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. 

Originally, my little sis asked me to whip up some sort of frosting with butter, sugar and mixed with coloring, but as someone who tries to avoid most of the sugary, buttery, synthetic colored cake decorations, I wasn't crazy about the idea. I piped some of my words with melted white chocolate, and others with icing (as you can see in the photos). I don't recommend white chocolate for beginners since it's not exactly as easy to deal with as chocolate. 

So there, I've tried hard enough to convince you to give the recipe a try. (Did I really?) In case you're still not convinced, you can even skip the icing and put some decorative sprinkles on top instead, or for a healthier choice, you can decorate it with a piece or two of fruit, like strawberries or raspberries. Or you can even buy store-bought cupcakes, and just make the ganache, or both ganache and icing. But you really don't need a whole lot of skill to make this delicious cupcake (one last time!) and you certainly don't need to feel guilty eating them either since it's more "bittersweet" than sweet! 

Easy Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Ganache (Makes 12)

A: 170 g  all-purpose flour (I mixed 130 g all-purpose flour + 40 g whole wheat 
     pastry flour,

     but that's just me!)

     55 g  good quality cocoa power

     1 t  baking soda

     1/2 t  baking powder

     1/4 t  fine sea salt

160 g  light brown sugar

B:  95 g  eggs, lightly beaten

     120 g   milk (I used soy milk and it turns out all right)

     40 g  yogurt

     50 g  grapeseed or coconut oil

     1/2 t  pure vanilla extract

140 g hot water

85 g good quality (70% cocoa) small dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 T  Kahlúa

Mocha ganache (see recipe below)

Icing (see recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line standard muffin tins with parchment paper liners. 

3. Place the light brown sugar in a mixing bowl and sift ingredient mixture A into the same bowl. 

4. Add ingredients B to the bowl. With the paddle attachment, put the mixer on low and slowly pour in the hot water. Mix everything slowly until the mixture is smooth. Using a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate chips.

5. Pour the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6. After removing the cakes from the oven, while they are still warm, poke some holes on top of them with a toothpick, then brush with Kahlúa.

7. Make your chocolate ganache, then use a small offset spatula to rub some ganache on top of each cupcake.

8. When the ganache is slightly set, pour the icing in a piping bag or a zip-lock sandwich bag. With the smallest sized piping tip, or if using a sandwich bag, cut a very, very small hole at the corner of the sandwich bag, and pipe out the words or designs you'd like.

Mocha ganache

75 g  heavy cream

A: 80g good quality (70% cocoa) small dark chocolate chips or chopped 
    chocolate

    1 1/2 t  instant espresso (if you don't have espresso, instant coffee is fine 
    too)

Heat the heavy cream in a small pot over medium low heat until hot; turn off heat and set aside. Pour in A and swirl the pot a little bit to make sure all the chocolate is submerged in the cream. Let sit for 2-3 minutes, then mix until smooth with a whisk; transfer it to a clean bowl and let cool. It should be made fresh right before using.

 Icing

25 g  confectioner's sugar

15 g  heavy cream

Place the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl; slowly whisk in the heavy cream and mix until all the lumps are gone. Make right before using or it will dry out!

-->To view related posts, Chinese Valentine's Day - 七夕情人節 or Kung Pao Tofu - 宮保豆腐 see links at bottom.

摩卡濃情黑巧小蛋糕   (約做12個)


A料:   低筋麵粉  170 g

          品質好的可可粉  55 g

          小蘇打粉  1小匙

          泡打粉  1/2小匙

          海鹽  1/4小匙

         
紅糖  160 g

B料:    打散雞蛋  95 g

          牛奶  120 g

          原味優格  40 g

          葡萄籽油或椰子油  50 g

          香草精  1/2小匙

          

熱開水  140 g

70% 可可苦甜巧克力丁(或切碎的苦甜巧克力)  85 g

Kahlúa酒 1大匙

摩卡巧克力醬  (見下文)

Icing  (見下文)

1.  烤箱事先預熱至180ºc /350ºF。

2.  在muffin烤盤裡放好油力士紙杯。

3.  將紅糖放入攪拌盆, 再把 A料全部一起過篩入攪拌盆裡。

4.  加入B料用電動攪拌器低速攪拌, 並一邊慢慢倒入熱開水一起攪拌,  最後倒入巧
     克力丁以橡皮刀拌勻。

5.  將麵糊填入紙杯中,  放入烤箱烤約20~25分鐘.

6.  趁熱用牙籤在杯子蛋糕表面插洞，用刷子沾Kahlúa刷在蛋糕表面。

7.  放至稍涼之後用小抹刀把摩卡巧克力醬,  抹平在蛋糕表面上。

8.  將icing倒入一個小的擠花裝飾袋或自封塑膠袋中，用最小的裝飾孔或在塑膠袋 
    一角剪一個很小的洞，在有抹巧克力醬的蛋糕上擠出自己想要的字或花樣即可。

摩卡巧克力醬

鲜奶油  75 g

A料:  70% 可可苦甜巧克力丁(或切碎的苦甜巧克力)  80g

         即融濃咖啡 (即融咖啡也可以)  1 1/2小匙

用小火將鲜奶油加熱,  熄火移置一旁,  倒入A料,  搖晃一下鍋子讓所有的巧克力浸至於加熱的鮮奶油中,  放置2-3分鐘後拌勻即可, 倒入一個乾淨的碗中備用 。

Icing

糖粉  25 g

鲜奶油  15 g

將糖粉放入一個小容器中,  一邊慢慢加入鲜奶油一邊攪拌至糖粉全部溶解。

Chinese Valentine's Day - 七夕情人節
Kung Pao Tofu - 宮保豆腐