RECIPE
Yield: 24 standard size cupcakes
Patty Pan: 50 mm base x 30 mm height
Equipment: Standard Size muffin pan with 12 cavities, Ateco 869 Star piping tip
Note: If you are using a larger patty mine than mine, you will most likely get lesser cupcakes from the batter.
Chocolate cake
190 g Plain Flour
260 g Caster Sugar/ Granulated sugar
80 g Cocoa powder
5 g Bicarbonate Soda
½ tsp Fine Salt (4 g)
120 g Sour cream room temperature
60 g Buttermilk room temperature
100 g Eggs ( 2 medium eggs)
80 g Vegetable Oil ( I use grapeseed oil)
60 g Coffee - Hot
10 g Vanilla Bean Paste ( 2 teaspoon)
Approximately 40 g per patty pan (fill half way)
Salted Caramel Sauce
210 g Caster Sugar / Granulated Sugar
80 g Unsalted butter , cut into 5-6 pieces
120 g Warm Cream
5 g Vanilla Bean Paste
1 tsp Sea Salt
Caramel Frosting
170 g unsalted butter , softened
345 g Powdered sugar - sifted
120 Salted caramel sauce - cooled but still runny
2-3 tablespoons cream , as needed
Method
For the cupcakes
1. Preheat to 170 C. Line the muffin tray with cupcake patty pans.
2. Sift the flours, cocoa powder and bicarbonate soda into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Add in the sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the warmed sour cream and buttermilk then add in the room temperature eggs followed by the vegetable oil and continue to whisk until well incorporated. Lastly whisk in the hot espresso.
4. With the stand mixer mixing on low speed, slowly stream in the wet ingredients until all are added. Increase the speed to medium and continue to mix until there are no lumps of dry ingredients visible.
5. Distribute batter evenly into the cupcake papers half way with approximately 40 g per patty pan (note that you may need to fill more if you are using a larger patty pan than I am). I am using a medium size ice cream scoop with a release trigger for easy distribution. I filled the patty pan half way.
Note: This batter does rises quite a bit, so be careful not to overfill your patty pans too much.
6. Place the cupcakes into the pre heated oven and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes or when tested with a skewer, it comes out clean. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tray for 10 minutes then transfer on to a wire rack to fully cool before decorating the top with buttercream.
For the Caramel
Place the cream and vanilla bean paste into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready to use.
In a separate and clean deep pot, place it over medium heat and place 1/3 of the sugar into the pot and heat until 2/3 of the sugar have melted, sprinkle in another 1/3 of the sugar and continue to melt the sugar until you have added the rest of the sugar. Continue to cook melted sugar until they have fully dissolved, starts to turn to a medium amber in colour. When the sugar starts to boil, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the butter followed by the hot cream. Place the pot back to the heat on medium and whisk the mixture for approximately 1 minute then transfer onto a clean bowl. Leave the caramel to cool slightly before using.
For the Caramel butter cream
Before starting to prepare the buttercream, ensure to remove the butter from the fridge and leave to soften at room temperature for at least an hour. The butter should be soft enough to whip.
Place the soft butter and sifted icing sugar into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and whip until light and fluffy. Gradually stream in the cooled caramel and continue to whip until you can no longer feel grainy bits of sugar.
To adjust the consistency of the buttercream, add in the cream gradually until you achieved the desired consistency.
Note: Make sure that the caramel is runny and warm but not hot. If your buttercream starts to split after you have added the caramel, this may mean that the caramel is too hot. Simply place the split buttercream back into the fridge to slightly harden before whipping it again with a paddle. If the caramel have set too much, simply microwave to soften again.
Assembly
Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a straight star piping tip and pipe on top of the cupcake once they have fully cooled.
If the buttercream feels too soft to hold its shape when pipe, simply place them in the fridge for a several minutes to firm up slightly. Do not leave the buttercream in the piping bag sitting in the fridge for too long though or it can stiffen too much for you to be able to pipe. If the buttercream becomes too hard from the fridge, place them back into the mixer bowl and whip with a paddle until they come to a pipeable consistency.
Storage
Iced cupcakes should be stored in an air tight container in the fridge and can last for up to 5 days.
The baked cupcakes without the icing can be store in the freezer wrap tightly after they have fully cooled and last for up to 3 months. Simply thaw before piping the buttercream on top.
The buttercream can be pre made and be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. When you are ready for assembly, place the hard buttercream into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and whip until they come to a pipeable consistency.
Comments