Chocolate Raspberry Cuppycakes

I made these for a friend's birthday. Only I've been a little behind on things, and so I made her the "birthday" cupcakes about 5 months late. She did say they were worth the wait, though. ;-)





Chocolate Raspberry Cuppycakes
(Borrowed from Sweetest Kitchen - makes 12 cupcakes)

INGREDIENTS
* 125g soft unsalted butter
* 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
* 300g raspberry jam (I used seedless)
* 150g caster sugar
* pinch of salt
* 2 large eggs, beaten
* 150g self-rising flour


INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350F. (Note: I usually preheat my oven to 25 degrees lower than what recipes say, because it runs about 10 degrees hot and also I use nonstick bakeware. So I actually baked these at 325.)

Melt butter in a double boiler. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the raspberry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.

Put batter in lined cupcake pan. Do not overfill! I estimate you want to put no more than 1.5 tablespoons of batter in each cupcake liner. Bake for about 25 minutes (it was 26-28 for me). Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a rack.

Cool cupcakes completely. Fill cupcakes with raspberry whipped cream using the cone method, then frost with the chocolate ganache icing (recipes are below).


Raspberry Whipped Cream Filling

INGREDIENTS
* 1/2 cup ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream
* 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 tablespoon granulated white sugar
* 1/4 cup lightly sweetened raspberry puree (recipe below)

To make the raspberry puree:

Thaw 24 oz (680 grams) of frozen unsweetened raspberries in a large fine-meshed strainer suspended over a large bowl. (This may take a few hours.) Once the berries have completely thawed, force the juice from the berries by gently pressing them with the back of a large spoon. All that should remain in the strainer is the raspberry seeds.

Throw away the raspberry seeds and and stir in 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar. Sweeten more if necessary, to taste. (For extra flavor you can also add a little raspberry liqueur.)

Store covered in the refrigerator up to a week, or freeze up to a year. Makes approximately 1 3/4 cups (420 ml).

To make the raspberry whipped cream filling:

In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat only until soft peaks form. Add the sweetened raspberry puree a little at a time, and beat just until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised. Taste and fold in more sugar or puree, if required.


Chocolate Ganache Icing

INGREDIENTS
* 100g dark chocolate
* 100ml double cream
* 12 fresh raspberries, optional


INSTRUCTIONS

Break the chocolate for the icing into little pieces and add them to the cream in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and then whisk – by hand or electrically – until thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and stand a raspberry in the center of each.



Here's a bonus picture of a whole dozen cuppycakes.