Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes

Yesterday we invited people over for dinner, and I promised dessert.  I was already obligated to make cupcakes for W's coffee break at work, so I tried to find the perfect cupcake recipe.  It was impossible!  There are five hundred billion recipes for cupcakes!!

Finally at 5pm I decided to check one of my favorite websites: Smitten Kitchen.  I looked at a couple recipes and then saw this one: Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes with Mint Cream
Happy Valentine's Day to me!  It was love at first sight.  And at first bite.  *happy sigh*  One friend ate three of them. 

I didn't have enough time to make the mint cream so I served it with Bailey's Whipped Cream instead.  It was delicious, and the extra whipped cream went well with strawberries.  W's work cupcakes were dusted with powdered sugar since he felt funny about bringing in something with alcohol. 

As much as I enjoyed the challenge of finding a great recipe, the best part was sharing dinner and dessert with friends.  Thanks for sharing Valentine's Day with us!  And thanks to Smitten Kitchen and Cupcake Project for posting recipes.


Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes courtesy of Smitten Kitchen
Makes 12 cupcakes

Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes
6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) (86 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) espresso or instant coffee powder
3 large eggs, separated
6 tablespoons (97 grams) sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9 standard-size (3-ounce) muffin cups with paper liners. Stir chocolate, butter and espresso powder together in heavy medium saucepan over low heat mostly melted, then remove from the heat and whisk until it is fully melted and smooth.  Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally.

Using electric mixer (a hand mixer, rather than a stand mixer, actually works best here because the volumes are so small) beat egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Briefly beat lukewarm chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract, into yolk mixture. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and all of the salt, beating until medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Divide batter among prepared cups, filling each three-fourths of the way.

Bake cakes until tops are puffed and dry to the touch (some may crack, embrace it) and a tester inserted into the centers comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a cooling rack, where the cupcakes will almost immediately start to fall. It will be all the better to put your mint cream on them.

From Cupcake Project:
Bailey's Irish Cream Whipped Cream
  1. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
  2. Mix in sugar and Baileys Irish Cream until just combined.
 

2 comments:

  1. I saw that cupcake recipe on Smitten and want to try it too! Looks so good. Did it yield only 9 for you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I got 12 out of it! Well, to be fair, I doubled the recipe because I was making it for two things, but I still got 24 cupcakes. =)

    ReplyDelete