In fact, it was my adoration of baked goods that made me stumble over the world of blogging in the first place. I can safely say that the ratio of blogs I follow is currently 80% baking blogs and 20% crafts. This is slowly evolving as I get more involved in the online aspect of my beading, but I love being inspired to go off and bake treats for my friends and family after reading a blog post! So here goes.
It was my friend T's birthday at the end of Sept and we were finally seeing him Saturday night, so he requested black forest cupcakes. I've not made anything remotely black forest-y since home economics in high school, so...10 years ago. That's a scary thought. So I went wandering on the old faithful google and managed to settle on a recipe that looked nice and doable. Check it out below:
Black Forest Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from http://www.fun-tea-party-ideas.com
My notes are in italics throughout the recipe.
For the cupcakes:1 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of cocoa powder (I love the Woolworths home brand cocoa, it's beautiful)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of instant coffee - optional (I omitted, we don't like coffee)
1/2 cup of butter - softened
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 large eggs - at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
For the cherry mixture:
450gms morello cherries in juice
1 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of cornflour
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of rum extract - optional - (I used Morgan's Spiced Rum cos we already had it)
For the cream topping:
2 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of gelatin
2 tablespoons of water
Method:
Cream the butter and the sugar using a hand mixer or a stand mixer,
Add the eggs one at a time, ensuring that the first egg is well beaten in before adding the second. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and coffee - if using.
Add this mixture to the butter mixture as well as the vanilla and buttermilk.
I always find it best to alternate between adding small amounts of dry, wet, dry etc.
Be sure not to overmix.
Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake them at 180 degrees celsius for 20 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely.
While cuppies are in the oven, make the filling;
To make the filling, place the cherries in a saucepan over medium to high heat.
Bring them to a boil. As soon as it boils, add the sugar and mix until melted.
Add the cornstarch, the lemon juice and the rum.
Mix with a whisk until the cherry mixture thickens. Take off the stove and allow to cool before using. (I had so much extra filling that we are still enjoying it on ice cream for dessert)The recipe originally states to use the "cone" method of filling these cuppies, ie: use a knife to remove a section of the cake, put filling in the hole and replace the top of the bit taken out, however I overestimated the rising capabilities of these cakes and obviously didn't fill the liners full enough. To save myself, I piped a ring of the cream on the top and dolloped a cherry and some sauce in the middle. It still looked cute!
To make the topping, start to whip the cream with a hand/stand mixer. Mix the gelatin and the water and add this mixture to the heavy cream.
When the whipped cream starts forming add the sugar very slowly and then the vanilla extract.
The gelatin is used to stabilize your whipped cream. (I don't find that gelatin is necessary if the cream is whipped to stiff peaks and you're serving the cakes straight away, but it is probably more of a necessity in warmer weather)
Put some whipped cream in a piping bag and decorate the cupcakes. (I added lindt hot chocolate flakes as a sprinkle over the top)
2/3 cup of cocoa powder (I love the Woolworths home brand cocoa, it's beautiful)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of instant coffee - optional (I omitted, we don't like coffee)
1/2 cup of butter - softened
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 large eggs - at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
For the cherry mixture:
450gms morello cherries in juice
1 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of cornflour
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of rum extract - optional - (I used Morgan's Spiced Rum cos we already had it)
For the cream topping:
2 cups of heavy cream
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of gelatin
2 tablespoons of water
Method:
Cream the butter and the sugar using a hand mixer or a stand mixer,
Add the eggs one at a time, ensuring that the first egg is well beaten in before adding the second. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and coffee - if using.
Add this mixture to the butter mixture as well as the vanilla and buttermilk.
I always find it best to alternate between adding small amounts of dry, wet, dry etc.
Be sure not to overmix.
Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake them at 180 degrees celsius for 20 minutes.
Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely.
While cuppies are in the oven, make the filling;
To make the filling, place the cherries in a saucepan over medium to high heat.
Bring them to a boil. As soon as it boils, add the sugar and mix until melted.
Add the cornstarch, the lemon juice and the rum.
Mix with a whisk until the cherry mixture thickens. Take off the stove and allow to cool before using. (I had so much extra filling that we are still enjoying it on ice cream for dessert)The recipe originally states to use the "cone" method of filling these cuppies, ie: use a knife to remove a section of the cake, put filling in the hole and replace the top of the bit taken out, however I overestimated the rising capabilities of these cakes and obviously didn't fill the liners full enough. To save myself, I piped a ring of the cream on the top and dolloped a cherry and some sauce in the middle. It still looked cute!
To make the topping, start to whip the cream with a hand/stand mixer. Mix the gelatin and the water and add this mixture to the heavy cream.
When the whipped cream starts forming add the sugar very slowly and then the vanilla extract.
The gelatin is used to stabilize your whipped cream. (I don't find that gelatin is necessary if the cream is whipped to stiff peaks and you're serving the cakes straight away, but it is probably more of a necessity in warmer weather)
Put some whipped cream in a piping bag and decorate the cupcakes. (I added lindt hot chocolate flakes as a sprinkle over the top)
These little cakes seemed to go down very well on Saturday night!
If you try the recipe, please leave a comment to let me know how it went.
1 comment:
yum, looks good. although how can you not like coffee :)
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