Date night and White Mountain Chocolate Cupcakes

Friday night Mr. T and I went out for an over due date night. We try to spend at least one night a week "on a date" but it has been a while since we've actually left the house for one. We had a great time.

Give us some credit, it was a self portrait...

This weeks cupcake inspiration came from me wanting to try and out-do the infamous "Car Bomb Cupcakes" because they have become the basis to every other cupcake I've made. It makes me a little sad since they were the first cupcakes I made in my little challenge, and the first cupcakes I had ever made from scratch. Enter this week's cupcakes: White Mountain Chocolate Cupcakes from The Cupcake Deck I received at Christmas time. I've also made the Kid Friendly Cupakes and Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes from the same deck.

They may not be the prettiest cupcakes on the block but they were a big hit. Something about that sloppy and sweet meringue frosting gets everyone excited. According to the recipe the yield is 12 cupcakes but I, of course, ended up with 16 which turned out perfect because I was able to use all of the frosting. These cupcakes took approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete from the time I took the first ingredients out of the 'fridge to popping the lid on top of my new cupcake carrier.

Cupcake Ingredients:
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour (side note- I always use unbleached flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 stick)
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs (worm fed are the best. Thanks to my sis-in-law Jenni for the eggs)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water

Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preaheat the oven to 350F. Line 12 (or 16) muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water or the bottom of a double boiler. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smoot. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture looks creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. On low speed, add half the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/3 cup of batter, to about 1/8 inch below the top of the liner. (please note that I followed this direction exactly and still ended up with 16 cupcakes.) Bake just until the top feels firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Seven-Minute Frosting (or fifteen....)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Put the sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler with at least a 2 quart capacity and beat with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until opaque, white, and foamy, about 1 minute.

Put the bowl over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water or the bottom of a double boiler. The top container should sit firmly over the pan of hot water; be sure to keep the cord of the electric mixer away from the burner. Beat on high speed until the frosting forms a soft peak that stands straight up if you stop the beaters and lift them up, about 7 minutes. This is the part that took me about 14 minutes. The frosting should register 160F on a thermometer (at 7 minutes mine was only at 120F and there were no peaks, so I kept going).

Remove the container of frosting from the water, add the vanilla and almond extracts, and continue beating for 2 minutes to further thicken the frosting. A word of device- don't drool into your meringue during this stage, because this is the part that starts getting really delicious. Don't worry, I didn't.
Use a small spatula to spread a thick layer of frosting, about 1/2 cup, over the top of each cupcake, dipping the spatula gently into the frosting to make swirls. Serve the cupcakes, or carefully cover them and refrigerate. Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.

Then give them to your friends (or co-workers as the case may be) and get a free drink at the bar.

Where's Emily?

And Bretta? She's healing up okay. Just a couple more days until those stitches come out and she'll be ready to chase the tennis ball again.