'grown-up' chocolate cakes

I'm still in the process of going through my pantry and using up as much of the stuff I've got in the house as I can before I move. I had lots of chocolate around, the usual cakey ingredients as well as a bottle of whiskey I was never going to get around to drinking. Using my Dr Pepper cupcakes recipe as the starting point I came up with this rather grown up recipe. The whiskey flavour isn't particularly strong but it does add some complexity to the end product. You could replace the chocolate spread with the equivalent amount of melted chocolate or a dark jam such as cherry or blackcurrant, why not try out whatever you've got to hand.

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter
300ml whiskey
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 tbsp chocolate spread such as nutella
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g demerara sugar

12 dark chocolate lindor truffle balls or similar.
2 eggs

Ganache Topping
100g dark chocolate
100g butter
pinch of salt

Makes 12 cupcakes.

1. Start by add the sugar to the whiskey then heating the mixture of a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, the alcohol has evaporated off and the mixture has reduced by about two thirds (around 200mls or so).
2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan oven. Put the paper cases in the muffin tray and fill a large oven proof dish with water and place in the bottom of the oven. The steam that is produced will help the cakes to rise and be lovely and light.
3. Put the butter and chocolate spread in the saucepan and allow it to melt in the residual heat. Stir through and add the vanilla extract.
4. Sieve together the dry ingredients to get rid of any lumps, then beat in the whiskey mixture followed by the eggs until thoroughly combined. 
5. Put a dollop of the mixture into each of the paper cases (about 1/4 cup if you have a measure). Place a chocolate ball in the centre of each case then put in the oven. Bake for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool completely before decorating with frosting or ganache.

Making the ganache

1. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water. You can use it now as it is to give a thin covering to the cupcakes but I prefer to allow it to set in the fridge, returning to beat it every 10 minutes or so until it is a spreadable consistency. Once you've achieved this consistency you're ready to go.

dr pepper cupcakes with cherry almond frosting

This started as a completly experimental recipe and uses some of my favourite flavours. Sometimes it's just got to be done. This is a little trashy but good. Go on, you know you want to.

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter
330ml can dr pepper
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 tbsp dark cherry jam/conserve
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
150g dark muscovado sugar
2 eggs

Makes 10 cupcakes.

1. Start by reducing the dr pepper in a saucepan over a low heat until it is 1/3 of the original volume (110ml)
2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan oven. Put the paper cases in the muffin tray and fill a large oven proof dish with water and place in the bottom of the oven. The steam that is produced will help the cakes to rise and be lovely and light.
3. Put the butter the saucepan with the dr pepper reduction and melt over a low heat. Remove from the heat then add the vanilla and almond extracts along with the cherry jam
4. Sieve together the dry ingredients, including the sugar, to get rid of any lumps, then beat in the dr pepper mixture followed by the eggs until thoroughly combined. It is aboslutely fine to do this by hand or with an electric mixer. This recipe does not require a huge amount of physical effort.
5. Put a dollop of the mixture into each of the paper cases, if you have a cup measure it's about 1/4 cup per case.
6. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before decorating with frosting.

Cherry Almond Frosting

It has been difficult to decide what to top the Dr Pepper cupcakes with. The flavour is quite complex and I was unsure what to accentuate. Anyway, I decided upon this sweet but slightly tart topping. The tartness comes from the fact I used a polish sour cherry cordial but feel free to experiment with maraschino cherry syrup, cherry brandy or other cherry cordial you may have to hand. Of course you could also go for a cherry variation of my berry frosting. 

Ingredients
120g butter, at room temperature
240g icing sugar, sieved
1-2 tbsp sour cherry cordial to taste
1 tbsp cherry jam

1 tsp almond extract

1. In a bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until soft.
2. Gradually add the sugar until thoroughly combined, smooth and creamy.
3. Next, the almond extract and jam followed by the cherry cordial a bit at a time. You may not need to add it all but keep going until you have your desired colour, flavour and consistency. 
4. Chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

spicy quadruple ginger cupcakes with ginger cream cheese icing

This recipe is sticky, sweet and spicy and just what I like in a ginger cake. It is adapted from 'How to Cook Perfect Ginger Cake'. The ginger cream cheese is my own addition and I find it adds another spicy, creamy layer of flavour but you could experiment with citrus flavours instead, I have a suspicion that a banana flavoured frosting would be awesome too.

Cake Ingredients
100g butter
100g dark muscovado sugar

Pinch of salt
175g self-raising flour
4 tsp ground ginger
175g golden syrup or agave
1 tbsp ginger wine
2 free-range eggs, beaten
Walnut-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
150g candied/crystalised ginger, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and grease and place the paper cases in the cupcake/muffin tin. Cream together the butter and sugar with a pinch of salt until fluffy and the colour of milky coffee.
2. Pour in the syrup and ginger wine and mix to combine.
3. Beat in the eggs then gradually sift in the flour and ground ginger. Finally, stir in the fresh and candied ginger then spoon into the prepared paper cases.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in the tin before frosting.
6. They may sink back down a little on cooling but don't worry about this. They'll still be delicious.
7. Decorate with the ginger cream cheese and some crystalised or stem ginger slivers.

 

The frosting

200g cream cheese

100g butter

600g icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp ginger wine (use milk or ginger cordial if you don't want the alcohol or miss it out completely and have a thicker icing)

1. Make sure the cheese and butter are at room temperature then beat together for a couple of minutes using and electric whisk. You want the mixture to be light and fluffy.
2. Little by little sift in the icing sugar and ground ginger beating carefully after each addition. Take care with this stage to not go too fast otherwise your kitchen will be covered in clouds of icing sugar.
3. Finally beat in the ginger wine, you may not need all of it but adjust until you have your desired consistency. 
4. This made more than enough icing for a batch of the ginger cupcakes with plenty left over for another project.

I've entered this recipe into A Kick at the Pantry Door's 'Feel Good Food Challenge'. Why not take a look at all the other great recipes featured. 

dark chocolate topped coconut cupcakes

This recipe is totally inspired by the Bounty chocolate bar but far less sweet. I started off with a standard vanilla cupcake batter but added coconut cream and dessicated coconut to help the flavour along.

Ingredients
1 quantity of vanilla cupcake batter
75ml coconut cream
4tbsp dessicated coconut
100g dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4 and place 8 muffin/cupcake cases in to the muffin tin.
2. Make up the basic cake batter but before you add the flour beat in the coconut cream for about 20 seconds then add the dessicated coconut along with the flour.
3. Place a dollop of mix into each paper case then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Once the cakes have cooled completely melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water. When the chocolate is completely melted carefully spoon it on top of the cupcakes taking care to not let any drip out over the cake cases (there should be a small lip between the cake and the case.
5. Top in chocolate covered cupcake with a sprinkle of coconut then leave to set hard.

mint choc cupcakes with mint choc chip frosting

Inspired by one of my all time favourite ice cream flavours, how could these cupcakes be a bad idea. Next time you want a childhood treat you should definitely try these. I originally wanted to use Junior Mints but couldn't easily get hold of them so substituted mint Poppets instead. Any soft centred, chocolate covered mint should work here. These are great with a cup of strong coffee.













Ingredients
90g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter
50ml water
100g self raising flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
150g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs
150g chocolate covered, soft centred mints

1 quantity of mint choc chip frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan oven. Put the paper cases in the muffin tray and fill a large oven proof dish with water and place in the bottom of the oven. The steam that is produced will help the cakes to rise and be lovely and light.
2. Put the chocolate, butter and water in a saucepan and melt together over a low heat.
3. Sieve together the dry ingredients then stir in the chocolate mixture and eggs until thoroughly combined.
4. Stir through the chocolate covered mints then put a dollop of the mixture into each of the paper cases.
5. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until when a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool completely before decorating with the frosting.

 

rum mini cupcakes with praline amaretto frosting

A grown up, sweet treat that is perfect in this smaller size. The cakes are great with or without the frosting. If you choose not to frost the cakes they would be wonderful as a dessert covered in extra, warm rum syrup and a dollop of good quality vanilla ice cream. Yum...

You can use any standard plain cake batter as your starting point. This is my usual version from Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet. I find it is sturdy enough to stand up to the gooey syrup. If you can, use a silicone cake mould to make the cakes - it helps when you come to pour the syrup over them cakes. You can use paper cases in a standard tin but it just ends up being a bit more messy.

Ingredients
125g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, very soft
2 eggs
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Rum Syrup

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup dark rum

1 quantity of praline and amaretto frosting.

1. Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4 and place 12 cases in to your tin if using. I used a silicone mini cake tray that you can see in the pictures below. In the picture below I had only made a small quantity of the mixture so didn't fill the whole tray.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and eggs together until they are light and fluffy and well combined. This will take around 3 minutes with an electric whisk.
3. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and beat the mixture again until it is thoroughly mixed together.
4. Spoon the mixture into the your cake cases or moulds. 
5. Bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out of the mixture clean.
6. While the cakes are in the oven prepare the syrup by gently heating the rum and sugar in a thick based saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved.
7. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cook slightly, around 5 minutes or so, then if you are going to frost them, pour over the rum syrup while the cakes are still in the tray then leave to cool completely. (If you are serving them as a dessert remove from the tray before pouring over the syrup and cover in syrup once they are on your serving plate.)
8. Once the cakes have cooled completely you can pop them out of the silicone mould and frost.