Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes, #TheCakeSliceBakers

NinjaBaker — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:43:22 +0000

The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of bakers from around the world. Every month a new challenge arrives...Currently, we are presented with the opportunity to bake one of four recipes from Southern Living’s The Southern Cake Book.

This Ninja Baker’s winning choice?
Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes with Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting!

Do you tremble with excitement or fear at a new challenge? Even with Cake Slice Bakers assignments, it seems I’m wired to face foreign concepts and recipes with a bit of trepidation. But, with each accomplishment, I’m exhilarated and excited. So, I’m appreciative to the Cake Slice Bakers for introducing me to greater level of skill in the kitchen and self-confidence.

Thanks to the Cake Slice Bakers, too, a new collection of cookbooks has appeared on my shelf. My current favorite is The Southern Cake Book – the cookbook chosen by the Cake Slice Bakers for 2015.

Creamy cinnamon frosting accompanies velvet rich notes of chocolate cake.

The Southern Cake Book is full of glossy food photos, which reflect the (stereotypical) luxuriously rich and gentile lifestyle of the South. And the scrumptious recipes! Including this month’s Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes swirled with Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, which is out of this world. The chocolate is moist and fudgy. The Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting with the cream cheese base is like a Southern Belle – sweet with a wink of mischievous spice.

For savory cooking, the Southern trinity is onion, bell pepper and celery.
Chocolate, cream cheese and butter make be the trinity of Southern cake making.

I’ve always had a fascination with the South; the gentility, the charm, the good manners and ready smiles…Forgive me if my statements about the South are overly romantic. My impressions of the South are all from movies and magazines. But, impressions can be strong motivators…One Japanese friend moved to Kansas because he was mesmerized by the cornfields pictured in the film Superman. Another friend said sayonara to Japan, hello to Colorado thanks to John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High song….You never know one of these days this Ninja Baker may be saying hi y’all from South Carolina! But then again moving down South would be a new challenge…Hmmm.

Which cupcake is more likely to appear on your dessert table?
Red Velvet or Chocolate Velvet?

At any rate, The Southern Cake Book’s Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes and Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting is a challenge definitely worth embracing!

Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes, Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes are chocolatier than the standard Southern red velvet cake. But, just as moist and light...And maybe even more delicious when topped with Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.

The recipes are adapted from Southern Living's The Southern Cake Book.

Ingredients:

For the Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes:

1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (12-ounce bag of Ghirardelli)
½ cup softened butter
2 cups organic light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces of Greek yogurt (or 1 (8-ounce) container of sour cream
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

½ cup butter
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 (16-ounce) packages of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 generous teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

For the Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes:

Fill cupcake tins with liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a microwave.

Ninja Note: If microwaving the chocolate: 1. Do cover the bowl with a paper towel so a chocolate volcano does not explode in your microwave. 2. Do stir every 30 seconds or so. (The chocolate should melt within 2 minutes.)

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a hand-held mixer) beat the softened butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. One at a time, add the eggs. Blend in the melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Pour in a third of the dry mixture to the melted chocolate mixture. Stir in some of the Greek yogurt (or sour cream.) Pour in some more of the flour mixture. Add the rest of the yogurt. Add in the remaining flour mixture.

On the mixer’s low speed, stir in the hot water. Blend in the vanilla extract.

Divide the batter into the cupcake cases. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool.

For the Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

Melt the butter in a saucepan, constantly stirring for about 8 minutes. The butter will bubble and transform from golden yellow to deep chestnut. (Do keep stirring to avoid burnt butter and do-overs.) Pour the browned butter into a large bowl. Cover with cellophane. Refrigerate for one hour.

Empty the softened cream cheese on top of the hardened butter. Beat with a mixer until combined. Slowly pour in the powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon.

Fill pastry bags with the Browned Butter Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and pipe onto the cooled Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes.

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Wishing you challenges with happy endings.

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

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Tags:

#TheSouthernCakeBook

#chocolate #cake #frosting #TheCakeSliceBakers

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake, #The Cake Slice Bakers

NinjaBaker — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 06:24:11 +0000

The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of bakers from around the world. Currently, the challenge is to bake one of four preselected Carole Walter's Great Cakes recipes. Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting was this Ninja Baker's winning choice.

I looked left and right. The coast was clear. Not a grownup in sight. Lifting the freezer lid, clouds of ice steam enveloped my face. Determined, I dug through the frost covered treasures. A gleam of silver glinted in the corner. Removing a green bean casserole, my frozen fingers clutched my grandmother, Nona’s chocolate cake ensconced in a silver
13 x 9 inch pan.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake surrounded by pink clouds of icing.

Even in its frozen state, as a child licking the chocolate frosting off of Nona’s chocolate cake was heavenly. Although reserved for special occasions, the cake was nothing fancy. A mere sheet cake…But, boy, oh boy the subtle chocolate in the moist cake with its perfect crumb would have made any Parisian pastry chef green with envy. The cake was magnificent. Even better though was the chocolate frosting which Nona generously swirled atop the cake.

I’ve never replicated Nona’s chocolate cake. However, Carole Walter’s Great Cakes Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting comes pretty close.

Chocolate espresso beans complement the coffee in the cake.

Coffee and chocolate are combined together with triple sifted cake flour. Squares of butter get whipped up with superfine sugar for six minutes until super fluffy. Eggs and vanilla are incorporated with all the ingredients; a luscious chocolate batter is poured into an oblong pan. 42 minutes later a cake with not an overly pronounced chocolate flavor emerges from the 350 degree oven. Once cooled a sour cream chocolate frosting blessed with deep, dark chocolate is slathered on top.

Click here for a very similar sour cream chocolate cake recipe.

Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

An array of chocolates melted in butter are introduced to a powdered sugar and sour cream mixture. The result is a match made in Heaven!

This recipe is adapted from Carole Walter’s Great Cakes.

Ingredients:

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
½ ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup sour cream
1 2/3 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 teaspoons hot water
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

Melt the chocolates and butter in a microwave-safe bowl or in a double boiler. (About 2 minutes.) Stir until smooth. Cool for a few minutes.

Add the sour cream.

Pour in the powdered sugar, alternating with the hot water.

Drizzle in the honey and vanilla extract. Combine well…And get ready to enjoy one of the best chocolate frostings ever!