The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (321 page)

MAKES 12 CUPCAKES

These cupcakes are best eaten the day they are made, but unfrosted extras will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To double the recipe, use 3 whole eggs and 2 yolks, and double the remaining ingredients.

CUPCAKES

FROSTING

1. FOR THE CUPCAKES:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners.

2.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in bowl of stand mixer. Fit stand mixer with paddle and beat flour mixture, butter, sour cream, egg, egg yolks, and vanilla together on medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl, then mix by hand using rubber spatula until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

3.
Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake cupcakes until tops are pale gold and toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Lift each cupcake from tin and transfer to wire rack. Let cupcakes cool completely, about 45 minutes, before frosting.

4. FOR THE FROSTING:
Place chocolate in medium heatproof bowl. Bring cream to boil in small saucepan. Pour boiling cream over chocolate, and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Whisk mixture until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool and slightly firm, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

5.
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cooled chocolate mixture on medium speed until fluffy and mousselike and soft peaks form, about 2 minutes.

6.
Spread 2 to 3 generous tablespoons frosting over each cooled cupcake and serve.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

A chocolate cupcake Catch-22 befalls bakery and homemade confections alike: if the cupcakes have decent chocolate flavor, their structure is too crumbly for out-of-hand consumption. Conversely, if the cakes balance moisture and tenderness without crumbling, the cake and frosting are barely palatable. We wanted a moist, tender (but not crumbly) cupcake capped with just enough creamy, not-too-sweet frosting. We started by making cupcakes using our favorite chocolate cake recipe. Tasters liked the real chocolate flavor, but their crumbly texture made them impossible to eat without a fork. To strengthen the batter we cut back on both kinds of chocolate, then we found two ways to enhance the chocolate flavor without disrupting the batter’s structure: we mixed the cocoa with hot coffee, and we replaced the butter with more neutral-flavored vegetable oil. Still, we wanted more chocolate flavor. Could we enhance the structure of the cupcake so that we could then add back extra chocolate without overtenderizing? Substituting bread flour for all-purpose flour did the trick. Specifically engineered for gluten development, bread flour turned out a cupcake that was markedly less crumble-prone, but not tough. For a final chocolate burst, we spooned a dollop of ganache onto each portion of cupcake batter before baking, which turned into a truffle-like center once baked. A velvety Swiss meringue buttercream, which gets its satiny-smooth texture from whisking the egg whites and sugar in a double boiler, then whipping the mixture with softened butter, was the perfect way to crown these cupcakes.

MAKES 12 CUPCAKES

Use a high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate for this recipe. Though we highly recommend the ganache filling, you can omit it for a more traditional cupcake.

FILLING

CUPCAKES

1. FOR THE FILLING:
Microwave chocolate, cream, and sugar in medium bowl until mixture is warm to touch, about 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth, then transfer bowl to refrigerator and let sit until just chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.

2. FOR THE CUPCAKES:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Whisk mixture gently until smooth, then transfer to refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes.

3.
Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl. Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

4.
Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Place 1 slightly rounded teaspoon ganache filling on top of each portion of batter. Bake cupcakes until set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in muffin tin on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Lift each cupcake from tin, set on wire rack, and let cool completely before frosting, about 1 hour. (Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.)

5. TO FROST:
Spread 2 to 3 tablespoons frosting over each cooled cupcake and serve.

MAKES ABOUT
2¹⁄
₄
CUPS

The melted chocolate should be cooled to between 85 and 100 degrees before being added to the frosting. If the frosting seems too soft after adding the chocolate, chill it briefly in the refrigerator and then rewhip it until creamy.

1.
Combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in bowl of stand mixer and set bowl over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water. Whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until slightly thickened, foamy, and registers 150 degrees, 2 to 3 minutes.

2.
Fit stand mixer with whisk and beat mixture on medium speed until consistency of shaving cream and slightly cooled, 1 to 2 minutes. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy. (Frosting may look curdled after half of butter has been added; it will smooth with additional butter.) Once all butter is added, add cooled melted chocolate and vanilla; mix until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down beater and sides of bowl with rubber spatula as necessary.

TO MAKE AHEAD:
Frosting can be made up to 1 day in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container. When ready to frost, warm frosting briefly in microwave until just slightly softened, 5 to 10 seconds. Once warmed, stir until creamy.

Reduce sugar to ¹⁄
₄
cup, substitute milk chocolate for bittersweet chocolate, and add ¹⁄
₄
cup malted milk powder to frosting with vanilla extract in step 2.

Omit bittersweet chocolate and increase sugar to ¹⁄
₂
cup. (If final frosting seems too thick, warm mixer bowl briefly over pan filled with 1 inch of simmering water and beat a second time until creamy).

Omit bittersweet chocolate, increase sugar to ¹⁄
₂
cup, and increase salt to ¹⁄
₈
teaspoon. Add ²⁄
₃
cup creamy peanut butter to frosting with vanilla extract in step 2. Garnish cupcakes with ¹⁄
₂
cup chopped peanuts.

Substitute dark brown sugar for granulated sugar and increase salt to ¹⁄
₂
teaspoon.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Pudding cakes are basically egg custards, but with two clever improvements. Unlike ordinary egg custards, pudding cakes contain a little flour and some beaten egg whites. During baking the beaten egg whites float to the top, forming a spongy, cakelike cap. Meanwhile, the remainder of the batter settles to the bottom to make a puddinglike layer. We were after a light, puffy pudding cake that was spongy and cakelike on top, with tender pudding underneath. Unfortunately, the recipes we tested were hit or miss: those made with lemon or orange juice came out especially well, while those flavored in other ways tended to have flimsy, fast-dissolving tops and rubbery, dense bottoms. We eventually deduced that it was the acidity of the citrus juices that made the difference. Because the juice lightly clabbered the milk-based batter, causing it to thicken, the frothy upper layer became stiffer and more stable and thus better able to puff. At the same time, the acidic juice undercut the thickening power of the flour, making the custard more tender. To shore up the cake part of those variations made with coffee, chocolate, and vanilla, we tried adding an extra egg white. Not only did it work, but we liked the results so much that we ended up using the extra white in all of the recipes.