CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

I have a confession to make. I don't actually like chocolate cake. I know, I know, I feel like I'm sinning or something. I absolutely looove chocolate. The darker the better. Chocolate ice cream? Give me all of it. But chocolate cake is not my favorite. I think it might have to do with the fact that all of the chocolate cakes I had when I was younger were box mix cakes, covered with chocolate frosting from a tub. I can feel the fuzzy sweaters on my teeth just thinking about it.

This chocolate cake has turned me though! My finger "accidentally" slipped into the batter while I was making it and the only logical way to clean it was to lick it off, and O. M. G. I was seriously tempted to just clean out the whole bowl and not even make the cupcakes... It's that good! Unfortunately that didn't really seem like the smartest idea, so I did go ahead and make the cupcakes. (Although a teeny tiny, eggless batch of chocolate cake batter? Hmmm, might just have to be something I try out some day when I'm home alone and I get a craving for chocolate cake batter. Does that ever happen to any one else? No? Just me? Dang it.)

And this frosting is amazing. I only ever use meringue based buttercream frostings, usually Swiss, but this time I tried an Italian meringue buttercream and I think it is my new favorite. I kinda want to try and make all the buttercream recipes there are and determine my absolute favorite, just so I know, you know? Maybe it's something that you would like to know to?

Anyway. Try this cake recipe. It's good. You'll like it. It's a little more complicated than a normal cake recipe. (You know, cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, then add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in steps, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.) It's not as straight-forward, but if you pay attention to the recipe, you should do just fine.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream, makes 24 standard size cupcakes
Recipe lightly adapted from Miette cookbook

For the cake:
1 1/2 cup All-Purpose flour
1 1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 oz dark chocolate of your liking (65-70%), coarsely chopped
1 cup boiling water
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cup (15 oz) sugar
cupcake liners

The first thing I do when I know I'm making a cake or frosting is to set out the eggs and butter I will be using as soon as I get up in the morning. It allows the eggs to do their thing while I do my thing, and it's one less thing I have to remember to do. It's a win-win!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your cupcake pans with the liners.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl by pouring the boiling water over it, whisking until the chocolate is melted. Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes. To speed up this process you can place the bowl in the refrigerator.

In a separate bowl or large measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, which the eggs on high speed until foamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and slowly pour in the oil, whisking until combined, about 30 seconds. Raise the speed to medium and whisk until fully incorporated, about another 30 seconds.

Reduce the speed to low and slowly pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Slowly pour in the buttermilk and vanilla mixture. Add the sugar and whisk until the batter is smooth and liquid. Stop the mixer at this point.

Remove the bowl and add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. I did this by hand, using a whisk, folding the dry ingredients into the wet. Mix only until just incorporated, the mixture will look lumpy still.

Pour the batter through a mesh sieve  into a large bowl to remove the lumps. Use a spatula to press against the solids to push as much batter through as possible. You should be able to push everything through, but if you have any lumps left over, just discard them, they may be bits of salt or baking soda that didn't get incorporated all the way and you don't want anyone to end up biting down on that.

Divide the batter between the cupcake liners, filling each one two-thirds full with batter. Bake until the tops spring back and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool completely in the pan.

For the frosting:
2 cups (14 oz) sugar
1/3 cup water
5 large egg whites, room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 cups (1 1/2 pounds) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and the water. Using a candy or deep frying thermometer, cook the mixture until it reaches 248 degrees F. This took me about 20 minutes, but you need to keep an eye on it. The mixture reached 228 degrees rather quickly, but the last 20 degrees went by very slowly, but trust me, you need to keep an eye on this.

As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 248 degrees F, immediately pour it into a heat-proof measurer. Pour a few tablespoons into the whites, away from the whisk, so the hot syrup doesn't splash, and whisk on medium speed for a few seconds. The syrup is very hot, so be careful. Pour the syrup in a very thin, steady stream aiming for the side of the bowl towards the bottom, but not the whisk as it will whip it back up at you. When all of the syrup has been added raise the speed to high and continue to whisk until the mixture become a meringue with a stiff peak. You can check the stiffness by stopping the mixer, taking both the bowl and the whisk off and pulling the whisk straight out of the meringue. If the meringue on the end of the whisk hold its shape in a "peak" when flipped upside down with the peak pointed towards the ceiling, you know your meringue is done.

Put the bowl back on the mixer and set the speed to medium. With the mixer running, drop in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting until each is incorporated before adding another. The mixture may deflate and begin to look curdled, but that is ok. Keep adding the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time until it is fully incorporated. The frosting should be smooth and thick. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

If the frosting still looks curdled after the butter is all added, raise the speed to high and beat the frosting until it comes back together. Do not fret, because it will come back together, I promise. You could also hold a torch to the bottom of the bowl to warm it up a little, but I've never tried this method so I don't know how well it works.

Put the buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe beautiful mounds of frosting on each cupcake. You're a baker!

Use the buttercream immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 1 week. Or freeze for up to 2 months. To use a chilled buttercream, remove from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about 1 hour.

If you love chocolate cupcakes, try these. If you don't love chocolate cupcakes (like me!) you too should try these. They may convert you!

xo Morgan