I asked a few months ago for guest posters while I was getting use to have 2 babies at home. Ammie from Adventures in My Kitchen was happy to accept. I left all details up to her one what she made, I couldn’t be happier with the results. I wish I had one of these right now as they sounds great. I actually have never made cupcakes using the cone idea and really need to try it. Thank you Ammie and make sure you check our her blog!
I was a little shy when Carrie first announced she was looking for guest posters for her maternity break. Maybe it’s a fear of rejection, I don’t know. However, after thinking if over for a few days, I figured why not and contacted Carrie. She sounded excited in her response back to me, so I have no idea was I was worried about! That’s when the ideas started churning through my head, and one theme consistently stuck with me; something Carrie and her family would enjoy, and it must be pink and sweet to represent her new baby girl!
I had a few different cupcake ideas, and finally settled on these as a play on chocolate covered strawberries. Instead of the real thing we have a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with strawberry cream cheese frosting. I attempted to decorate them with thawed frozen strawberry slices and a drizzle of chocolate syrup, but it was so hot and I was having a hard time getting the frosting to hold its shape and all these extras were making it worse. Have no fear, strawberry frosted chocolate cupcake are pretty much always is good, but the ganache makes these pretty great (and all those extras really aren’t needed)!
While these do have several steps, they come together fairly easily. I baked the cupcakes and made the ganache the night before, which made the day of filling and frosting a piece of cake (pun intended!). I’m sure these would be well received at your next gathering. Enjoy!
Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (From: Cooks.com (Cupcake), Allrecipes.com (Ganache Filling), Beantown Baker (Cone Method), Cupcake Project (Frosting)
For the Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
8 tsp baking cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
Preheat oven to 350F. Place cupcake papers in 12-cup cupcake pan and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, sift dry ingredients. Combine well. Make three holes in the mixture, one for the oil (make this one largest), one for the vanilla and one for the water. Place each wet ingredient in their hole.
Pour water over all the ingredients. Mix together well, being sure no dry ingredients are stuck on the bottom of the bowl.
Evenly divide batter into cupcake pan using a 1/4 cup measuring cup (it’s actually just a little less than 1/4 cup each cupcake).
Place pan in middle rack of oven and bake 18-20 minutes. Test by gently touching the cupcake tops, if they spring back the cupcakes are done. Be careful not to overbake.
Remove from oven and place cupcakes on cooling rack.
For the Ganache:
4.5 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
Once cupcakes are cook, place chocolate chips in a small bowl and set aside.
Pour cream into a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring cream just to a low rolling boil, being careful not to let it boil up and over the pan.
When the cream is ready, pour it over chocolate chips in bowl. Whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Allow to cool ~5 minutes.
Take a cooled cupcake, and cut a cone shape out of the top with a serrated knife. Place 1/2-3/4 tsp of ganache into the hole. Place cone back on top of cupcake. Note: some of the ganache may overflow and squeeze out from under the cone. This is perfectly fine since you’ll be frosting over it. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.
For the Frosting:
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
8 oz package cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup strawberries, mashed up in a food processor and liquid partially drained
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a stand mixer at medium-high speed for ~3 minutes. Add strawberries and mix on medium until well combined. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency and taste.
If you find the frosting is too soft, refrigerate it for a while until it firms up. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
