Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
I feel badly that I'm publishing my Valentine's Day post a day late, but I had to take a sick day yesterday. On Valentine's Day of all days! Oh well. Better late than never, right? Plus, these Chocolate Sour Cream cupcakes aren't just for Valentine's Day, even though I made them just for the occasion.
Peter is the chocoholic in our household. I like chocolate well enough, but fruit desserts are what I adore. For these cupcakes, though, I compete with Peter for the chocoholic title. It's the only recipe I use when I want to make chocolate cupcakes. It comes from a cupcake cookbook that my mother-in-law gifted to me and my sister-in-law a few years ago. The author and pastry chef's batter recipe includes sour cream, one of my favorite ingredients to use in baking. It gives the batter a light and fluffy texture that results in an incredibly moist and tender cupcake with intense chocolate flavor from unsweetened chocolate.
Although the recipe is perfection in my opinion, my cupckae-making skills are another matter altogether. It never fails: every blessed time I go to make cupcakes, I over-fill the liners and wind up ruining half the batch because they rise too much and stick to the outer edges of the pan. You simply can't save cupcakes that have stuck to the cupcake pan. I'm not complaining though and neither is Peter. We were happy to gobble up a few of the rejects. My baking mishap never tasted so good.
The second batch was a complete success and finally blog-worthy with the exception of a few cupcakes which broke free of their liners in a few spots. If there are any expert cupcake bakers out there reading this post, can you please tell me why this happens? It was disappointing, but at least it didn't happen to the entire second batch, and we were happy to gobble up those rejects too! The "problems" of being a food blogger...
Frosting and decorating the cupcakes was my favorite part of making this dessert. I found adorable pink and red polka dotted liners, coarse red sugar crystals and pink, red and white nonpareil sprinkles to turn these into adorable Valentine's Day treats. The cream cheese icing is scented with vanilla extract for extra flavor and I piped the icing onto each cupcake using a large star tip. I'm not very experienced in the Piping Frosting department, but I found it to be a lot of fun, so it's definitely something I want to keep practicing, which means I guess I'll have to make more of these. It's a good thing cupcakes aren't just for special occasions.
A very happy {belated} Valentine's Day!
Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans
Makes 18 regular-size cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup {1 stick} unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream {not fat-free}
1/2 cup waterLine 2 standard size cupcake pans with paper liners {you will line all of one pan and only 1/2 of the other}. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water {double boiler} and stir frequently until the choclate is completely melted. Remove the bowl of chocolate from the pot of water and set it aside to cool slightly.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar over medium speed until well combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the melted chocolate and blend to combine. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each one is evenly incorporated into the batter. Add in the vanilla extract and beat the mixture until it is creamy in consistency and light in color, about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream and blend until it is completely incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in half of the flour mixture, blending just until it is incorporated into the batter. Add in all of the water and mix until blended. Mix in the remaining flour mixture and blend until the batter is completely smooth.
Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, transfer the batter to the lined cupcake pans, filling each liner only halfway. Tap each cupcake pan on the counter a couple of times to release any air pockets in the batter.
Bake for about 15 minutes, rotating the cupcake pans halfway through the baking time to ensure even cooking. Check the cupcakes often to make sure they are not overcooking. When a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, the cupcakes are cooked.
Cool the cupcakes completely in the cupcake pans set on a cooling rack. Store the unfrosted cupakes in a single layer in a covered container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
For the Vanila Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-ounce bar cream cheese {not fat-free}, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Sprinkles {optional}In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese until smooth. Turn the mixer off and sift the confectioner's sugar directly into the bowl with the cream cheese. Add the vanilla extract. Start mixing over low speed to slowly incorporate the confectioner's sugar into the cream cheese. Once most of the confectioner's sugar has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 1 minute until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.
Frost the cooled cupcakes using a small metal offset spatula or butter knife; or, transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe the frosting onto each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles if using.
Store frosted cupcakes in a single layer in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
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I have that cookbook too and love it. You've reminded me that I need to refer to it more often. These cuppies look wonderfully chocolatey. I am also more of a fruit dessert person, but my house is filled with chocolate lovers. I need to make some of these for them.
They look delish Flavia!! Chocolate is for everyday, not just Valentine's Day...in my opinion!! :) Hope you're feeling better.
Yummm I love chocolate cupcakes, and the sour cream is a great idea to make them more moist. I will try it next time for sure!
Those are really cute! I'm always embarassed about how the frosting looks on my cupcakes!