Saturday, January 03, 2009

Espresso Cupcakes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I'm back from my awesome trip to Turkey and London! Though it has been an exhausting 12-day trip, JLo and I have fell absolutely in love with Turkey and we're definitely going back again someday. I can't believe such a beautiful country is still under the tourist radar. If it wasn't for JLo, i would have never thought to go there. Our original plan was to visit Greece; Turkey would be a bonus. But after much research, we came to an unanimous decision that Turkey deserved our full attention... and we were right. Aiyaaaaa... I don't want to go into detail about the trip or else I'm gonna start feeling sorry for myself; sitting here in my room, keeping warm and having no interest in the -8 degrees Celsius Poznanian world outside. Sigh, I wanna go backkkkkkkkk!!! The only time i left this building was probably on new years eve, when i went grocery shopping for the new years eve dinner we were going to have at Jack's apartment. It was a last minute idea, really, so this wasn't going to be another 5 dish Christmas dinner. I made a Caesar salad, lasagna (updated later), and brought over some Chinese dumplings (updated later) JLo and I made the day before. No celebration is complete without a dessert so I wanted to make something simple yet pleasing to the eyes. And there's nothing prettier / easier to make than... CUPCAKES!! Yup, i made Espresso Cupcakes ( JLo only likes coffee desserts) with a mascarpone filling and chocolate ganache top. I wanted to make them with a chocolate icing swirl but I don't think JLo's health savvy friends would be too happy about that... 討厭, 下次吧... So anyways, here's the 1st of many cupcake recipes to come, enjoy!

Espresso Cupcakes
from betty crocker & cupcakeproject
makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:
  • CUPCAKES:
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder (more if using regular coffee)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • FILLING:
  • 1/2 container (4 oz, 125 g) of mascarpone cheese
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee powder (more if using regular coffee)
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • CHOCOLATE GANACHE
  • 100 g (3.5 oz) of dark chocolate broken into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
  3. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, and instant espresso into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
  4. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
  5. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine.
  6. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine.
  7. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
  8. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 1/2 full.
  9. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
  10. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes [picture 1].

  11. In medium bowl, beat mascarpone cheese, milk, 2 teaspoons espresso powder and the powdered sugar on medium speed until smooth [picture 2].
  12. Spoon mixture into decorating bag fitted with 1/4-inch writing tip.
  13. To fill each cupcake, insert tip of bag into center of cooled cupcake; gently squeeze bag until cupcake expands slightly but does not burst (each cupcake should be filled with about 1 tablespoon filling) [picture 3].

  14. Heat the cream in a double boiler until it just starts to boil [picture 4].
  15. Pour in the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted and integrated with the cream [picture 5, 6].
  16. While it is still warm, spread a thin layer of it over the cupcakes. It will harden when it cools.
  17. Decorate with white chocolate shavings.

Espresso Cupcakes

3 comments:

  1. when are u gonna to make it again!!!? yummmm~~~:P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm... maybe your birthday? hahaha it's coming soooon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, I was wondering, what kind of flour should I use for these cupcakes? All-purpose, self-rising, rice flour... ? ^///^ Thanks.

    ReplyDelete