Chocolate Cupcakes with White Truffle Frosting

  We had some old friends get together, everyone was supposed to bring an item for us to eat. Being my speciality I decided that I would make cupcakes! I choose this flavor because one of the children that was coming is allergic to some things and this I knew would be fine.

I am sorry that the picture is sideways, I can't get it to turn. :)  I got this recipe from my new book The Big Book of Cupcakes by Betty Crocker. I am in love with this book, it has everything I could possibly think of!! These cupcakes also make up for my messed up Valentine's Day cupcakes.

I made this cupcake homemade for the first time. I was so proud when they came out nice. Of course, they didn't come perfect. the tops were not smooth, I don't know why... But if they tasted devine then that's okay!

 

As you can see the tops are cracked. Thats okay though! Here is the recipes for the frosting and cupcakes!

Cupcakes:

2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup hot water

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

3/4 shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1.  Heat oven to 350*. Place baking cups in cupcake pan.

2.  In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder; set aside. In small bowl, mix hot water and cocoa until dissolved; set aside.

3.  In large bowl beat shortening with mixer on medium for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl every once in a while. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Beat in vanilla. On low speed add flour mixture( a little at a time). Then add cocoa mixture slowly, beat a little while longer so it is well blended.

4.  Divide the batter into the pan, fill each about 2/3 full.

5.  Put in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean. Frost with desire! ( I used #21)

Frosting:

1 cup white chocolate baking chips

1 container of ready to spread vanilla frosting

1.  In a microwavable bowl put in the chips. Microwave for about 30 seconds or until well melted. Then mix into your frosting. (You may have to microwave the mixture for 20 seconds, also make sure it doesn't get hard before you are finished so frost immediately!)

   Happy baking!!!

                                                                                     Madi-Cakes  

Valentine's Day Strawberry Cupcakes

    Today, I will show some Valentine's Day cupcakes. These are the cupcakes that I messed up on but were still very good! This was my first time making strawberry cupcakes from scratch, and when I printed the recipe I didn't double space it. Although I looked over the recipe many times before I still didn't see the right amount I needed.

    I got the strawberry cupcake recipe from tideandthyme.com and the ganache from allrecipes.com. The batter for the cupcakes will be very thick, or mine was at least, and since i was going to dip them in the ganache I decided to fill them more than half so they will rise high. The mistake I made was not putting in enough flour, but they came out wet and still tasted fine.

       As you can see in the second picture they have fallen in, but that what happens when you mess up.. For the chocolate hearts, I went to Michael's and got the chocolate wafer candies. if you melt these for about a minute then put them in a Ziploc bag, and cut a very small hole in the end like a decorating bag, you can make shapes of any kind. In this case I made hearts. Put them on wax paper and in the fridge to harden.

          
      For the cupcakes:



-  1 cup butter

-  2  1/2 cups sugar

-  3 eggs

-  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-  1 teaspoon red food coloring
-  1 & 1/4 cups pureed strawberries
-  3 cups cake flour, sifted
-  1 teaspoon baking powder
-  1 teaspoon baking soda
-  pinch Salt
-  1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners and set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar for 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, food coloring and strawberries, beat for another 3 minutes.
Sift dry ingredients and add to butter/egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
Fill cupcake tins 2/3 of the way up. Bake for 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Ganache:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 
  
• In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat. Remove from the heat. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally.
• 
  
• For a pourable ganache, cool until mixture reaches 85 degrees F-90 degrees F and is slightly thickened, about 40 minutes. Pour over cake, allowing some to flow down the edges to completely coat. Spread ganache with a spatula if necessary to evenly coat, working quickly before it thickens. Chill until set.
• 
  
• For spreadable ganache, chill until mixture reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread over cake. Chill until set.

* for the Ganache I would recommend not using semi-sweet, I would use regular chocolate. This makes it more tasty.