Monday 8 April 2013

Ina Garten's German Chocolate Cupcakes

German Chocolate Cupcakes

There are so many different recipes for chocolate cake out there that it's difficult to choose a favourite. I suppose it depends on the occasion and what you fancy at the time of baking. Of the intense, rich recipes that use real chocolate in the batter, I love Nigel Slater's Chocolate Espresso Cake from quite an old book of his, Real Food. The cake is moist inside with a slightly crisp exterior which is simply heavenly. And I was really pleased with the chocolate and pumpkin cake I made last year. The recipe I use most often though is just a classic sponge recipe with cocoa replacing some of the flour, you can find the recipe for a mini version filled with a nutella cream here.

Considering this wealth of recipes, I wasn't particularly tempted to try these cupcakes from Ina Garten when I came across them in her book Barefoot Contessa Foolproof. I was also put off by the long list of ingredients. However, when I peered into the fridge and realised that I had a carton of buttermilk and half a tub of sour cream that desperately needed using up, I thought I'd give them a try.

Reader, I loved them.

The cupcakes are intensely chocolatey and so moist as to defy belief. They immediately became my absolute favourite recipe for individual chocolate cakes although I don't know if the mixture would work as a whole, large cake, I suspect it would sink in the middle. That's by the bye though - these are perfect as they are. I didn't however top the cupcakes with the coconut frosting that Ina suggests, delicious though it sounds. I preferred to use a classic cream cheese icing and it worked perfectly, the smooth sweet icing providing a perfect foil to the rich, dark centre.

As I followed the recipe for the cakes exactly, I'm not going to reproduce it in this post but you can find it here. Below, I've included the recipe for the cream cheese icing I used.

As this month's Tea Time Treats theme is Fairy Cakes, Muffins and Cupcakes, I'm happily sending this along to Kate from What Kate Baked (congratulations on turning 2!) who hosts this fabulous challenge along with Karen from the always inspirational Lavender and Lovage.




RECIPE

  • For the cake, click here


For the icing

100g cream cheese, at room temperature
200g sifted icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Beat the cream cheese and vanilla essence together with an electric whisk until smooth. Add the icing sugar in three batches, whisking in each batch before adding the next. Put aside in the fridge to set a little otherwise it will be too runny to ice the cakes.


Ina Garten Chocolate Cupcakes

12 comments:

  1. You have made these sound so good, I am going to have to try them for myself. It;s so often the way, I find, that the recipes I'm most reluctant to make, are the ones I like the most. And as for the sheer quantity of chocolate cakes, well I've made so many I've lost count and I don't think I'm ever going to run out of new ones to try. Your cakes look very dainty and pretty.

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    1. Naturally I bow down to your superior chocolate cake knowledge and expertise! I'd love to hear which are your favourites from all the one you've tried. But glad that you're tempted to try these too, they are lovely!

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  2. When I was a little girl German Chocolate Cake was THE thing. It was made from a special kind of chocolate and the coconut frosting was the defining part of the cake. It was never a pretty cake, far too moist to look beautiful, but it was delicious. I recommend you try it with the coconut frosting. Then you will experience a taste of my childhood! Thank you for a wonderful post and a happy memory!

    Debs : )x

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    1. Thank you! I didn't realise that German Chocolate cake had been so fashionable! Wish I'd tried the coconut icing now - oh well, I'll just have to make them again!

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  3. They look so delicious and sound amazing, I've tried so many chocolate cake recipes and they've not been quite right - must give these a go!

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    1. I don't think I'm going to make any others after trying these! Think I might vary the icing though...

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  4. Chocolate always makes me happy.

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    1. It definitely has that 'feel-good' factor! Thanks for dropping by!

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  5. I'm sold!! I love it when a recipe turns out so perfect there won't be another version you'll ever need to turn to. Thank you for entering these into TTT!

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    1. Thanks Kate! Yes, I'll definitely be stickng with these for the foreseeable future but might ring the changes with the icing - just seen that Ina also does these with a peanut butter icing as well as the classic coconut one...wow!

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  6. Your cuppies look good, I think a very chocolatey cupcake is a good thing. I agree with you re Ina's Foolproof recipes books, I also have this book and it does include recipes with a long list of ingredients x

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    1. These are really chocolatey, gooey and delicious!

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