Oh My Ganache Cupcakes!
THIS RECIPE WAS A FINALIST IN THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING CONTEST IN ATLANTA.
I decided to do some baking and enter the Great American Baking Contest in Atlanta. This event and bake sale help to support efforts by Share Our Strength to end childhood hunger in America. This year marks the 3rd anniversary of the bake sale in Atlanta. The actual event is on Thursday, March 11th at Cooks Warehouse in Midtown Atlanta.
My hubby and I will attend so that we can get to taste all the goodies, support the effort and see who wins the best dessert in all the categories (professional, amateur (that would be me 🙂 ) and child baker.
I had been thinking about trying to create a cupcake that combined all my favorite things – dark chocolate, raspberries, mascarpone cheese and a little booze! Well, this is the winner!
I have baked a dark chocolate cupcake, filled it with a raspberry filling, glazed it with a dark chocolate ganache flavored with Chambord and topped it off with a decorative touch of mascarpone icing! There is nothing better than getting a bite of the cupcake with all the chocolate, raspberries and ever so slightly sweetened cheese. Oh, yum!
There are so many recipes for chocolate cupcakes out there. I know one of the favorites is Martha Stewarts’s One Bowl recipe. I say use whichever you prefer and then add the other goodies. I start with a recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated. I add a little espresso powder to really bring out the flavor of the 2 types of chocolate. I prefer this one since it only makes 12 cupcakes and I know I certainly do not need to have more than that number in my home!
Be sure to check these cupcakes for doneness at about 15 minutes. You want to underbake them just a bit!
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Oh My Ganache!
Makes 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cupcakes
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (1 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
3/4 cup sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup sour cream (4 ounces)
Raspberry Filling
1 10 oz. package frozen raspberries with sugar
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Chambord Ganache
3/8 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoon Chambord
Mascarpone Frosting
4 ounces mascarpone cheese
3/8 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/2 cup whipped heavy cream
Directions:
For cupcakes:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.
2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add espresso powder, sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick. DO NOT overbeat the batter.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out almost clean, 15 to 18 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.
For filling:
Thaw raspberries and drain. You should have almost 3/4 cup liquid/juice. Put liquid in a small saucepan and combine with sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Cook stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil and is very thick. Let cool. Stir in raspberries without the extra juice that drains further (you want the filling to be thick). Fill cupcakes by removing a small piece in the middle of the cupcake, fill hole with about 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling. Trim the piece you have cut out and place back over the filling in the cupcake. You can also pipe filling into the cupcake, however, this is pretty thick, so it is more difficult.
For ganache:
Bring cream and butter just to a boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until glossy and smooth. Add Chambord. Let mixture sit 5 minutes to set before frosting cupcakes.
For frosting:
Beat together mascarpone cheese and sugar until smooth. Gently fold in whipped cream until combined. Place in a decorating bag and decorate tops of cupcakes as desired.
Chocolate & raspberries, two of my favorite ingredients, Yum!
All I now wonder is why you didn’t participate it in STIR IT 28!! this looks amazing, Gwen! What!? Oh my goodness–and I have an utter weakness for ganache. Glad to have met you and will now follow your blog! I finally did my event recap on the blog! Check it out when you have a chance.
B-
Bren, thanks for the comment. It was so nice to meet you too! Stir It 28 was a great event and I met lots of terrific Atlanta food and wine people. I promise next time to bring these cupcakes! They were still in taste test mode this week! Looking forward to checking out your post! Ganache rules (especially with Chambord)! 😉
oh my ganache…love the pun…so bad it’s good! 🙂
I know…I just couldn’t help myself! : )
Gorgeous!!!! Im loving the depth of flavour contrast in these beauties!
Gosh, these look SO good! Great idea!!
Aren’t frozen raspberries great! They are my favorite fruit. Have you ever tried putting frozen raspberries in warm homemade apple sauce? YUM!
Yum! These look absolutely divine!!
That first photo has me panting *gasp* Your recipe makes brilliant use of frozen raspberries. LOVE it!
Oh yes indeed, that is a winner! Well done.
Hi all,
Thanks for the comments! This truly is a delicious combination. It is all of my favorites in just a few bites!
Saw these delicious treats on Dessert Stalking and had to click through to see what was behind the madness! I love a great cupcake, but when you add the raspberries, ganache and mascarpone, these cupcakes really raise the bar of what a cupcake should be! I have a habit of filling my chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla creme filling, topping with ganache and decorating with a swirl of buttercream (ala Hostess). I have never tried mascarpone, but now that I know how to make it (thanks, Daring Bakers) I’ll have to add it to my “to-do” list. Thanks for the inspiration. (By the way, any chance you’ll bring some of these to Camp Blogaway? 😀 Look forward to meeting you there!)
Best,
Casey
Casey,
Thanks for the nice comment! I wish I could bring a batch of these with me, but security would probably toss me off the plane and eat the cupcakes! 😉 I look forward to meeting you at Camp Blogaway too! It should be a great time and very helpful to a newbie like me. See you in May!
These little treats are beautiful. I can just imagine how delectible that raspberry filling would be had I come across it as a surprise! GREG
Thank you! Raspberry surprises are good things!
great cakes!
Thanks! It was a big weekend! It would be fun to have this all happen all over again! The cake picture was everywhere! Big days for my blog. I guess I am easily amused…..;)
These look so yummy! I actually made some cookies a while ago that are also full of chocolate, Chambord and mascarpone. They are definitely not as involved as yours, but they are extremely delicious. I blogged about them here: http://jerseycook.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/chocolate-thumbprint-cookies-with-chambord-mascarpone-filling-recipe/
I would love to make your cupcakes, but I am wondering how long a batch takes you to make?
Hi Jerseycook!
Thanks for the comment. I took a look at your cookies. They look awesome!
I estimated on Tasty Kitchen (where I posted the recipe too), that the prep time is about 40 minutes. I made the raspberry filling and let it cool. Then I baked the cupcakes, cooled them, made the frosting, chilled it and saved the ganache for last. The tedious part is cutting out the holes and stuffing the cupcakes themselves!
I hope you will take time to make them some day. They are worth the effort! Be sure to underbake the cupcakes a bit so they are really moist!
Haha – “Oh My Ganache!” made me laugh out loud. Isn’t it amazing more people don’t know what ganache is??? I covered a wedding cake with it and honey, let me tell you, I was the most popular person around for weeks.
I made the cake before I started blogging, but you can see a picture of it here in my first blog post:
http://butteryum.blogspot.com/2009/02/here-are-few-treat-for-eye-to-enjoy.html
Take care,
ButterYum
Thanks! I am glad you liked the pun. Ganache is awesome, especially with a little Chambord! 😉 By the way, your wedding cakes are beautiful!
The raspberry filling seems to be in a heart shape when cut … is this by design or accident? And if by design, how do I do that??
Hi Nastasha,
The filling just appears to be in a heart shape and it was completely be accident. You could try to cut out a small heart shape from the cupcake to place the filling in, but I just made a round hole to do it. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Gwen
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