Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcakes

These cupcakes are based on a cake my Mom used to make for my Dad when I was younger. She would make a chocolate cake and frost it with chocolate frosting, make a raised ring around the top of the cake with frosting, and then pour cherry pie filling inside the ring. I think it was her take on the Black Forest cake.

For the cake part of the cupcakes I used Marth Stewart's Devil's Food cupcake recipe since it used the most cocoa out of all of the chocolate cake recipes I found. I was worried that the cake wouldn't be "chocolatey" enough if I didn't use enough cocoa, and I didn't want to just use a mix for these cakes since I was making them for my Dad's birthday. It turns out that this is plenty of cocoa :)

I made these cupcakes by carving a cone shaped hole in the center of the cupcake after they were cooled and spooning in a little cherry pie filling (about 2-3 cherries). Then I used a pastry bag and large star shaped decorator tip (the one included with the Wilton cupcake decorator kit) to make little stars of chocolate frosting around the pie filling.

Here's the recipe for the cupcakes:
Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 

3/4 cup hot water

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers. Makes 32 cupcakes.

I used a calorie calculator from caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php to calculate the calories of just the cake part. This doesn't include any pie filling or frosting.

The Product of My Insomnia--Pecan Pie Mini-Cakes

So the product of my insomnia (or insanity, whatevs) last night was Pecan Pie Mini Cupcakes.

These were very simple, and after a quick midnight run to Walmart I was ready to make them.

Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup melted butter (10 2/3 tbsp)

2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and then divide batter between 24 greased mini-muffin cups. Bake 14-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These were a big hit at work and it wouldn't be a big deal to double the recipe. They really taste like pecan pie but aren't quite as rich. It would be so easy to eat all of them without realizing!

Update: Here's the nutrition info for these:

My First Blog

This is the first blog I've ever written, so bear with me as I learn how all this works.

This week's cupcake was a Honey Walnut cupcake with a Honey Vanilla whipped frosting and a dark chocolate bee decoration.

The recipe for this cupcake is:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate bees:
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in heated oven for 7-10 minutes.
3. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners (I use foil but paper works too)
4. Using a mixer, cream together the honey, sugar and soft butter until fluffy.
5. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla and beat until blended.
6. Slowly add flour, baking soda, and salt until fully combined.
7. Using a large wooden spoon or spatula mix in the walnuts.
8. Divide the batter between the baking cups, they should be between 2/3 and 3/4 full.
9. Bake for 20 minutes (turning once) or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with mixer until stiff peaks form.
2. Fit a sandwich bag or decorator frosting bag with a large round tip (I used Wilton tip 12) and fill with whipped cream.
3. Pipe cooled cupcakes with whipped cream and garnish with a bee.

Chocolate bee directions:

1. In a microwave safe container melt chocolate 15 seconds at a time until fully melted.
2. While chocolate is melting line a baking sheet with waxed paper and fit a sandwich or decorator bag with a small round tip (I used Wilton tip 3)
3. Fill sandwich bag with melted chocolate and pipe a bee shape onto the waxed paper.
4. Refrigerate and keep cold until you need to garnish. (Make sure you let them set for long enough, otherwise the bees with "wilt"...learn from my mistakes)

For the bees you can either free hand draw (more difficult than it looks) or place a piece of paper with the shape drawn on it under the waxed paper so that you can trace it. I tried free hand drawing a shape I'd never drawn, and my first couple of bees looked tragic. I doubled the recipe so I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and got 27 bees to fit on my baking sheet. I would definitely advise making extra as they tend to break when you peel them off the waxed paper. Also, I used a small metal spatula to remove them and place them on the cupcakes since the first one I moved melted in my hand. (FYI, chocolate's melting point is human body temperature, or so I've been told).

That's my blog for this week! Soon I'll recap the other cupcakes I've made in the last few weeks and add more that I'll be making for a charity bake sale.