Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes - made October 15, 2019 from Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay

Every once in awhile, the baking gods like to mock me. As in with a baking fail. Bastards. I had just finished re-reading this book, the first in the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries by Jenn McKinlay. It was a re-read because the first time I read it, I hadn't been tracking my reads on Goodreads yet and while most of the rest of the series was duly logged, this one wasn't. That kinda bugged my sense of series completion since I knew I had already read the first one and it seemed like cheating to backdate that I'd read it, especially since I can't remember when I had first read it and, to be honest, I didn't remember the story that clearly. So I read it again. Problem solved.

As with most culinary cozy mysteries, recipes are included. This one was in the back of the book and I had some milk to use up so it seemed like a good one to try. I haven't been making a lot of cakes since I moved to a higher altitude but I have noticed some recipes are affected more than others. I'm going to assume this is one of the affected ones. The recipe said this made 12 cupcakes. I filled 12 cupcake liners plus 1 extra. 9 of the 13 cupcakes overflowed. Oops.

That's common with high altitude baking as the cakes puff up quickly before their structure is set then sink in the middle. Joy. You know all those food blogs that have perfect looking desserts? Yeah, this isn't one of them. But all was not lost as, despite their sad appearance, these actually tasted quite good. Chocolate flavor was on point because I used a high quality cocoa powder (Droste and Valrhona). The texture was cakey, maybe just the tiniest bit on the dense side but not too much and only because I probably could've baked it an extra minute. I did forget to add the chocolate chips to the batter though but I think it still turned out okay. When it comes to cake, I like mine pretty plain so nothing interferes with that cakey texture.

I didn't frost them with the ganache as listed. They looked kinda sad already and truthfully, I didn't want to waste the heavy cream. Good thing I care more about flavor than appearance.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Portion into cupcake liners. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center of cupcakes comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
2 cups dark chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place chocolate chips in large bowl. Pour cream into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the cream boils, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 1-2 minutes then stir with a whisk until smooth. 
2. Stir in the vanilla until well blended. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ganache and allow to cool to room temperature. Dip tops of cooled cupcakes into the ganache and allow to dry.