Tuesday 19 February 2013
(not quite) black forest cupcakes
For my Valentine's Day baking project I was hoping to do something a little edgier than the usual trite heart-shaped confections. Looked to the supermarket for some inspiration and was delighted to find cherries at the offer rack. [Truth be told, I spend more time at the supermarket than any other retail outlet. Which is a bit sad for a woman who is not yet married with children.] I love my stone fruits and cherries are tied for first place favourite with peaches. Cherries in their natural form, that is. I cannot stand maraschino cherries. Or indeed, any type of "cherry"-flavoured foods, which I automatically associate with cough syrup.
But I digress.
The original intention was to do a Black Forest cupcake inspired by the excellent BFG (Black Forest Gateaux) we had at the Fat Duck which I still dream about from time to time. Sadly, I didn't manage to find kirsch so I substituted it with rum, which apparently is commonly used in the Austrian version. Brandy might have been a better alternative but I was rather reluctant to use the Cognac at home.
I also switched the whipped cream for a cherry-rum-infused cream cheese frosting as the cherries I used were rather sweet and I wanted something tart to complement the richness of the chocolate cake.
So yes. There you have it! My Valentine's Day project which my valentine was rather pleased with.
(Not quite) Black Forest Cupcakes (makes ~24 cupcakes)
A. Cherry Filling
Ingredients
12 cherries, pitted and halved
1 cup rum (or just enough to soak the halved cherries in)
Directions
- Place the cherries in a bowl and pour in the rum, making sure that the cherries are immersed.
- Leave to soak for at least 3h.
B. Chocolate Cupcake
Ingredients
1¾ cup plain flour
1½ cup caster sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup strong black coffee (steaming hot)
Directions
- Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking power and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Add in eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and coffee.
- Mix well using paddle attachment.
- Preheat oven to 175°C.
- Fill cupcake liners with batter until ¾ full.
- Bake for ~18min or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.
- Leave to cool on wire rack
- When cool, use a sharp knife to core out centres of all the cupcakes. Do not discard the 'lid'.
- Stuff in a rum-soaked cherry half and ¼ tsp of cherry-rum (from A.) into each cupcake and replace cored out cupcake lid
C. Cherry-Rum-Infused Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
240g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
120g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
~1 cup confectioner's sugar (This is arbitrary. You can adjust the amount according to your preference for frosting sweetness.)
2 tbsp of cherry-rum (from A.)
Directions
- Mix cream cheese and butter together until well-combined.
- Add in sugar ¼ cup at a time until desired sweetness level is achieved
- Add in cherry rum and continue mixing until fully incorporated.
- Frost as desired!
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