These Chocolate Cupcakes are part of my getting to grips with baking while carrying on trying recipes from the Rouxbe Essential Desserts course my wife Karen did a while ago.
There is so much more to baking – understanding flours and yeasts and acidity!!!
I can really recommend the Rouxbe courses!
Anyway – back to cupcakes.
I used the Rouxbe Chocolate Ganache Cake recipe. Halved it and made cupcake sized ones instead of a full cake. This is because I wanted to also try the “dipping chocolate” concept to top off the cupcakes.
This halved amount made 13 or 14 cupcakes.
Ingredients (cupcakes):
- 1 ¼ C all-purpose flour
- 1 C sugar (I used ½ sugar and ½ erythritol)
- 1/3 C cocoa powder (natural – not Dutched)
- 1 t baking soda
- ½ t salt
- 1 C coffee
- 1/3 olive oil
- 1 t vanilla essence
- 1 t apple cider vinegar
What to do:
1 Mix together all the dry ingredients – flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Sift several times to ensure well mixed.
2 Combine the wet ingredients – coffee, oil and vanilla in a jug or bowl.
3 Preheat oven to 175 C (fan). Ensure the shelf you will use is slightly in the upper half of the oven.
4 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well into a batter.
5 When the oven is ready, stir in the apple cider vinegar and mix well. Pour into the cup cake moulds, or whatever you are using. I used the silicone ones so did not need to grease them. If you use the tins, you might need to lightly oil them. Only fill to about 2/3 full!
6 Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
7 Test with a skewer. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 15 mins. Then remove the cupcakes from the moulds or tin and allow to cool completely.
8 At this point you can ice them however you would like or eat them as is. They are still delicious.
I wanted to try the “dipping method” – but first, some notes on the baking process.
As mentioned, there is such a lot to baking so these are just a summary of some of the things I have learned –
Notes:
1 – The different flours have different percentage protein. All purpose flour has between 8 and 11 % protein.
2 – This recipe uses baking soda (not baking powder) and the acid (apple cider vinegar) activates it.
3 – Which is why do not use Dutched (or alkalised) cocoa powder, as this will reduce the rising power.
4 – Only add the acid to the mixture when you are ready to bake.
5 – Temperature given here is for Fan oven. Usually a convection oven temp should be about 20 deg C higher.
6 – For cupcakes or muffins, where you want a domed effect, place the product nearer the top of the oven. For cakes, which you want flatter, use the lower half.
Now onto the dipping chocolate:
Ingredients:
- 115 g dark (vegan) chocolate
- 155 ml soya milk
- ½ t vanilla essence
- ½ T olive oil
- Pinch salt.
What to do:
1 – Roughly chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a heat resistant bowl.
2 – Mix together the milk and salt in a pot. Warm over medium heat till just below a boil – about 60 deg C (good to have a thermometer when working with chocolate).
3 – Pour the warm milk onto the chocolate in one go. Shake the bowl gently to make sure the chocolate is covered. Cover with a plate and allow to stand for 5 to 8 minutes.
4 – Uncover – using a whisk gently stir so that all chocolate is melted. The mix should be glossy.
5 – Stir in the vanilla and oil – gently – till properly mixed. Do not be too vigorous as could make the chocolate go grainy.
6 – Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the mixture and set aside to cool and then put on fridge in sealed container.
Bon Apetit!
