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Creme Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

creme filled chocolate cupcakes

It is Choclette’s We Should Cocoa time again, hosted this May by the lovely Karen of Lavender and Lovage! I totally know Karen. Ok, not really, but I do feel like I do, as I “met” her on Recipezaar (ah, memories!) years ago and have followed her cooking adventures online ever since. (Her blog also convinced me to try the 5:2 diet, which is the only bloody diet I have ever been able to stick to with any consistency. Yay! But no more talk of diets, for it is time to talk sweet sugar: ) The theme for this month’s challenge is a classic: vanilla. Chocolate & vanilla. It’s a wonderful combo that tastes good, smells good, and looks good.


For my chocolate and vanilla combo recipe, I decided to fill dark chocolate cupcakes with a creamy, fluffy filling. I used vanilla paste in lieu of extract. The exotic reason for this was that I was out of extract but had paste. Ta-dah! The paste I use is equal in strength to extract (apparently they can vary), so you can substitute vanilla extract in equal measure.


Also, I near-completely failed at the ganache. I forgot to cover the bowl so most of the heat evaporated before all the chocolate had melted. I tried to salvage it the best I could (I had used the last of my chocolate and cream), but the end result was a little lumpy, as you can see from the photo (still delicious, though!). Thou shalt not make my mistake, but produce beautifully smooth and satiny ganache instead, so thou shalt!


This recipe makes 6 cupcakes – as always, it’s a small batch as there’s only TLSO and me, and we’re trying to stay human-shaped! The recipe should, however, double without problems to make 12 cupcakes.


Creme Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

 

Cupcakes:

50 g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

100 ml hot, brewed coffee

100 ml light brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste

100 ml cake flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

 

Filling:

25 g butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

125 ml marshmallow fluff

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste

pinch of salt

 

Chocolate ganache:

50 g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

50 ml heavy cream

 

white icing or white chocolate for decorating

 

To make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 175 C. Line six cups of a 12-cup muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine cake flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Place chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a bowl; pour the hot coffee over them. Cover the bowl and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add light brown sugar, oil, egg, vinegar, and vanilla paste to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix until smooth.

Divide the batter between the lined cups. Bake in the preheated oven until just done, about 15 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool completely.

To make filling: Using a hand-held mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar for a few minutes to thoroughly combined. Add marshmallow fluff, cream, vanilla paste, and salt, and continue beating for several minutes until smooth. (I find it takes surprisingly long for the graininess of the powdered sugar to dissolve so that you get a smooth mouth-feel!)

Cut the centres out of the cupcakes (about 2/3 of the way down) using a cupcake corer, or any instrument that you can think of that makes a hole about 2 cm across.

Make a cup of tea and eat the cupcake cores.

Pipe the filling into the holes of each cupcake – you can simply use two teaspoons too. Scrape off overspills so the tops remain smooth.

To make ganache: Place chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Gently heat the cream in a small saucepan over low medium heat. As soon as the cream starts to boil, pour it over the chocolate, cover the bowl, and let sit for a few minutes. Whisk until smooth, and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.

Drizzle or spread the ganache on top of each cupcake – dipping each cupcake top into the ganache will, of course, give the neatest result, but will be challenging as there’s not a whole lot of ganache in which to dip! As long as you manage to transfer the ganache onto the cupcake tops, you’re golden.

Transfer the cupcakes into the fridge to set the ganache.

Once the ganache has set, decorate with a simple white icing (100 ml powdered sugar + 1 tablespoon water) or melted white chocolate.

 

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Lemon Curd Bakewell Cake

I seem to have an endless supply of ground almonds in my cupboard – I feel like I search for recipes using ground almonds at least every other month because a bag of the stuff is nearing its best-by date. (Who, then, keeps buying more ground almonds? It’s a mystery, but all clues do point to me. There could be an “if I have to bake in order to use up something that I’d otherwise have to bin, then taking time off article writing to bake is ok” factor to it, but I confess nothing.)

 

I was very happy to discover the bakewell cake! It’s moist and luscious and rich and wonderful, easy to make, and uses almost a bag and a half of the ever-present ground almond! I also had about half a jar of lemon curd left over from my Easter baking extravaganza, and I figured almonds and lemons should get along swimmingly. They did. V. good.

 

Lemon Curd Bakewell Cake

 

140 g butter, softened
140 g light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
140 g ground almonds
140 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt


150 ml lemon curd


2 tablespoons almond flakes


powdered sugar


 

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line and butter a 15 cm x 20 cm cake tin (or alternatively, a round 20 cm cake tin). A loose-bottomed tin is easiest as this is not a cake you turn over, but I did manage to lift the cake using my carefully applied parchment paper lining!

In a bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and the extracts, mix well.

Combine ground almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix well.

Spread half of the batter in the tin and smooth the top. Spread the lemon curd over the batter, and then top the curd with the remaining batter. Scatter with almond flakes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until golden and done.

Allow to cool in the tin. Remove from the tin, dust with powdered sugar, and serve.

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