Far-from-Disaster Cupcakes

By

How Can I Make Moist, Fluffy Bakery-Style Cupcakes?

Q: We have cupcake stores popping up in the community. Their cupcakes are really good — moist! But at $5 to $6 a cupcake, that's steep! What do I need to do so my cupcakes are just as fluffy and moist?

Editor: Cheryl, I think that a big part of the answer is simply finding the right cupcake recipe. Here are two recipes, vanilla and chocolate, that I think are amazing. when we made a big batch of cupcakes for an event earlier this week, we had a chance to test out some new recipes. Both of the recipes we made turned out to be such winners that we immediately filed them away with a big red bow on top. These two new recipes were everything we wanted in cupcakes: moist, tender, and well-shaped. Oh, and easy too.

View complete recipe

Ingredients

  • 3 oz fine-quality semisweet chocolate, such as El Rey (my preference) or Callebaut
  • 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (I use decaf—again, a remnant of the straight-edge days)
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process; I use Ghirardelli)
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. If you’re making cupcakes, line the wells of your pans with fluted paper liners, or grease and dust them with flour or cocoa. If you’re making larger cakes, grease pans and line bottoms with rounds of wax paper. Grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another (very) large bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until thickened slightly and lemon-colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed, bracing yourself against puffs of cocoa-and-flour dust, until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans. Bake in middle of oven 20 to 25 minutes for cupcakes, or 50 to 70 minutes for larger cakes, until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool cakes completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and remove cupcakes, or invert larger cakes onto racks. If making larger cakes, carefully remove wax paper. Cakes may be made one day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
....................................

GANACHE FROSTING:

Again, adapted from Epicurious

1 lb fine-quality semi-sweet chocolate, such as El Rey or Callebaut
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 ½- to 2-quart saucepan, bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable. You may want to place the bowl in the fridge for a bit, but stir it now and then until it cools to your desired consistency. Spread.
.........................................

This is the cake recipe that I used for my near-disaster cake (albeit with a different ganache frosting, so fear not), as well as birthday cakes for a couple of very happy friends. It is extremely simple and requires nothing more complicated than a bit of time and a very large bowl for mixing—you’ll have a lot of batter. I will be shocked and horrified if you don’t find this to be the most deeply-flavored, moist-yet-fluffy chocolate cake you’ve ever tried. This recipe makes two 10” layers, three 8” layers, or roughly 36 cupcakes. [As a side note, I’ve been wanting to try taking a syringe or a turkey baster and injecting seedless raspberry jam into the cupcakes; if you do this, report back.] Unfrosted and tightly wrapped, the cakes freeze beautifully for a month or two, so you can spread your generosity over multiple occasions. Adapted from Epicurious

View complete recipe