Heaven in a paper liner: Triple Chocolate Cupcakes.

Let's talk about the look in my eyes. What caused that?

 

Maybe I've been single too long. 

Maybe Grad school has made me crazy.

Maybe since I only ever hang out with girls (there are only 2 guys in my program, one married, one engaged)

Maybe it's because there is no cocoa bean, no sweet tooth fairy, no sprinkles, no creme de la creme. There's just me and my oven that cooks 25* hot... 

But I think the look in my eyes is because that cupcake I'm gazing at lovingly is likely the best thing that has passed through my lips since daddy took me to Brio, and even that's comparing apples and oranges. 

I shared these with people in my program, the local sister missionaries, and all of my professors... who has brownie cupcake points. This girl!!

Direct quotes:

"Zimmerman, I've had cupcakes from big fancy cupcake places, including Sprinkle's cupcakes, yours could stand up to any of them" -Wilkerson (who I later found out is diabetic... oops!)

"I tried to steal Wilkerson's before he realized what he had been given"- Wendy, the dept secretary

"I don't even like chocolate cake and that was the best cupcake I have ever eaten"-- Swift, department head

A real conversation:

Me, bearing cupcakes: "Happy International Chocolate Cupcake Day!"

Swift: "Ohh, we like Zimmerman."

Weems (graduate school dean): "But we didn't realize how much till just now"

So yeah. These are AMAZING. AND! I can't find the link for the recipe!! But! Never fear. In order to make them without getting my computer dirty, I wrote out the recipe! Unfortunately it means I can't site my source. But whoever you are. My mouth (and half of the population of Portales) thanks you!

Without Further Ado:

Milk Chocolate Cupcakes:

2/3 cup butter

1 3/4 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1/4 c sour cream
1 cup milk (I forgot to put this in the recipe and when I was making these for to impress someone I couldn't figure out why the batter was so darn thick!) 

1 1/4 c cocoa powder

1 1/4 c flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and brown sugar, add eggs and sour cream, and milk; mix till smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix till just combined. 

Fill 24 lined cupcake tins. (I know sizes/how full you like them varries, I ended up with 24 cupcakes and glass ramekins filled with deliciousness). 

Bake at 350* for 17-19 minutes. I've quit poking my cupcakes to check for doneness, I just tap the tops, if they stay depressed, not quite done. If they spring back up, perfect! 

Let the cupcakes cool COMPLETELY. (I made them before I went to institute for an hour and a half or so. They were cool when I got home)

Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling

(yup, you read that right. Don't let that Ganache word scare you-- it's easy peasy!)

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

1 cup heavy cream 

1 t vanilla

Mix all in a microwaveable bowl. Heat in microwave for about a minute on medium-high power, then mix it until it is smooth. At this point I let it sit for a few minutes to thicken to make it easier to work with. 

See what I mean! Easy. 

CHECK OUT THAT GANACHE! MMMMMMM. And also the cake texture. Perfect!

White Chocolate Butter-cream Frosting

Look close at the frosting! It's PERFECT. Light. Airy. Delicious!

1 cup white chocolate chips

2 sticks (1 cup) butter at room temp

6 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp Vanilla

2-4 Tbsp milk

Melt chips completely in microwave. (Heat on 50% power for a minute, stir. If not melted, put back in the microwave for 30 second increments on 50% power). 

Beat the white chocolate chips in with the butter till nice and creamy. 

Add powdered sugar and vanilla.

Slowly add just enough milk to get the right consistency. 

Assembly:

Take a serrated knife and cut a hole in the tops of the cupcakes (for me this wasn't a precise science, I just tried to make a hole that would allow enough ganache to make it worth while, you know?) Some bakers put tops over their filling, but why? It's going to be covered in frosting anyway... Use the tops for... snacking? Cakeballs? Feeding the ducks? 

Spoon the slightly thickened ganache into the hole made in your cupcake. 

You can always frost with a knife, but I like easy... so I put the frosting in a disposable piping bag, cut the tip off of it and piped an easy swirl on top of all 27 cupcakes! 

I put on chocolate sprinkles just for fun. 

Use these cupcakes to win friends and influence people. 

Or as a substitute for a love life... who needs men when you can have cupcakes.... (oh dear, but seriously)

Also, for easy transportation/mess fee use short clear Dixie cups. They're perfect size! You could even cover them, if you are ambitious. 

THE BEST Valentines Dessert EVER Part 2: The Filling!

Ok for the filling you've got 3 parts:
Again this all comes from The Sisters' Cafe. When I grow up I want to be like them!


1. The Chocolate Cake
This is the easiest part (even though none of it is really hard). 
I just used a boxed cake-- it was, however, I used Duncan Heinz Dark Chocolate cake. It was moist and delicious, and not too sweet (which was great because the mousse and drizzle are VERY sweet)


2./3. The White Chocolate Cream Drizzle and White Chocolate Almond Mousse (they start with the same base)
You'll need:
3 cups chilled whipping cream, divided
¼ cup butter, cut into pieces
1 lb good-quality white chocolate (again you hit the budget restrained college student-- I just used target brand white chocolate chips. They were delicious, but I'm sure it would be even better with something good, say Ghirardelli's)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
Red food coloring (it's Valentines day, I couldn't help myself!)

2. Making the White Chocolate Cream Drizzle - Bring 1 cup cream and butter to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate and stir until smooth. Whisk in vanilla.

Pour 1 ½ cups white chocolate mixture into a small bowl, add food coloring; cover and refrigerate until cold. 

Let remaining white chocolate mixture in saucepan stand at room temperature until lukewarm, about 20 minutes.

3. Making the White Chocolate & Almond Mousse - Using electric mixer, beat remaining 2 cups cream and almond extract in large bowl until peaks form. Working in 3 batches, fold in lukewarm white chocolate cream mixture. 

Refrigerate whipped cream just until medium peaks hold, folding occasionally, about 3 hours.

Serving your Chocolate Bowls -

Cube your delicious chocolate cake and place 4-5 cubes in each chocolate bowl. Generously spoon mousse on top and then generously drizzle with the white chocolate cream drizzle. So rich and delicious. 

Prior to the drizzle being put on. Go ahead: tell me you don't want one of these. You're LYING!

Bah! I wish this last picture wasn't over exposed (I'm still working on picture taking skills) You can't really see the pink drizzle on top. 

THE BEST Valentines Dessert EVER Part 1: The Chocolate Bowls

I'm not going to lie (and I have 15 other people who can back me up) this might be the most delicious recipe that I have ever made... It was so good.

You'll soon find out that sister's cafe is one of my most favorite blogs ever (and!! my sister just figured out that one of the sisters lives in my hometown and attends church in the same building as my family! How sweet is that? I love the small world!) So you can find the recipe there, but I'll also put it up with my pictures, and observations.

Edible Chocolate bowls with Dark Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Mousse and White Chocolate Drizzle
(I know-- there's so much chocolate in that title it's almost a crime... almost)

Chocolate Bowls: 


1 Pkg Chocolate Almond Bark (I'm sure you could use more expensive chocolate or melting chips-- but I'm on a college student budget, and I found it on sale at Target)
15 Balloons-- water balloons are what a lot of websites suggested, but I found that smaller party balloons-- 7" worked really really well and weren't as hard to blow up as water balloons.

In my cooking class we learned that despite what the directions say, the BEST way to melt dipping chocolate is to chop it like this:

Note the use of my Alaska Ulu and the cutting board it came with-- I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

and then melt it in the microwave in 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring well in between melting. The chocolate should never get hot, or even warm (some blogs talked about the balloons popping, but I made 30ish and had no popped balloons!)

Use a deep bowl to make dipping the balloons easier and keep lots of chocolate in the bowl. Place on cookie sheets with parchment paper covering. Let sit for a few hours, or over night, or outside when it's cold out-- but be careful, the sun might come out and you'll get melted bowls (this is the voice of experience speaking):

You just cut a little hole in the balloons and let the air leak out, then let them sit for a few minutes and then peel the balloon away from the chocolate carefully!

I used a brick of White Chocolate that I had lying around to decorate the inside-- cute huh?

But when they turn out well, you get something LOVELY like: