Straberry Banana Muffins

For August's, Sweet Punch  event, the organizers had challenged our little group to make this  Strawberry Banana Muffins from Joy of Baking.  This was an easy muffin to put together, I followed the recipe to a tee. I was very happy with the results. I am sure everyone in our Sweet Punch group would have made this with out any difficulty as this time we had not only the recipe to get the directions but a video too.
Recipe Source:Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup (240 ml) fresh strawberries (cut into bite sized pieces)
2 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon (4 grams) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) salt
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners or lightly butter or spray the muffin cups with a vegetable spray.

In a small saucepan melt the butter. Let cool to room temperature.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.

In another large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. (This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Can be stored for a few days at room temperature.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins. Preparation time: 20 minutes

Perfect Pound Cake

It's Sweet Punch time again and for this month we were all challenged to make a Pound cake.The recipe that we followed was from  The Cake Bible .The recipe makes it a breeze to make this cake and I am sure a first time baker can easily follow this recipe and get a perfect cake just as the name suggests. For those of my friends who would love to see a video demo on how to make this yummy cake take a look at this .

Ingredients
3 tablespoons Milk
3 large Eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups sifted cake flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened [184 gms]
Method:
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.
Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.
Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended. Add the butter and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down sides.
Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minuets before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.
For making Cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it.Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times.Cake flour is ready to use.

Mocha Coffee Cake

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers"--Jewish proverb.
How true! I know all of you would agree with me on this.
Happy Mother's Day for all the mothers out there and all the would be ones !!
This post is for you all.
For this month's Sweet Punch challenge, we were given the choice of baking anything of our own liking.So this Mocha coffee cake is what I choose.Its a breakfast cake and has  three delicious flavors marbled together: vanilla, chocolate and espresso with a wonderful coffee glaze.
Recipe Source:Joy the Baker 
Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder dissolved in 1 1/2 Tablespoons hot water
2 Tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water
For the Glaze
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2-3 Tablespoons strong brewed coffee
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Method:
To make the Cake
Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Generously butter and flour 8- inch (6 cup) Bundt pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla.  Add flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just incorporated.
Transfer about one third of the batter to a small bowl.  Add espresso mixture and stir until combined.  Transfer 1/3 of the remaining vanilla batter to another small bowl and add the cocoa mixture and stir until combined.  Spoon all three batters into the Bundt pan, alternating so each flavor is distributed through the pan.
Bake until cake is golden, or until a wooden spoon inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes.  Cool in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely.

To make the Glaze
Stir together espresso powder and 2 tablespoons coffee in a bowl until powder is dissolved.  Add confectioners’ sugar and stir until well combined.  If glaze is not pourable, thin with remaining coffee if necessary.Pour glaze over coffee cake and let cake stand until glaze is set, about 10 minutes, before serving.

(This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 10- inch (12 cup) Bundt pan.  Increase the baking time to about 1 hour.)

Whole Wheat Almond Cookies

For this months Sweet Punch challenge we were challenged to make Whole Wheat Almond Cookies.This was so easy  and not a challenge at all. I followed the recipe to the T,the cookies came out tasting good, but to add a little twist I rolled the cookies in cardamom sugar. It took it to another whole new level.
Recipe source: Manjula's Kitchen

Recipe makes about 24.
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon green cardamom seed coarsely powder (ilaichi)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or 4oz)
About 2 tablespoons of milk or as needed
Method:
Preheat the oven to 360 degree F.
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.
Next add soft butter and milk to the flour mixture to make dough. Dough should be very soft.
Divide the dough into about 24 equal parts and make them into balls.
Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 1/2” in thickness.
Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about inch a part.
Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown.
After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.If you wanna some cinnamon sugar on the cookies,put the cookies in a paper bag with 1table spoon of sugar and 1/8th tsp of cardamom and shake them all together and your yummy cookies are ready.

Currant Slices with Spiced Apple Syrup

For this month's Sweet Punch Challenge we were challenged to make Currant Slices with Spiced Apple Syrup.I made this on a cold evening when I very badly wanted something sweet and warm.In my hurry to get this done I mixed the entire black currants into the batter instead of saving some for topping the batter.Another part I goofed up was when I burned the apple syrup.And as I was out of apple juice I substituted it with apple sauce.Apart from this the challenge was a breeze and Currant slices was well liked.My daughter who doesn't normally like currants ate them happily and asked me if she can take a piece for her school lunch the next day.
Recipe source - 1 mix,50 cakes
Ingredients
Black Currants - 175 gms / 6 oz
Cinnamon stick - 1' piece
Apple juice - 300 ml / 10 fl oz
Plain white flour - 175 gms / 6 oz
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Unsalted butter,softened - 175 gms / 6 oz
Caster sugar - 175 gms / 6 oz
Eggs - 3,beaten
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Oil or butter for greasing
Method
Place the currants,cinnamon stick and apple juice in a saucepan and bring to the boil.Remove from heat and leave to stand for several hours or overnight.Drain the currants thoroughly,pressing the juices through a sieve,reserving the juices and cinnamon stick.Set both the sieved currants and juice aside.
Preheat oven to 180C/350F or gas mark 4.
Grease and line a 12/9' rectangular tray bake tin[you could use a 9' square tin as well if you don't have a tray]
Sift together flour and baking powder,reserve.
In a large bowl,cream together the butter and sugar till fluffy.
Mix in beaten eggs and vanilla extract and beat well.
Add the flour mix little at a time and beat well till you get a smooth batter.
Stir half of the reserved currants into the mixture and spoon into the prepared tin.Spread the remaining currants over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until risen,firm and golden brown.
Meanwhile,boil the reserved juice and cinnamon stick rapidly to reduce by about half,until slightly syrupy.Discard the cinnamon stick.
Cut the cake into slices and serve warm with the hot syrup spooned over.

Meringue Mushrooms

For this months Sweet Punch challenge we had Meringue as the theme .We had 3 choices and I chose the Meringue Mushrooms as they looked sooo cute.This was so easy to make and turned out pretty nice.They were so light and were  melting away in our mouths in just seconds.As I made this a few days before I used them to decorate my Yule Log that I made for Christmas and I liked the overall look.Thank you Sweet Punch for this nice recipe.
Source:  joyofbaking.com
Ingredients:
2 large (30 grams) egg whites, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup (100 grams) superfine (caster) white sugar (if you don't have superfine sugar simply take granulated white sugar and process it for about 30 seconds in a food processor).

Method:
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Have two pastry bags ready (one for piping the caps and stems and one for gluing them together). Fit one small pastry bag with a number 3 (1/16 inch diameter) (.2 cm) round plain tip (used to glue the stems and caps together) and one large pastry bag with a number 6 (1/2 inch diameter) (1 1/4 cm) round plain tip (for stems and caps).  Fold down the tops of the bags to form a deep cuff on the outside and place each bag in a tall narrow glass for support. This will make it easy to transfer the meringue to the pastry bags.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (100 degrees C) and place 2 oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

In bowl of electric mixer, at moderately slow speed, beat the room temperature egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and beat at medium speed until soft peaks form.  Continue beating (increasing speed to high), gradually adding the superfine sugar, until the whites are very stiff and glossy.  (You want to make sure that the sugar has dissolved completely - to test rub a little of the meringue between your fingers.)

With a rubber spatula place approximately 1/4 cup of the meringue in the pastry bag with the small tip (used to glue the caps and stems together).  Place the remainder of the meringue in the large pastry bag.

To Pipe Caps: Holding the pastry bag upright and close to the parchment paper, pipe the meringue with even pressure, into even rounds building up the meringue to form a 2 inch (5 cm) round that is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) high.  Sharply twist the bag and stop the pressure as you slowly move the tip off the meringue.  Try to make the top as smooth as possible but use a wet fingertip to smooth out any bumps.

To Pipe Stems: Holding the pastry bag upright and close to the parchment paper, pipe the meringue with even pressure, into a cone-shape, making the base of the stem a little larger than the top.  The stem should be about 1 inch (2.54 cm) high.  Try to keep the stems as straight as possible.  Some of the stems may fall over on their sides during baking, so it is a good idea to make extra.

Bake the meringues for approximately one hour, or until the mushrooms are firm enough that they can be lifted from the baking sheet without sticking.  Rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back (about three quarters of the way through) to ensure even baking.

Remove from oven and with a small sharp knife, make a small hole in the middle of the underside of each mushroom cap.  Using the small pastry bag fitted with the 1/l6 inch tip, pipe a little bit of meringue in the hole and gently press the top of the stem into the hole.

Place the mushrooms, caps down, on a parchment lined baking sheet and return to oven for about 15 - 30 minutes, or until the mushroom are dry.  Remove from oven and lightly dust the tops of the mushrooms with cocoa powder.  Use a small pastry or paint brush to smudge the cocoa powder, if desired.

Store in an airtight container for several weeks.

Makes about 24 - 30 mushrooms (depending on size)

Raspberry, Chocolate and Almond Crumble

This month's SweetPunch Challenge was to make a Pear, Chocolate and Almond Crumble. As pears are not a favorite at our household, I substituted it with raspberries. It was as appealing to the eye as it was tasty - with the bright red sauce oozing out from the crumble when out from the oven. It was a nice dessert to have on cold winter night. It was a dream dessert with the warmth of the raspberry sauce, the crunchiness of the crumble with almonds and the cold vanilla ice-cream to top.

Recipe Source - http://www.lochfyne.com/Recipes/Desserts/Pear-Crumble-with-Chocolate-Chunks-and-Hazelnuts

Ingredients

1kg (4-5) ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm pieces (Instead I used raspberries)
50g light brown soft sugar [ Can substitute with regular sugar]
Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon (I didn't use this as raspberries are already juicy and is tart enough)
100g Swiss milk chocolate, roughly chopped
(As I used raspberries, I added 3 tbsp corn flour to thicken the raspberry sauce)
For the crumble:
100g plain flour [ You could substitute this with Whole wheat flour too]
50g butter, chilled and diced
50g light brown soft sugar
50g blanched almonds, lightly toasted in a dry pan and roughly chopped
Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease 6 ovenproof teacups or ramekins or a pie-dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together the raspberries (pears) , brown sugar, (lemon zest and juice), corn flour (if using raspberries) and half the chocolate. Divide the mixture between the teacups or ramekins, spooning over any juice.
To make the crumble, place the flour and butter in a medium bowl and, with your fingertips, rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, almonds and remaining chocolate.
Spoon the crumble over the pears and press down lightly. Place the crumbles on a baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.

Tomato Souffle

For this month's sweet punch challenge we were given a sweet and a savory dish to choose from. With Navrathri,Halloween and Diwali around the corner I thought it would be better to cook the savoury dish  over the sweet one. I did tweek this recipe a bit. Instead of 3 tbsp of tomato paste I added only 2tbsp and it was sour enough to my liking. Then I  added 1 tsp of vegetable base along with the egg yolks. Another thing that I would do next time would be to reduce the bread crumbs that is packed in the ramkins as they were still dry and not to my or my family's liking. The recipe didn't mention about the oven temperature so I baked at 350 F but had to bake for 35 minutes. The final verdict I got from my tasters is a double thumbs up and that this recipe is a keeper. 


Recipe source : Australian Woman's Weekly via Maria's Menu


Bread crumbs – 1/2 cup, firmly packed
Butter – 45 gm (I used 2 tbs) 
Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
Plain flour (maida) – 2 tbsp
Milk – 1 cup
Tomato paste – 3 tbsp
Basil – 1 tbsp, finely chopped (optional)
Eggs – 3, separated
Grated Cheese – a handful ( I used mozzarella)
Grease 4 souffle dishes (1/2 cup capacity), sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Melt butter in small saucepan, add finely chopped onion. Stir over low heat for 2 mins ( or MW on HIGH for about 2 mins). Cook until onion is soft, it doesn’t have to become brown. Stir in flour and stir over medium heat for a minute. (or MW on HIGH for a min). Remove from heat, gradually stir in milk, bring back to heat and stir over high heat until mixture boils & thickens & reaches a thick sauce like consistency. (or MW on HIGH for about 3 mins).
Transfer to large bowl, stir in tomato paste & basil leaves. Cover the dish & let it stand for 5 mins. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks from. Add egg yolks to the onion & milk mixture & mix well. Fold the egg whites into the mixture in 2 batches. Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared dishes. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20- 25 mins or until lightly browned. Serves 4.


Healthier version: use brown bread crumbs & low fat milk. Also use yolks of only 2 eggs & white of 3 eggs. Use only lesser qty of butter, I used only 15 gms of butter.


Notes: The above qty serves 2 adults (main course) served with garlic bread or soup. You can use any oven safe dish to prepare this. The consistency  of this dish is more like a pudding. I didnt have basil with me, so I didnt add. The original recipe doesnt add any spices, but you can add crushed pepper while cooking onion, if you wish.
Substitute for tomato paste: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/312148

Molten Lava Cake

Sweet Punch for October was this ooey gooey wonder .This is an easy one to make, with very few ingredients.I mixed the batter a few hours before baking ,and left it in the refrigerator as I made this to serve for a dinner party.As this was refrigerated I had to bake an additional 10 minutes.Everyone who ate it was bowled our by its taste.
Recipe source - showmethecurry.com

Ingredients:

Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate – 4 oz (113g)
Butter – 4 oz (113g)
Eggs – 2
Sugar – 1/3 cup (75 g)
All-purpose Flour – 1/4 cup (40g)
Butter – for greasing ramekins

Method:

1. In a double boiler, melt chocolate.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat Eggs and Sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Once chocolate is melted, remove pan from heat and add in butter. Mix until the butter melts fully.
4. Add chocolate/butter mixture into the eggs, add all-purpose flour and mix until well incorporated.
5. Butter bottom and sides of ramekins (small glass/porcelain bowls) and pour in mixture about 3/4 way full.
6. Place ramekins on a baking tray and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 C) for 10 – 15 minutes. Shorter for gooey (molten) inside, longer for stiff inside.
7. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream

GOLDEN ONION QUICHE

This month for the Sweet punch challenge we had a savory dish as Ria thought that something savory would be good after a series of sweet stuff. For once I was glad instead of upset for not getting a chance to bake something sweet; the reason being its raining birthdays in our house.
This quiche was soooo.. good! I am not saying this for no reason. My family which includes my 9 year old daughter  my husband and me finished this whole quiche in one sitting. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in eating.... The last time I tried making a quiche I had left overs for a few days. But this time I already have requests from my family to make this again.The original recipe given by Ria used chicken which I substituted with potatoes. The caramelized onion and potatoes tasted so good together and I also added a teaspoon of chilli paste in the filling.

Serves 4
Ingredients:

For the pastry:
Maida -200g
Butter (frozen) -100g (preferably unsalted)
Baking powder-1/4 tsp
Salt-to taste
Beaten egg-1
Ice cold water-as required ( which will be a few drops)

Sieve maida ,salt and baking powder together. Grate in the butter and mix it with the flour with your fingertips till it resembles coarse sand.
Add in the beaten egg and water and gather it into a soft dough.
Roll it out on a lightly floured surface and lift it up carefully and line the tin that you will be baking it in.If it breaks up and you need to do a patch work, big deal! It wouldn't be seen outside! ;)
Which ever tin you are using, make sure the dough comes a little way up the sides, so that it can hold the filling in.

Filling:
Boiled and sliced potatoes-1/2 c
Onion-250 g ,chopped
Milk-1 c
Cheese-100g (cheddar will work fine)
Beaten eggs-3
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil- as needed.
Chilli paste-1 tsp
Heat oil and add in the onions and fry till onions have caramelized then add cubed potatoes and  slightly fry  till it is golden brown
Switch off the flame.
Add milk, cheese, beaten eggs, salt and pepper and mix well.
Pour into the pastry case and bake for 25 mins or till golden brown .

 Let it cool in the tin completely . Serve it in wedges.

Black Forest Roulade

It's time again for yet another Sweet Punch and the challenge for July was selected by Maria and it was a Black Forest Roulade or Swiss rolls  as it's commonly known.This was an easy and tasty Roulade .The only differance I made was using my own preserved cherries in lesser quantity as my daughter is not a cherry fan .And another change that I would do the next time I  make this would be to spread the whipped cream first, and then add the cherries as I think that would make spreading the cream easier.

Ingredients:
Dark chocolate - 200gm, chopped coarsely
Hot water - 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp
Eggs - 4, separated (room temp)
Caster sugar - 1/2 cup (110 gms)
Caster sugar - 1 tbsp, extra
Thickened cream - 3/4 - 1 cup
Kirsch - 1 tbsp

Cherry filling:
Seedless black cherries - 425gm can
Cornflour - 3 tsp
Kirsch - 1 tbsp

Position oven shelves; preheat oven to 180 C. Grease 25 cm/30 cm swiss roll pan; line base with baking paper. Combine chocolate, water and coffee in large heat proof bowl; sit bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Using wooden spoon, stir until chocolate melts then immediately remove bowl from fire.
Beat egg yolks & sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until thick & creamy; this will take about 5 minutes. Using large metal spoon, fold egg mixture into warm chocolate mixture. Beat egg whites in small bowl  with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Using metal spoon, gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, in two batches. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven about 10 mins.

Meanwhile, place a large sheet of baking paper on board; sprinkle with extra sugar. Turn cake onto sugared baking paper; carefully remove lining paper, cover cake loosely with a tea towel. Cool cake to room temp.

Beat cream & kirsch in small bowl with electric mixer until firm peaks form. Spread cake evenly with cooled cherry filling then spread Kirsch cream over cherry mixture. Roll cake from a long side, using paper to lift and guide the roll; place on serving plate. Dust with cocoa powder. Cover roll; refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. You can also dress up the roulade  with cherries or by piping some cream on top.

Cherry filling

Drain cherries, reserving 1/4 cup (60ml) of syrup. Using knife, chop cherries coarsely. Using wooden spoon blend cornflour and reserved syrup in a saucepan. Add cherries; stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, cool to room temp

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream filling

There is this bloggers group called "Sweet Punch", started by Ria, Divya and Maria, which conducts monthly baking challenges. I had joined this group as I love making and eating anything sweet. What more an excuse I need to try out new sweet dishes!
This is their second challenge. I somehow missed their first.
Our last month's challenge was to make Devil's Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream filling based on the recipe from  Baking Bites.


This recipe was quit simple, and I didn't have any difficulty following it. The problem, if I can say so, was the vanilla filling, which turned out a little lighter in consistency than expected - this was because I reduced the quantity of the all purpose flour mentioned in the recipe!. But when I kept the filling in the fridge for sometime, it thickened to the desired consistency somewhat.
Another thing that I goofed up was adding sugar the one that we get here in US to the Chocolate Buttercream instead of using confectioner's sugar which I think was called for in the recipe .Though the buttercream turned out a bit grainy we liked it that way.Lucky me.

As per my tasters, my daughter and my husband, this turned out to be one of my best cakes. The cupcakes were soft, moist and delicious and the vanilla filling was a sweet surprise which everyone liked.

Here is the recipe:

Recipe source - Baking Bites
Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream (low fat or full) -can be substituted with yogurt or cream mixed with a tsp of yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2-oz dark chocolate
1 cup water, boiling
Method

Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease two 12-cup muffin tins.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light.
Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by sour cream and vanilla extract.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
Add half of flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla extract, followed by the addition of the rest of the flour mix.
Stir well between each addition and mix until no streaks of flour remain.
Stir the cocoa powder and the dark chocolate into the boiling water (easiest in a large measuring cup).
Pour chocolate water into the rest of the batter and stir until uniform.
Evenly distribute batter into prepared baking cups. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. (It’s fine if you can’t fit both trays into the oven at the same time, just wait until one batch finishes before putting in the second pan)
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting and filling.


Vanilla Cream FillingChocolate Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat, with an electric mixer, until frosting is creamy, 3-5 minutes. Add additional powdered sugar as needed to achieve a thick, but not stiff, frosting that is easy to spread. Add additional milk, if necessary, to thin the frosting if it gets too thick.
Assembly
(A photo how-to of the assembly method can be found here.) Take a cooled cupcake and, using a small pairing knife, cut a cone of cake (1-inch across by 1-inch deep) out of the top. Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set aside and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.
Take the cream filling and squeeze a tablespoon or so into each cupcake cavity, filling the hole up to the top with filling. Top off with a flat circle of cake to plug the hole and keep the filling in place.

Using a butter knife or a small offset spatula, frost each cupcake with a layer of chocolate buttercream frosting. Place a dollop of icing in the center of the cupcake (on top of the cut out circle of cake) and spread from the center to the sides of the cupcake.
If you have leftover filling, transfer it to a fresh ziploc bag and cut a very small opening in one corner. Pipe a swirly line down the center of each cupcake.
Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

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