PB&J, Rocky Road and Cheesecake Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day was Saturday, August 14th. National Cupcake Day? Yes, there was an entire day dedicated to the love of cupcakes! After hearing about National Cupcake Day, I started thinking about how cupcakes had transported themselves into the day to day lives of people everywhere, from the once, small, inexpensive alternative to cakes, and the tiny treat children brought to school for birthdays, to a gourmet delight commanding significant price tags. Beautiful works of art, cupcakes can now be found everywhere!
Where did it all begin? If you were a Sex and the City fan, you may remember Carrie and Miranda eating cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker Street. The rest, as they say, is history. From that episode, Bleeker street was never the same, and neither were cupcakes. Today, major cities not only have cupcake centric bakeries, but trucks dedicated to distributing the sugary cakes. One of the lower priced gourmet cupcake options in Philadelphia is Buttercream Cupcake Truck which offers cupcakes for $2.00 each. Many other area bakeries have cupcake assortments that top $3.50 each for the mini cakes.
So, how did I spend National Cupcake Day? I thought you’d never ask!
My 12 year old son is talking a lot about becoming a chef. I’m really not clear on where his obsession with food comes from….hmmm, I’ll have to get back to you on that when I figure it out. Anyway, since we were going to be alone for the day and he loves food, I thought, “what better way to spend a day but tasting cupcakes?” And so it goes….
We went to local bakery, Night Kitchen in Chestnut Hill as our 1st stop, at least that was the intention. It ended up being our only stop. The variety of cupcakes in such a small bakery, which is dedicated to cakes primarily, was mind boggling. It stimulated my son’s creative, culinary juices and there was no turning back. Our day became a quest to create his vision of the perfect cupcake.
My son’s concept drawing of his cupcake
While at lunch, he began brainstorming and drew the above picture of a dark chocolate cupcake with a molten mango and white chocolate center. He wanted the caramel frosting to resemble a tornado in keeping with the theme of the “molten” center. Yes, I agree it sounds pretty, um, unusual, but he is 12 and he is actually a very good cook as well. So, we went shopping with nothing more than his concept.
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Mango and White Chocolate Center and Caramel Frosting
8 T unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 C Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 C sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t table salt
1/2 C sour cream
Filling
A large mango
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips
Frosting
1 box confectioners sugar
1 stick butter
milk
caramel sauce
yield: 12 cupcakes
Usually you would line the cupcake tins with liners. We were not prepared, and in case you should get stranded without cups, butter and flour cupcake pans to prevent sticking. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine first three ingredients in medium metal bowl. Melt ingredients using a double-boiler or a saucepan over simmering water. Whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool, until just warm to the touch.
Whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
Whisk eggs in medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture; whisk until fully combined. Alternate about 1/3 of flour mixture with the sour cream into chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. End with remaining flour mixture and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.
Divide batter among muffin pan cups. Bake for 10 minutes.
For Filling:
Cut peeled, pitted, mango in pieces and puree in food processor.
Soften white chocolate in microwave. Blend the white chocolate into the mango puree.
Take the cupcakes out of the oven. With one hand, gently spoon out the center of a cupcake. With the other hand, fill the center with mango mixture. Replace the cupcake filling to cover mango. Repeat for all cupcakes.
Bake cupcakes for another 8 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack until cool.
For Frosting:
Cream butter in mixer. Add confectioners sugar and cream together. Add milk 1 TBSP at a time until desired thickness is achieved. (Ours was too thin and we were out of sugar to thicken.) Add 3 TBLS of caramel and blend.
Frost cupcakes and drizzle with caramel.
Rediscover the cupcake. I am glad I did!
I can personally attest to how absolutely delicious those cupcakes were! Thank you for sharing with me!