Black Forest Cupcakes

I haven't had Black Forest Cake in a reallly long time, and the perfect opportunity presented itself just this past weekend. Last week was my father's 60th birthday (Holy moley, 60!!), and I like to quickly add that my dad does not look like he's 60. Sure he's got a head full of more white and grey hairs than black, but that's been going on since I was born, so no big difference there. He could whip my butt both mentally and physically- he completed his Doctorate degree in 2009 while working full-time, and attending a school that required a trip to Chicago nearly every other weekend. He's sharp as can be, and definitely someone that I frequently consult in relation to school, work and life issues. Not to mention he's in way better shape than me! I wouldn't stand a chance against him in pretty much all physically-related competitions.

So this weekend, we planned a surprise party for him on Sunday. The whole family (his side) showed up at the same time, and the afternoon was filled with games, good eats and fun times. Something that you may not know about me is that I'm 100% German, besides the fact that I was born in Canada. Both sides of my family are German, and my father and his family moved to Canada when he was about 6 years old I believe. So Black Forest Cake was really the best choice, as it's a traditional German cake and one that the family loves!

This cake was easy peasy, despite the multiple components, and it came out perfectly. The cake was nice and light, filled with a not too sweet cherry filling, and topped with beautifully fluffy whipped cream, shaved chocolate and a fresh cherry. One thing that I'm not a fan of is really heavy cakes, that you can only have a small piece of without feeling sick to your stomach afterwards, and this cupcake is the complete opposite of that. You really can't go wrong.

There are a couple things to note from this recipe: 1) I found that the original made wayyy too much of the filling, which was OK because I had made mini cheesecakes and it could be used as a topping (to come in a later post), but not OK otherwise. I've reflected my changes below. 2) These instructions ask you to melt the butter and sugar together before beating, which is a method I'm not overly familiar with. Because I liked the recipe so much I used it again today for a different cupcake (again, to come in a later post), and I found that using the melting method vs. the traditional beating room temperature butter and sugar together made no difference. The cupcakes came out the same; the only real difference was that the melted batter was much more viscous than the non-melted batter. Is viscous the right word there? I think so. 3) The original recipe wouldn't have made nearly enough whipped cream for my taste, so if you're like me and like a good amount on top, double the amounts.

Yield: 22 cupcakes
Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I finally found this ingredient at Costco!)
½ cup hot water
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (either at room temperature or not, depending on the method you use)
1½ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature

For the cherry filling:

8oz. frozen cherries, thawed and chopped*
2-3tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)

For the frosting (double if you're a big fan of frosting): **

1½ cups heavy cream, chilled
6 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For garnish:

Fresh (or maraschino) cherries

Chocolate shavings

*Note: You can use either tart or sweet cherries for this filling depending on your personal tastes and what is available to you. Feel free to adjust the sugar as needed to achieve your desired level of sweetness or tartness in the filling. 

**Note: I have found that whipped cream can break down over time, as it doesn't have a stabilizer naturally. The confectioners' sugar helps, but if I know the whipped cream will be sitting for awhile, I add in an additional stabilizer from Dr. Oetker called Whip It, which really helps. If you haven't heard of it, you can check it out here.

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚ F and line standard cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and the sugar over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally to combine, until the butter is melted. Remove the mixture from the heat and transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low speed, 4-5 minutes, until the mixture is cooled. Alternatively, you can beat together room temperature butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Both methods yield the same result. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and then the cocoa mixture and beat until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, beating just until combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, drain the thawed and chopped berries, reserving the juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough water so that the total liquid equals ¾ cup. Add the liquid to a medium saucepan with the sugar and cornstarch. Heat over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken. Continue whisking so no lumps form. Once it reaches a certain temperature, it will thicken very quickly. Once thickened, remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice and krisch, if using. Fold in the drained cherries with a spatula. Cover and chill until ready to use. To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the centre of each cupcake. Remove the bottom half of the cone that you cut out, reserving the top to put back onto the cupcake once it is filled (and eat the pieces that you won't use!). Fill each with a spoonful of the cherry filling and place the top back on.

To make the whipped cream frosting, start by cooling your stand mixer bowl, either by placing it in your fridge, freezer, or outside in these winter temperatures for a few minutes. This helps to whip the cream faster. Add the heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. If using Dr. Oetker's Whip It, add it in as well. Beat on medium-low speed for 30 seconds before increasing the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form, but be careful not to overbeat.

Frost the filled cupcakes with the whipped cream.  Garnish as desired with cherries and chocolate shavings. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

Source: slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

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Cherry Chip 'Rose' Cupcakes

Hello again everyone, this is Part II of my posts for Emily's Surprise Bridal Shower, and there is yet one more to come! Luckily, this one will be relatively short, as it calls for a recipe I have already used and posted. As Cherry Chip- the kind out of the box- is the bride-to-be's favourite cake since childhood, we thought it only fitting to send people away with a Cherry Chip Cupcake favour as a thank you for attending the Bridal Shower. However these are not the box kind- I just can't bring myself to use box mixes now that I've started to make cakes from scratch. This Cherry Chip cake recipe is wonderfully light and fluffy, with lots of cherry flavour and chunks of maraschino cherries. You can find the recipe and directions in this post, although I used a different icing this time. What I would note is that even though I 1.5x'ed the recipe, I still only got 32 fairly small cupcakes, so I'd imagine that using the original amounts of the recipe would only produce 20-22 cupcakes if you were trying to make them a little bigger. They don't rise a significant amount, so you can fill the liners fairly full.

In my previous post where I made a full Cherry Chip cake, I paired it with a classic Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream. This I think is best suited with this cake, but as I was in more of a time crunch I decided to use a classic whipped American Buttercream.

For this you will need:
1 1/2 cups softened unsalted butter, or 3 sticks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 cups sifted powdered sugar
1-3 tablespoons buttermilk, depending on stiffness preference

Place the butter into a stand mixer bowl and using the whisk attachment beat butter until light and creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the salt and vanilla, and mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar in 2 separate amounts, mixing until combined both times. Allow the icing to be beaten for an additional 4-5 minutes to help make it fluffy. Depending on how stiff the icing is at this point, add in enough buttermilk to thin it to the consistency you would like. I used about the full 3 tablespoons. If you don't have buttermilk, heavy or half-and-half cream works as well, but I find that the buttermilk helps to cut the sweetness down a little bit. Beat the icing again for another minute until thoroughly combined.

To make the icing look like roses is actually a fairly simple and quick technique. Line a piping bag with the icing, and use a 2D tip, which is a closed star. Position your hands and the bag at a 90 degree angle (so completely straight and upright) from the cupcake. Starting in the middle of the cupcake, squeeze the icing out and slowly pull up. When you have a small mound, start to circle the middle. I find going counter-clockwise is most natural for me, but either way works. Keep circling the cupcake until you reach the outside, and then slowly ease off the pressure and allow the icing to come to an end. To see it done, you can check out this youtube video here. I used Wilton Sugar Pearls on top to make it look like dew drops... slash just to make them look prettier!

Every cupcake was then put in individual boxes, tied with a ribbon and a thank you note was attached. I printed off the thank you template from the website How Does She, and used a brilliant circle cutter I recently purchased from Michaels, which made cutting all the circles out much quicker and neater!

Friggen cute, right?!

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Cherry Chip Cake for a Baby Shower!

My first time doing TWO things: a ruffle cake and ombre icing! When my co-workers started planning a baby shower for a woman I work with, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity for me to try the cherry chip recipe I'd been eyeing and the ruffle icing. It was so much fun! I just love making pretty things, and I thought the ruffles resembled a little tutu dress that a baby girl might wear. Everybody exclaimed how amazing this cake looked and that it seemed so difficult to make, but really it's not! Even strangers on the bus were commenting on it.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the inside of the cake or how to make the ruffles. I thought it might be a little odd if I brought my camera along to work and stopped everybody before eating so I could snap a few pictures. Sean has gotten somewhat used to me doing that at home... but I think at work would be a bit of a stretch. There's a really great video tutorial on youtube for how to make the ruffles here. It takes no time at all and can be very forgiving; you don't notice a little blip nearly as much as if you might when looking at a 'smooth' iced cake. Credit goes to Deborah from Taste and Tell for creating such a lovely cherry chip cake recipe from scratch, as there are so few out there! Paired with my favourite vanilla Italian meringue buttercream it makes a stunning cake, visually and in taste!

 Yield: This recipe is made for 2 9-inch pans. However, I ended up using 2 6-inch and the remainder went into 2 3-inch pans.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup milk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon cherry extract
1 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice
1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries, finely chopped (I used my mini food processor to get them quite small. You want to make sure they're small enough so that they don't sink to the bottom from their weight.)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 9-inch pans with shortening and then dust with flour. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.

In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and butter until very light and fluffy, at least a couple minutes. Beat in the cherry extract and cherry juice. Add in third of the flour mixture, beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the egg-milk mixture, then another third of the flour, beating until each addition is incorporated. Beat in the rest of the milk mixture and then the remaining flour. Beat the mixture for 2 minutes. Fold in the chopped cherries, then divide the mixture between the two pans.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. My cakes took an exceptional amount of time, 40-45 minutes for 6-inch cakes! Now, I do use the Wilton baking strips, which are wrapped around each pan and help the cake to rise levelly (is that a word?), rather than having that dome on the top. They're actually quite brilliant, but I do find that they cause the cake to take a little longer to bake. Anyways, I would take a look at maybe 30-35 minutes and see how it's going, and go from there. Once they're done, transfer the pans to a cooling rack and let cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the pan and release the cakes from the pans. Cool completely on the cooling racks.

For instructions on how to make a classic Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMB), see this post. I had to make a double batch, and of course instead of using strawberry puree, add in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. If you don't want it to be colored at all, use clear extract as opposed to natural.

Also, I have a great piece of information!! In the past I've struggled with coloring the IMB, and upon researching why, I found out that the food coloring has nothing to adhere to, because the icing is basically fat (only sugar and butter and egg whites). So unlike American buttercreams that use icing sugar, some gel food coloring will just sit on the surface. However, I found one post that stated that unfortunately Wilton food gels do not mix in well at all (my experience), and rather brands like Americolor work wonders. This was fantastic because I had just purchased a large bottle of red Americolor gel, which worked out perfectly on the icing. I would highly recommend buying Americolor gels if you're hoping to color IMB or Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing. Yay!

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