Chocolate cupcakes with cherry buttercream
4 Feb
Rich Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: 14 cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup (3.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup (5.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream
Cherry Buttercream Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/3 cup cherry fruit butter
Directions
Adjust oven rack to the center and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a double boiler, or use a heatproof bowl over saucepan with simmering water.
Heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
Add about 1/3 of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.
Add sour cream, whisk until combined then add the remaining flour. And yes, whisk until just combined. This will produce a MASSIVELY thick batter, but don’t be afraid of it.
Divide the batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
Cool cupcakes in pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on the rack for another 30 minutes before frosting.
For the buttercream, first beat 2 sticks of room-temperature butter until soft. Slowly add 3 cups of powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Then add the cherry fruit butter.
(Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)
This was a very different recipe style for me … double boilers, sour cream … I didn’t even use my KitchenAid mixer for the cupcakes. Instead, I set it to beating the ever-loving crap out of the butter, which, with the new beater blade, was an easy accomplishment.
I’m excited to see what the taste testers think of the cupcakes. I have yet to try one of the cakes, but I tasted the buttercream and it’s rather good. Makes me wish I had more than 1/4 cup worth of leftover fruit butter because it could easily have a few additional tablespoons added to ratchet up the cherry goodness.
I love dark chocolate and coffee. I've been known to gnaw on tree bark. If it's bitter, I like it. The first flavor that hits you with these is that deep, rich flavor of real chocolate, as opposed to the artificially sweet chocolate you'd get in most candies or pastries.
The cupcakes are a little more granular than the limoncello ones, but I think that's a normal side-effect of working with chocolate. The sour cream definitely helped with their consistency, helping them to retain their shape while also making them dense and filling.
As much as I liked the cupcakes, I think the cherry buttercream is the best part. Slightly tart, slightly sour and very sweet, it also tastes like real cherries as opposed to the 'Tussin-flavor you usually get in cherry icing.
This is already longer than anything I've written for my actual job, so: these cupcakes are win.
The way these look I would still eat them even after they'd been sent to me regular ground mail and it took 5 days to get here…
The 2nd installment of cupcake Friday may actually be better than the 1st. As much as I loved the lemony delight of last week's cupcakes, the chocolate/cherry butter cream combo is music to my taste buds. I was a teensy bit skeptical about the how the flavors would work together, but they are magical. The cake itself is nice and moist, and the icing (always my personal favorite part of a cupcake) is phenomenal. If I had to give it a letter grade it would certainly be an A. A tip of the cap to the chef is in order.
I'll second Kyle on his comments about the granularity of these cupcakes, and what really made these stand out is the chocolate and the icing were not too sweet. That's a big downfall of many a baker, so, great job!
I did restrain myself from eating the tiny crumbs .. for now.
Graham—I will totally bake cupcakes for PAXEast.
The highlight on these was definitely the frosting. I didn't expect the cherries to pop so well!
The cake part was definitely a step back compared to the lemon cupcakes, though. Whereas the lemons' cake was dense, moist, and just a LITTLE bit spongey, these were dry and not nearly flavorful enough.
But the frosting? AWESOME.
Full disclosure: I am the husband, and it is my duty to be cruel.
Tester Mike reporting.
BEST THING: The frosting. Great overall, and like Kyle said, the real cherries in the frosting were awesome. Eating the little bits of cherry were my favorite parts. Could there have been more in the frosting? Is that getting too crazy?
A GOOD THING: I liked the chocolate cake. It tasted good, and had a nice dark chocolate aftertaste that lasted after you were done eating.
CAKE ISSUES: As others have said, the cake was a a little dryer and crumblier. It still tasted awesome, but it didn't have the ridiculously awesome moistness of the lemon cupcakes.
REACHING FOR THE STARS/DEATH: Is there a way to bring more of that cherry goodness to these cupcakes, or would that be too bold a move?
Mike, if I had ANY more cherry butter in the fridge, it would have been put into that frosting. Alas, I only had less than 1/2 a jar left. Next time, we're going to pack the cherry flavor in until someone begins crying.
I promise.
I’m not big on chocolate cake or cup cakes but the frosting made it work for me.
Where do you get Cherry butter?
My wife boiled down some frozen cherries in a pinch.
Hey RES,
The cherry butter came from a friend who baked scones for my birthday party. I’m sure you could find it at a Whole Foods or Trader Joes. Also, if your wife gets adventurous, she could make her own in a crockpot. It’s pretty easy.
Glad you liked the cupcakes!
I knew the dark chocolate/cherry marriage would be a good one. I must confess that I am not a big fan of dark chocolate, but the cake portion was just rich enough (without being too overpowering) for me to enjoy. As some have mentioned, this cupcake was a little dry and crumbly in comparison to the limoncello cupcake (but in all fairness, the limoncello cupcakes were perfection and will be tough to compete against). The frosting is a major deal breaker for me, overall, and Melissa definitely seems to have mastered this to my delight. Kyle’s assessment of the cherry buttercream was pretty spot on, so I will leave it at that. Again, great job! My taste buds thank you.