakes

Now that's Christmas is over its time to move away from the red and green! Plus I didn't have any red food coloring so that's how I ended up with pink. When I was picturing these in my head I was thinking of a soft pink/rose color, but I ended up with a mauve-not quite pink but definitely not red. It's like a little hint of Valentine's Day.

This is our first Wednesday off together. I started working 4 tens. Nothing like making cupcakes to bring you closer together!!

Pink Velvet Cupcakes
If your not feeling the pink any other color should work too. I was thinking purple or blue would look cool.

The Goods
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp
2 eggs room temp
1 cup buttermilk room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
1teaspoon white vinegar
2oz liquid food coloring (I used about 1/2 tablespoon of the gel type. You could use less or more depends on the color you want to achieve.)

The How To
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix together food coloring and cocoa powder. If your using the liquid type mix until lumps are gone- it should resemble a thin paste.

Looks slightly pink right? Well it did in person

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3mins.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and cocoa paste.

Giving you a little egg action here

I bet you didn't think it would be that pink.

Add one third of the flour mixture to the pink mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of the flour mixture, then the other half of the buttermilk. Mix in the last of the flour mixture and beat until well combined.



Looks a little lighter than the picture above.



In another small bowl, mix the vinegar and baking soda. It's going to look a little like a science project because when you add the baking soda to the vinegar it fizzes up so don't use a shallow bowl.

Not sure what's the point of the vinegar and baking soda. Didn't seem like it did anything special.

Add the vinegar mixture to the batter and stir well to combine. Fill cupcakes tins about 3/4 full.

Bake for 18-20mins, rotating halfway through.

Pink... Red.. Who cares!!!

Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10mins then remove and allow to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Raspberry Filling
If you have time, make this the night before so the filling has time to setup and get firm. If your lazy just use some jam or preserves. I noticed this recipe didn't quite fill 24 cupcakes so you might want to double it.

The Goods
2 10oz bag frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

These are some of the best frozen raspberries I've ever had. They taste like they were freshly picked. Definitely worth the extra money!

The How To
Using the food processor, puree the thawed raspberries.

Press the puree through a fine strainer to remove the seeds.

At this point you might be thinking that you should have went with  the jam..

Pour the puree into a medium saucepan and combine with the sugar and cornstarch.

Bring to a boil and stir until thickened. Let cool completely. I noticed with mine that it didn't get as thick as I had wanted so I reboiled it with some flavorless gelatin and let it re-cool that it did firm up some.

Once the filling is cooled go ahead and fill the cupcakes up.

A little messy but totally worth it.

Now for the best part...

White Chocolate Buttercream
There is no going wrong with this stuff! Oh this is another recipe you might want to double. For me I had enough to do a dozen.

The Goods
1 cup butter room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar
6oz white chocolate melted & cooled
3-5 tablespoons whipping cream

The How To
Melt the chocolate in either the microwave or double boiler style. Let cool completely.

I choose to melt it with a double boiler

While that is cooling beat the butter and sugar at low speed until fluffy.

Add melted/cooled chocolate and 3 tablespoons of whipping cream. Depending on how thick you want your frosting, you might add more whipping cream. I found 3 tablespoons was perfect. Beat on high for 3-4mins.

Look at the shinny finish, this is probley one of the prettiest butter creams I've made.

Now time to frost them up!

Had some left over melting chocolate so I made up some hearts too.



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Black Forest Cupcakes