So last weekend, I finally got round to making the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting from my Primrose Bakery book that I'd been planning since October.
Making the base used pretty much every bowl in my house -there was chocolate to melt, egg yolks to beat, sugar and butter to cream, egg whites to peak - then there was sifting, mixing and folding - all of which took ages. But once they were in the oven all my hard work seemed to be paying off as the smell of chocolate wafting through my house was making my mouth water. The frosting was also a first for me - when I've made chocolate frosting before it's called for cocoa powder, however this recipe called for lashings of freshly melted dark chocolate, which I had to stop Manny from drinking out of the pyrex jug I'd melted it in!
I could barely get them frosted quickly enough for Manny who was hovering round the kitchen waiting to lick the frosting bowl clean. No Maison Cupcake left-over frosting issues in my kitchen! I could use Manny standing eagerly waiting for me to finish as an excuse for my slap-dash approach to cupcake decorating but I really prefer them to look home-made rather than fancy, which is just as well as my attempts at fancy haven't really worked! Next time though I'd just leave them plain without sprinkles or use the chocolate sprinkles as I think the colour sprinkles look a bit odd on the chocolate frosting! The silver balls are for Manny as he loves them for some reason - I find they just hurt my teeth!
So, the important part - how did they taste? Firstly I'm not a fan of chocolate frosting (much to Manny's horror) and I found this frosting to be one of the nicest I've ever tasted. It was almost like a thick chocolate mousse and not too sweet (maybe due to the dark chocolate in it?). The base was really soft and very chocolaty - the denseness of the chocolate reminded me of a chocolate brownie, but the sponge was lighter. All in all one of the nicest cupcakes I've ever baked. If you're a fan of chocolate cupcakes, or know someone who is, I highly recommend the Primrose recipe - these would be perfect to give to friends or neighbours as a gift - especially if your decorating skills are better than mine!
Oh and I also highly recommend the Squires cupcake cases I bought some time ago - this is the second time I used them and they are by far the best.
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3 comments:
Sounds like your hard work paid off - it does sound like quite a lot was involved, I think my Rachel Allen Red Velvet Cake turned into an epic like that.
If you are interested in improving food photos I really recommend the 2hr session I went to at Scandinavian Kitchen organised by Helen from A Forkful of Spaghetti blog. It was well worth it and you get to eat the food too.
Thanks for the link! Much appreciated!
Even though I'm obviously biased, I can honestly say these were some of the nicest cupcakes I have EVER tasted!! I could have eaten the whole lot, it's just as well you took some to work!
They look perfectly fine, we've had a good few cakes with perfectly piped frosting that have been tasteless or stale. I'd much rather have a delicious cake with the frosting piled on, and these RULED :) I can't wait for you to make more, you really should get a stall at one of the markets!
I'm proud of you hun xxxx
@Sarah - there was quite a lot of work but they were really nice so I'm glad! Red Velvet is just a bit much for me - messy and after I made the cream cheese frosting I couldn't eat it even though it was v.nice!
I'm not making excuses but my camera does keep having moments and wont focus etc - its probably the first Sony digital camera that was invented - its deffo time for a new one. I was thinking of maybe doing a photography class though - I did a year of it at uni but that was pre-digital :)
@Manny - you did eat pretty much all of them tubby ;)
Aw you're too sweet to me x
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