Alphabake: C: Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes

Where to begin...I have always considered cupcakes to be a fairly simple dessert to make. I had been eying this recipe from Elinor Klivans' Cupcakes! for quite some time and it proved to be the most challenging one I have ever tackled. Don't get me wrong, they were absolutely delicious! The cake itself was rich and fudgy and once it was filled with the mocha-flavoured mousse and topped with a fudgy sauce, the result was decadent beyond belief! The problem with these cakes was that they took a couple of tries followed by a bit of improvisation. The recipe requests the use of paper cupcake liners. USE THESE!!! For my first attempt, I did not have any liners around and decided to just grease the pan. Because the tops of the cupcakes expand over the edge of the individual cups, you cannot really use a knife to wedge them out. I ended up creating quite a mess. When I used the liners in my second attempt, the cakes came out much more easily. I just greased the top of the cake pan in order to keep the tops of the cakes from sticking to it.

The other problem I had was with the muffin tops. The recipe calls for you to fill the paper liners quite generously in order to create a large top. Once the cakes cool, you are to cut the tops off, cover them with fudge sauce, place a mound of the mousse on the base, and then create a sandwich. I am not sure if it was the sour cream in the batter that makes them really moist or if it was my wonky, unevenly heated oven, but both times I tried, the tops expanded and then sank. They ended up being very fragile. When I went to cut them off, only two survived. Once they had been iced and they were ready to go on top of the mousse, the part that was not being supported broke off (see the pictures at the bottom of this post). What I ended up doing for the rest of them was stack two "topless" cakes on top of one another. If I were to make this recipe again, I would repeat my stacking method and I would avoid creating any top on the cakes by filling the liners up with half of the requested amount of batter.

All in all, if you are up for a bit of a challenge, these cupcakes are a tasty treat!

Cupcake Batter

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt (or a pinch)

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup water

Topping and Filling

¾ cup heavy whipping cream

2 Tbs unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces

9 oz (1 ½ cups) semisweet chocolate chips

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream

2 Tbs powdered sugar

1 tsp instant coffee granules

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

For the cupcakes, put the 3 oz of chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on a medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture looks creamy and the colour has lightened slightly, about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each liner with a generous 1/3 cup of batter (about 6 Tbs), to just below the top of the liner.* Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack.

Use a small knife to loosen any tops that might have stuck to the top of the pan. Carefully place the wire rack on top of the cupcakes in their pan. Protecting your hands with pot holders and holding the pan and rack together, invert them to release the cupcakes onto the wire rack. Turn the cupcakes top side up to cool completely.

For the fudge sauce that will be used for both the topping and filling, in a medium saucepan heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. The mixture should form tiny bubbles but not get to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate chips, and let them sit in the hot cream for about 30 seconds to soften. Add the vanilla and whisk the sauce until it is smooth and all of the chocolate has melted.

Frost the cupcakes. Use a sharp knife to slice the top off each cupcake, and place the tops right side up on a wire rack.* Place the cupcake bottoms on a serving platter; set aside. Spread 1 Tbs of the warm chocolate sauce over each top. Let sit until the sauce is firm.

To make the filling, put the additional chocolate sauce in a large bowl and set aside. In another large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed beat the cream, powdered sugar and coffee granules until the coffee dissolves, about 1 minute. Beat on medium-high speed until firm peaks form. Whisk about 1 cup of the whipped cream into the chocolate sauce until no white streaks remain. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining whipped cream. Using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon, place a scoop of mousse on each cupcake bottom. Using a wide metal spatula, carefully place the cupcake tops on top of the mousse. Refrigerate to firm the chocolate topping, then cover and keep refrigerated. They can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold.

* See introduction for notes on this