Thursday, November 20, 2014

Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe



Kayleigh here. Today's recipe came out of a happy mistake. Jason had his heart set on some rich chocolate cupcakes for dessert one week, so I made a grocery list from my go-to chocolate cake recipe and set out to the store. Sadly, the star ingredient of this particular baked good was grated zucchini, and the produce section had only two battered, dejected looking squashes on the shelf. When I got back home and started racking my brain to figure out what to substitute, I realized that the cake recipe would have made quite a bit more than a dozen cupcakes, so I gritted my teeth and began to improvise on the fly.

 
 These chocolate cupcakes are beautifully moist, dense, and rich. They are not quite as sweet as store bought cupcakes, so adjust the sugar to your preference, but we found this made them a perfect match for a sweeter cream cheese frosting. We tried them with some pear and blueberry butter as well, and found that to be deliciously unique.

Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 Cups Butter, room temperature
2/3 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cups Applesauce
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup White Rice Flour
1/4 Cup Sweet Rice Flour
1/4 Cup Corn Starch
1/2 Ts Xanthan/Guar Gum
1 Ts Baking Powder
1 Ts Baking Soda
Optional- fillings such as chocolate chips or walnuts, and toppings such as a berry jam or frosting

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. In a bowl, beat butter and sugar into a creamy mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients one by one, mixing thoroughly, then fold in any fillings.
2) Line 12 muffin tins or grease them, then distribute the cupcake batter evenly amongst them. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
3) Place the cupcakes onto a rack to cool as soon as you can handle them, but wait until they are room temperature before putting any frosting or toppings on them. Unless you want to end up with a melty glaze instead, of course. Unfrosted, these should stay moist and tasty for two weeks if refrigerated in a sealed container, but with frosting they should be eaten within a few days- a week at most.

Jason here. Sometimes I like to make up some desserts for friends, and Kayleigh is always there to help me out. This time I was in the mood for some cupcakes. When Kayleigh mentioned we use apple sauce, I was pretty skeptical. Kayleigh often likes to substitute recipes, and I’m happy to report they almost always turn out successful. In this case, Kayleigh really saved the day with the apple sauce substitution and the cupcakes have entered our regular rotation of desserts.

The applesauce gives the cupcake a much denser and moist texture then a normal cupcake would have. It lends itself very nicely to the sweet cream icing mentioned above, but also fruitier toppings as well. If you don’t want to make your own topping, you can always substitute jam or jelly. There is still some sugar in the recipe, but these recipes are about as close to healthy as I’ve seen for cupcakes that still taste like cupcakes.

So next time you find yourself missing an ingredient, experiment a little. You never know what will come of it.

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