Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Since I am on my cupcakes kick, I got this recipe from my friend Sam. The only problem I found with the recipe, is that they don't come out as dome cupcakes, they are kind of concave... I like dome cupcakes. The concaveness of them makes a good spot for the chocoloate mousse and ganache to sit, but I would have rather had my dome cupcakes! I did half the cupcakes with the chocolate mousse in the center, and the others with just the ganache. Here is the recipe!

Makes 16 regular cupcakes.

•1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

•1-1/4 cups sugar

•2 large eggs, room temperature

•3/4 cup flour

•1/2 teaspoon baking powder

•1/4 teaspoon baking soda

•1/4 teaspoon salt

•1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

•1/2 cup milk

•1 teaspoons vanilla

•2/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.Beat butter until softened.

2.Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3.Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.

4.Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.

5.Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.

6.Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine.

7.Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.

8.Stir in chocolate chips.

9.Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 1/2 full.

10.Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

 

Chocolate Mousse

•8 raw eggs, separated (If you are concerned about egg safety, read my post on eggs. I used pasteurized eggs.)

•8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger)

•1 Tbsp. brandy

•3 Tbsp. coffee (I was too lazy to make coffee so I used 2 t of coffee extract instead.)

Beat the egg yolks until they are yellow. Place the broken-up chocolate in a small oven-proof dish; pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and put it in a hot oven and let the chocolate melt until it almost gets thick. Take it out of the oven and mix with a beater or wire whisk, adding the egg yolks. After they are incorporated, add the brandy. Whip the egg whites until they are foamy and hold soft peaks. Take two Tbsp. of egg whites and add the chocolate, then fold in the rest of the egg whites carefully. Pour the mixture into a glass bowl or individual serving dishes, and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours; the mousse will thicken up as it chills.

Chocolate Ganache
•3.5 oz of dark chocolate broken into small pieces (I used Patric chocolate)


•1/3 C heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a small glass bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just starts to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted and integrated with the cream. While it is still warm, spread a thin layer of it over the cupcakes. It will harden when it cools

This recipe is from the Cupcake Project