Jaffa Fudge Cupcakes
Jun. 26th, 2011 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentric in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
omnomnomSo today I had an attack of the intricate-baking-adventures, and in the process I think I invented a minor deity. Seriously, these cupcakes are unbelievable.
Somewhere in the dim dark origins of this recipe is a Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe from In the Kitchen.
Dietary notes: Not suitable for vegans or the lactose intolerant. I have a hunch it might work OK on almond meal (but wouldn't rise as well, so perhaps make it as a brownie slice instead of cupcakes) for the gluten intolerant, but haven't tested that yet. The alcohol isn't integral to the recipe but the coffee is.
Accessibility notes: This recipe is an arse and full of futzing about. It doesn't require an electric mixer, though, so that's one plus.
Equipment: You need either two medium-to-large saucepans, or one largeish saucepan one small saucepan and one largeish mixing bowl, or two small saucepans and two largeish mixing bowls. You also need two sets of spoons for stirring on the stove, and having more than one cup measure would also be great. If you're not Australian, you'll need a measuring cup with mililitres on it (or fluid ounces and a conversion table, or an Australian cups-to-weight conversion chart). A scale would also be handy. For the icing, you'll also need a small saucepan or microwave safe jug, but you should be able to re-use one of the ones from the cake. Of course, you'll need muffin pans. I recommend proper muffin trays, not drop scone trays; these are going to work best as *large* cupcakes.
Ingredients:
Note: cup measures are in Australian cups (250ml) and tablespoons are 20ml. Normally I'd say this doesn't matter much as long as you're consistent, but because there are measurements by weight for the chocolate, you'll need to be precise. The page I linked to under 'equipment' has a table of Australian cup measures to metric and imperial weights for various different dry ingredients.
250 grams butter
75 grams dark chocolate
75 grams white chocolate
1 cup caster sugar
Zest of 2 oranges
About 1 1/2 oranges of juice (this can't be precise- see instructions)
1 capful of Cointreau
1/2 cup strong coffee
About 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (also can't be precise - see instructions)
100 grams ground almonds (I ground my own, from slivered, in a blender)
2 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Instructions:
1. Get your two saucepans. Into each saucepan place half the butter and half the sugar. Place white chocolate in one saucepan and dark chocolate in another.
2. Melt over medium heat, stirring regularly.
3. When the chocolate is almost melted, add the coffee to the dark chocolate.
4. Place 1 capful of Cointreu in your measuring jug. Pour in orange juice until you reach half a cup (125 ml). If you want to go heavier on the grog, go nuts, but cut back on the juice. Add this mixture to the white chocolate, along with 2/3 of the zest (from two oranges).
5. When both mixtures are melted and smooth, remove from heat and allow to cool a little.
6. Stir half the almond meal into each mixture. Follow with 1/2 cup of flour (sifted, preferably, although I'm lazy and don't) into each mixture. Add one egg to each mixture.
7. Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the dark chocolate mixture. Stir well.
8. You will notice that the white chocolate mixture is much, much runnier than the dark chocolate one. Add small spoonfuls of flour until you get them to roughly the same consistency (they're never going to be perfect - the dark chocolate is going to be chocolatier and the white is going to be cakier; try to get them so that they run off a spoon at roughly the same speed, though). This will take somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup of flour.
9. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Get out your muffin trays and patty papers.
10. Spoon mixtures into patty papers, so that each cupcake is made up of roughly 50/50 white and dark, one on top of the other. Get a skewer or knife or chopstick and swirl them up a bit, but not enough to mix the batters completely.
11. Bake for 16 minutes on 180 degrees C. (Smaller cupcakes take less time; the white mixture rises a little faster than the dark, and obviously your oven may vary.)
Icing
The icing I'm using is a simple white chocolate ganache, with a shot of Cointreau and the leftover zest from the cake added to it. I'm not entirely happy with the ganache recipe in Campion and Curtis, so I suggest you use your own.
If you don't have a ganache recipe, Campion and Curtis will do:
Take 2 tbsp cream. Zap in microwave until just short of boiling (20-30 seconds). Add capful of Cointreau and the leftover zest. Add 90 grams of white chocolate, stir about until it's obvious the chocolate isn't melting any further. Zap for another 20 seconds or so. Stir until smooth, allow to cool a little.
I applied the ganache to the cupcakes by dunking them upside-down into it, but that produced a pretty thin coating. (Either the ganache or the cakes were too warm, perhaps.) You might want to slather or pipe the icing on.
Pictures over on my DW if anyone wants to see the finished product. :)
Somewhere in the dim dark origins of this recipe is a Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe from In the Kitchen.
Dietary notes: Not suitable for vegans or the lactose intolerant. I have a hunch it might work OK on almond meal (but wouldn't rise as well, so perhaps make it as a brownie slice instead of cupcakes) for the gluten intolerant, but haven't tested that yet. The alcohol isn't integral to the recipe but the coffee is.
Accessibility notes: This recipe is an arse and full of futzing about. It doesn't require an electric mixer, though, so that's one plus.
Equipment: You need either two medium-to-large saucepans, or one largeish saucepan one small saucepan and one largeish mixing bowl, or two small saucepans and two largeish mixing bowls. You also need two sets of spoons for stirring on the stove, and having more than one cup measure would also be great. If you're not Australian, you'll need a measuring cup with mililitres on it (or fluid ounces and a conversion table, or an Australian cups-to-weight conversion chart). A scale would also be handy. For the icing, you'll also need a small saucepan or microwave safe jug, but you should be able to re-use one of the ones from the cake. Of course, you'll need muffin pans. I recommend proper muffin trays, not drop scone trays; these are going to work best as *large* cupcakes.
Ingredients:
Note: cup measures are in Australian cups (250ml) and tablespoons are 20ml. Normally I'd say this doesn't matter much as long as you're consistent, but because there are measurements by weight for the chocolate, you'll need to be precise. The page I linked to under 'equipment' has a table of Australian cup measures to metric and imperial weights for various different dry ingredients.
250 grams butter
75 grams dark chocolate
75 grams white chocolate
1 cup caster sugar
Zest of 2 oranges
About 1 1/2 oranges of juice (this can't be precise- see instructions)
1 capful of Cointreau
1/2 cup strong coffee
About 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (also can't be precise - see instructions)
100 grams ground almonds (I ground my own, from slivered, in a blender)
2 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Instructions:
1. Get your two saucepans. Into each saucepan place half the butter and half the sugar. Place white chocolate in one saucepan and dark chocolate in another.
2. Melt over medium heat, stirring regularly.
3. When the chocolate is almost melted, add the coffee to the dark chocolate.
4. Place 1 capful of Cointreu in your measuring jug. Pour in orange juice until you reach half a cup (125 ml). If you want to go heavier on the grog, go nuts, but cut back on the juice. Add this mixture to the white chocolate, along with 2/3 of the zest (from two oranges).
5. When both mixtures are melted and smooth, remove from heat and allow to cool a little.
6. Stir half the almond meal into each mixture. Follow with 1/2 cup of flour (sifted, preferably, although I'm lazy and don't) into each mixture. Add one egg to each mixture.
7. Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the dark chocolate mixture. Stir well.
8. You will notice that the white chocolate mixture is much, much runnier than the dark chocolate one. Add small spoonfuls of flour until you get them to roughly the same consistency (they're never going to be perfect - the dark chocolate is going to be chocolatier and the white is going to be cakier; try to get them so that they run off a spoon at roughly the same speed, though). This will take somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup of flour.
9. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Get out your muffin trays and patty papers.
10. Spoon mixtures into patty papers, so that each cupcake is made up of roughly 50/50 white and dark, one on top of the other. Get a skewer or knife or chopstick and swirl them up a bit, but not enough to mix the batters completely.
11. Bake for 16 minutes on 180 degrees C. (Smaller cupcakes take less time; the white mixture rises a little faster than the dark, and obviously your oven may vary.)
Icing
The icing I'm using is a simple white chocolate ganache, with a shot of Cointreau and the leftover zest from the cake added to it. I'm not entirely happy with the ganache recipe in Campion and Curtis, so I suggest you use your own.
If you don't have a ganache recipe, Campion and Curtis will do:
Take 2 tbsp cream. Zap in microwave until just short of boiling (20-30 seconds). Add capful of Cointreau and the leftover zest. Add 90 grams of white chocolate, stir about until it's obvious the chocolate isn't melting any further. Zap for another 20 seconds or so. Stir until smooth, allow to cool a little.
I applied the ganache to the cupcakes by dunking them upside-down into it, but that produced a pretty thin coating. (Either the ganache or the cakes were too warm, perhaps.) You might want to slather or pipe the icing on.
Pictures over on my DW if anyone wants to see the finished product. :)
no subject
on 2011-06-26 04:27 pm (UTC)I have a question, though: the ingredients you list include dark and milk chocolate, but your instructions refer to white chocolate. Can you clarify?
no subject
on 2011-06-26 11:57 pm (UTC)Let me know how the gluten-free version works! I have a good gluten-free blend myself, but I've never used it on a heavy sort of cake like this.
no subject
on 2011-06-27 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
on 2011-06-27 03:41 am (UTC)I'm about to launch into making a batch of this cake--I think as a loaf rather than as cupcakes. I shall report.
no subject
on 2011-07-21 05:56 am (UTC)I modified it a bit--instead of cupcakes, I made a loaf cake. I substituted gluten free flour blend, and used orange extract in place of the Cointreau. It came out DELICIOUS!
This is a keeper of a recipe, and I'll be trying it again. I think the only thing I will do differently next time is the icing: I feel like the flavor of the white chocolate came through too strongly, so I'd make a simple orange-juice-and-confectioner's-sugar frosting next time, or maybe an orange juice or marmalade glaze under a thin chocolate ganache.
Loads of possibilities!
Anyway, thank you for the excellent recipe. The preparation technique is different from anything I've tried before, and the result is rich and moist and yummy.
no subject
on 2011-07-21 06:05 am (UTC)