It has been quite hot the last few days here and I was not brave enough to stand next to the oven very often, waiting for hot treats to come out. Anyway, no one wanted to eat the chocolate cake I planned doing (because I always love chocolate cake, no matter the temperature). Which was kind of depressing and I had to find a way to make my cake more attractive. The answer was fruit! I threw a good 150 g (5 oz.) of fresh raspberries into a brownie batter and it turned out very good.
I even decided to bring these brownie cupcakes as a gift for a little sweet baby boy.
These animals on top made of icing are marvellous, aren’t they?
Hope to be able to come back soon with a new recipe!
Hey guys. A lot has been going on these days, so it was quite tricky for me to document my baking recently… Hope you don’t mind!
THere has been the day of youth dedication ceremonies in town and I was involved with a baking contingent. As always I asked for wishes – and they said chocolate. Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate frosting. Not too heavy. I was so glad I could try a combination I had been waiting for so long: brownie cupcakes with nougat frosting. And I can tell you, the stuff turned out to be double chocolaty and double tasty.
Both components – the bater and the buttercream – have already introduced on this blog, but I guess it is easier for you to have them both on one page if you want to make these babies.
I advise you to put the cupcakes in the refridgerator for at least 2 hours after piping the frosting on top, because the cream needs some time to set and gets a better consistence after cooled down. And one more thing: plan enoutg time for making these, as the cream and the cakes mustn’t be warm anymore before put together.
Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes about 2 dozen cupcakes)
300 g (3 sticks) butter
450 g (2 2/3 cup) sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs
125 g (1 1/8 cup) dark cocoa powder
180 g (1 1/2 cup) flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
found at my baking addiction
Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Melt the butter in a microwave. Combine with sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla. Sift together all dry ingredients and stir them in. Line a muffin mold with cups and fill with dough up to 2/3. After 35 minutes you will have sweet, flat cupcakes, waiting for decoration. Let them cool completely.
20 g (2/3 oz.) corn starch
2 egg yolks
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
300 ml (1 1/4 cup) milk
250 g (2 sticks) butter
100 g (3 oz.) nougat, melted
50 g (1 2/3 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate, melted
found at Chefkoch.de
Mix 50 ml (5 tbsp.) of the milk with corn starch. Add egg yolks and sugar and mix well. Heat the remaining milk until it starts to boil. Slowly add the egg mixture and stir until the cream thickens.
Cream the butter in a seperate bowl. Incorporate in cream.
Melt nougat and chocolate over a water bath, then incorporate as well.
Chill at least for 1 1/2 hours in the refridgerator. Then pipe on top of the cucakes and decorate. Cool the cupcakes for two more hours.
How can you make a cake look attractive to kids? Sprinkles is the answer. I cannot really explain to myself why so many people love these tiny coloured bits of sugar, but it is a fact. Well, these cuties have been dipped into chocolate and then into a large amount of sprinkles. They are ridiculously easy to make and are done in no time.
I hope my cousins we are visiting today will like them. :)
Sprinkle muffins
(makes about 16)
225 g (1 5/8 cup – 8 oz) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
125 g (1/2 cup – 4 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
175 g (7/8 cup – 6 oz) white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
3 large eggs, room temperature
80 ml (1/3 cup) whipping cream, room temperature
180 g (6 oz.) chocolate
lots of sprinkles
Preheat the oven to 170° C (325° F). Oil a muffin pan or lay out with paper molds.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.Set aside until needed.
In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, until fluffy and white. Add vanilla. Add one egg at a time and whisk in between until fully incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients while you continue to mix. Stir in the whipping cream. Do not overbeat.
Fill the dough into the molds until they are 2/3 full. Bake about 30 minutes or until a toothpicker comes out clean. Let the muffins cool completely.
Melt the chocolate, dip each muffin first in chocolate, then in sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden, then have a bite.
Muffin recipe adapted from Cake Journal