Valentine is right at the corner,you can tell by all the hearts and kitschy gifts shown at the displays at most shops here.It is funny that people spend so much money on a day when all you have to do is a little gesture of love, little words that mean a lot and little things that bring joy to the toughest guy on the block!
So to mark the occasion,I decided to bake chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate chantilly cream frosting and sugar hearts for decorations.After all, what is better than chocolate and hearts to tell your other half what's on your mind? These cupcakes are rich in a dark chocolate flavour and are so moist that you will reach on for the second cupcake before even you finish the first one!
I included a recipe and a tutorial for the sugar hearts at the end of this post.
I hope you'll enjoy making and eating these beautiful creatures as much as I did.
Happy Baking!
Valentine chocolate cupcakes with sugar hearts
Ingredients
makes 12 cupcakes
210 gr flour
200 gr sugar
3/4 cup dark cocoa
2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts baking soda
1/8 ts salt
1 ts rum (you can use vanilla if you wish)
1/3 cup oil (not olive oil)
1 cup milk
Method
Preheat oven to 175°,line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cups.
Sift together dry ingredients: flour,baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and oil until light and fluffy.
Add rum and whisk gently just until incorporated. Pour mixture, using two table spoons ,into cups just until 3/4 of them. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean. let cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate chantilly cream
Ingredients
150 gr fine dark chocolate
250 gr heavy cream
Method
Melt chocolate on a low fire in bain marie.
Let cool for 4-5 minutes.
Whipe the heavy cream then add one third of it to the chocolate and mix quickly. Add the remaining of the whipped cream to the chocolate and fold it gently with a spatula working from the bottom to the top, until well incorporated. If too dry, you can thin the cream with some liquid heavy cream. Frost cupcakes using a tip and a pipping bag or by just using a spoon (like I did)
Sugar Hearts
Ingredients
1 cup custer sugar
Some food coloring
1 egg white
Method
1-Put one cup sugar with a bit of food coloring (use a skewer or the tip of a knife) do not put a lot of food coloring because when you add the egg white color will darken.
2-Add one teaspoon egg white and mix, you should have a wet sand like texture (do not add too much egg white or else sugar will dissolve)
3-put sugar on a flat surafce and smooth it with a rolling pin,then use a heart shaped cookie cutter to form the hearts. Use a large plastic spatula to lift the hearts from the surface into the pan.You can save yourself the trouble of breaking these hearts by just rolling them and cutting them straight onto a baking paper. (Why didn't I think about that before?)If hearts will not hold their shape, add more egg white in small increments and mix thoroughly. If sugar builds up in cutter, rinse with warm water and pat dry before continuing.
4- Place hearts on a lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 180°.
5-Let cool for 10 minutes , then leave sugar hearts in a dry corner to harden over night.
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