Easy Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Ganache

摩卡濃情黑巧小蛋糕

When it comes to baking chocolate desserts, one of the keys is to use a good 
quality baking chocolate or cocoa. I always try to use dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate if possible. The result is rich and chocolaty and is perfect for chocolate lovers (like my hubby). It also makes the dessert tastes less sweet, as the cocoa content goes higher in the chocolate.

You might ask how is it so easy to make this? It looks so complicated! Well, that's the impression you want to give others! For this cupcake, you just need to mix all the ingredients together. If you don't have an electric mixer, you can just do it by hand with a large whisk. As for the decoration, which is the scariest part for most people (including myself), just follow my instructions, and you don't need any special tool or piping bag. I just tried it with a zip-lock bag and it worked fine. The only thing is you have to really make sure you don't cut the hole too big. 

Chinese Valentine's Day (七夕情人節)

Before I decided to post this, I got a special request a few days ago from my little sis in Taiwan. Apparently August 23rd is Chinese Valentine's Day! (Actually, it's July 7th on the Chinese lunar calendar.) I've been living outside of Taiwan for so long that not only I did not know when the holiday is, but I don't have much of a clue about it either! Yes, shame on me! I guess out of "guilt", I'd better post the two recipes she requested for this special holiday.

She told me that she wanted to make 2 things for her special "other half": One is a chocolate dessert so she can write her messages to him; the other one is the famous Chinese dish, Kung Pao Tofu (宮保豆腐). Why Kung Pao tofu, and not chicken? Well, her beloved one does not like eating meat, she explained.

As a Taiwanese person raised on traditional Taiwanese food, I never had this dish while I was growing up, until I went to NY and saw it in all the Chinese restaurants. It's kind of a standard, must-have dish in Chinese restaurants for Westerners (like her "other half"). It is typically quite a flavorful dish, with marinated chicken and lots of chilis, but when you think of tofu, it's rather bland and boring, so to make it as good as the traditional chicken dish is a challenge! I tried my best to fulfill my little sis' wish, so if you're looking for a healthy alternative for this dish, hopefully you'll take a peek at my vegetarian version and maybe even try it.