This week I am feeling incredibly blessed. Here are a few things that I am so thankful for this week: getting a big bag of clothes that are either my size or my little sister's, a wonderful mom's 50th birthday, 104 beautiful chocolate cupcakes, good friends both at home and at softball games with root beer floats after, my husband whom I love so much and who takes such good care of me, my little brother coming for a visit... I could go on and on! i love how God takes care of us, even in the little things in life. It has just been a good week!
My mom's birthday is today, and she turned 50! I used to think that my mom and I were really drastically different, which is true in some respects because I do tend to take more after my Dad's side of the family, but recently I have really come to realize that I am more like her than I thought. I think it is becoming more evident as I get older :) It has been really fun to be married and talk to her and learn from her and I look forward to doing so for many more years!
Last weekend, my sisters and I threw a big surprise birthday for her back home. To this point in my life, I have never witnessed such a shocked reaction to a birthday party! It was fantastic :) The party was a week before her actual birthday, and since my Dad has this "problem" of not being able to keep a secret or lie (especially to my mom), Mom wasn't suspecting a thing because she knew Dad wasn't organizing it- and he wasn't. I did tell him about all the plans on Thursday before the party which was on Saturday, (because of course, I can't keep a secret either!). He informed me shortly after arriving at the party that he did accidentally slip once that day, mentioning something about us being at the farm, but my little brother, who also knew nothing about the party, covered for him beautifully. Go figure.
For this party, my older sister Amanda and I decided that everything needed to be as black and white as possible, so all chocolate desserts was a must. Although I have made over 100 cupcakes at one time before, I have never had to make that many and travel great distances with them! My parents live about 6 hours from us here in Omaha, and since it is June, I was a little concerned about the heat. Everything went more smoothly than I could have imagined, and the only "disaster" I can contrive was when one cupcake "slipped" into my little sister, leaving the side of the frosting in the shape of her hand :) I'm pretty sure it was eventually eaten as well, however.
Today I am giving you the recipe for the Triple Chocolate cupcakes, and they are truly triple. The cake is milk chocolate with a generous scoop of rich dark chocolate filling and all topped off with a white chocolate buttercream frosting. Over the next week I will be posting about two of the other cupcakes from the party as well.
Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes about 24
For the milk chocolate cupcakes:
6 oz. milk chocolate chips
2 sticks plus 6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
6 eggs, at room temperature
For dark chocolate filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
pinch salt
8 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
For the white chocolate frosting*:
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 sticks butter, cut into 16 pieces, at room temperature
4 oz. white chocolate chips
*Note: For the party, I actually doubled the frosting recipe that I have given you. With the double batch, we were able to frost the 24 cupcakes with generous mounds of frosting, and had enough leftover to frost 12 more cupcakes. This is why I did not double the recipe here. Feel free to double the frosting if you would like, but the single recipe should be adequate.
1. Begin by preheating your oven to 350° and making sure that an oven rack is in the middle of your oven. Place paper cupcake liners of your choice in two cupcake tins and set aside.
2. To make the cupcakes, place the chocolate and the butter in a double broiler over simmering (not boiling) water in a saucepan on the stove. You can also use a glass bowl if you do not have a double broiler. Make sure that the bottom of the double broiler or the bowl does not touch the water. Stir frequently until the butter and chocolate are melted and smooth. Transfer the chocolate to a large mixing bowl and let it cool to room temperature.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. When the chocolate has cooled in the large bowl, stir in the sugar with a wooden spoon. Next, stir in the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth after each addition. Gently fold in the flour mixture, being careful to not overmix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pans until the papers are about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, rotating the cupcakes half way through the baking time. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the dark chocolate filling. In a small sauce pan, bring the cream, the corn syrup, and the salt to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the chocolate chips. Allow to mixture to set for several minutes, then stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate chips are melted and the the filling is smooth. Let the filling cool slightly so that is it just warm when you are ready to fill the cupcakes.
6. When the cupcakes are cool, use a small knife to cut a well in the center of each cupcake. The piece you remove from the cupcake should be about 1-1/2 inches across and 1 inch deep. Fill each cupcake with about 1 tablespoon of the dark chocolate filling. Allow the filling to set before frosting the cupcakes.
7. To make the white chocolate frosting, begin by heating the white chocolate in a double broiler until is it just melted. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool.
8. Meanwhile, combine the egg whites and the sugar in a double broiler over simmering water. Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reads about 160° on a thermometer. If you do not have a thermometer, just heat the mixture until it is very warm to the touch. Transfer the eggs and sugar to a large clean bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the it has cooled to room temperature and can hold stiff peaks. Make sure that the mixture does not look dry, however.
9. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the salt and butter a few pieces at a time. Make sure each addition of butter is fully combined before adding more. Once the butter is all added, beat the frosting on high speed until it is smooth and creamy. If the frosting is runny, just continue to mix and it will take shape eventually, but you might have to beat it several minutes. Reduce the mixer to low and add in the cooled white chocolate until well combined. Frost the cooled and filled cupcakes immediately. Enjoy!
Source: Adapted from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski. And special thanks to AmandaJean Photos for the great pictures!
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