There's a party every summer with my group of friends called the Shuttlecock Tournament, and it's an all-day event of playing badminton (with the teams dressed in funny, creative costumes to match their team's name), while everyone else relaxes in the sun, drinks and eats good food.
Last year I made these Ice Cream Parlor Cupcakes, in flavors like Mint Chocolate Chip, S'mores and Ice Cream Sundae. They disappeared in just a few hours, so this year, I decided to bring twice as many (not sure why I impose this kind of work on myself, but I'm a little obsessed in creating sweet treats for people as you see...).
So much of my Friday night, the evening before the party, was spent working on these Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes, as well as another batch that I will share in separate post.
These are the cupcake version of that Chocolate Toffee Bourbon Cake I made for our anniversary dinner in June, although this time with a little whiskey (Jameson, to be specific) -caramel soaked into each cupcake, then dipped in ganache, sprinkled with a bit of toffee, topped with vanilla buttercream, drizzled with more ganache, and finished with a sprinkling of coarse salt and a shard of toffee.
A shard of toffee. I like how that sounds.
One Year Ago: Baking Cookies in a Thunderstorm (Oatmeal Raisin Almond Cookies)
Two Years Ago: Garden Tomatoes and Caprese Pasta with Sausage
Cupcakes:
·
2 cups all-purpose flour
·
1 cup granulated sugar
·
3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark unsweetened cocoa
powder
·
1 teaspoon salt
·
1 teaspoon baking soda
·
4 eggs
·
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
·
1/2 cup sour cream
·
½ cup vegetable oil
·
2 teaspoons vanilla
·
3-4 tablespoons each of bourbon and caramel
Vanilla
buttercream:
·
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room
temperature
·
3 cups powdered sugar
·
2 tablespoons meringue powder
·
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
·
3 tablespoons milk
Ganache:
·
10 ounces cream
·
8 ounces semi-sweet/bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
·
1 teaspoon vanilla
Garnish:
·
1 cup Toffee bits
·
Coarse Salt
·
3 Toffee bars, cut into 24 shards
Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with 24
liners.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder,
salt and baking soda. Add the eggs,
heavy cream, sour cream, oil and vanilla and whisk vigorously until well
combined; batter will be very thick.
Divide the batter between the liners. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick
comes out clean. Transfer muffins to a
wire rack, cool for completely.
Poke holes in each cupcake with a toothpick then drizzle
lightly with the bourbon/caramel mixture. Set
aside to soak into the cake.
Buttercream:
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk
attachment, beat the butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar/meringue powder by
spoonfuls until combined, then add the milk and vanilla. Whip at medium high speed for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy. Set aside.
Ganache:
Pour the cream into a saucepan and bring just to a simmer over medium low heat. Remove from the heat, and add the chocolate and vanilla. Let stand for 3 minutes, then stir with a spatula until smooth and shiny.
Frost and Garnish:
Dip each cooled cupcake in the ganache and lightly shake
off the excess. Sprinkle a few toffee
bits around the edge of each. Set aside.
Pipe the vanilla buttercream onto each cupcake.
Drizzle more ganache over the buttercream, letting it drip down the
sides.
Sprinkle with salt and top with a shard of toffee.
Cover cupcakes and refrigerate to set the ganache before serving.
Yields 24 cupcakes
Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen
Cover cupcakes and refrigerate to set the ganache before serving.
Yields 24 cupcakes
Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen
These are absolutely gorgeous looking, decadent cupcakes. I like the combination of flavors you've made. I've featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don't mind, but if you do, please contact me and I'll remove it. All the best.
ReplyDeleteVera,
ReplyDeleteThat's not a problem, thanks for sharing and linking back to my recipe. :)
I made these cupcakes for a reception and everyone was asking the host who had catered them. Delicious! loved the density of the cake batter.
ReplyDelete