Chocolate Cupcakes

It's been months since I last posted here!  My blog entries folder is full and I have yet to get my groove back in blogging.

Thought I'd like to share part of my quest in finding the ultimate chocolate cupcake recipe for Nards.  Have I mentioned he's a certified chocoholic?  He has a very discriminating taste on anything with chocolate.  Especially on baked goods.

I found this recipe online and thought I'd give it a whirl.

I'm old school.  I write all my recipes down on this notebook.

Recipe called for the usual ingredients plus lemon juice.  It's my first time to use this on chocolate cupcakes.

Sift the dry ingredients.

The recipe said to combine a cup of milk and 1 tbsp of lemon juice and to heat it in the microwave for a minute or so.

Mix the dry and the wet ingredients.  I love it when the eggs are fresh. :)

Lined two muffin trays with paper liners that I got from the Cocoa Pantry. (Safe to say na suki na ako dito. :P  Thank heavens I can buy from them online.)

I used a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop the batter onto the liners.  I like to be precise.  Borderline OC ako when it comes to baking.  It's at this stage that Nards wants to sprinkle a pinch of sugar just to throw me off.  I swear.

After 20 mins at 350C.

Cooling on the wire rack.

Let me just say at this point, that the cupcakes got overbaked.  I didn't want to buy a kitchen timer, so I use my phone for an alarm.  Unfortunately, my phone rang (Nan, calling from a photobooth gig) and the alarm automatically went on snooze.  So this batch stayed in the oven 3-4 minutes more than it should.  Suffice to say, that it's no longer moist. 

The next batch stayed exactly for 20 minutes, but that was also overbaked.  I'll have to adjust the baking time to 13-15 minutes next time.

With that said, I took a few hours to decide what to do with the cupcakes.  On one hand, I had a can of dulce de leche that I made a month or so ago.  On the other hand, I had a block of bittersweet chocolate, heavy whipped cream and butter.  But this is for Nards so the dulce de leche went back to the pantry.  Besides, he likes that on banana cream pies.

Very simple recipe for chocolate ganache.

Chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Cream plus the butter on medium heat.  Bring to a boil and...

...pour over the chopped chocolate.  Let it sit for 5 minutes or so.

Mix until well blended, carpal tunnel syndrome or not.

So did Nards like it?  He had three yesterday: one pre-frosting, and two after I slathered ganache on it.  Then he had two after breakfast today.  

I guess he liked it. :)

He liked it more after it was refrigerated.   Go figure. :D