CAKES:
1/2 c Plus 2 tbsp Flour
2 1/2 tb Cocoa powder
3/4 ts Baking soda
1/4 ts Salt
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Water
3 tb Vegetable oil
1 1/2 ts Distilled white vinegar
1 ts Vanilla extrac
FILLING:
1 c Heavy whipping cream
6 oz Finely chopped white chocolate
GLAZE:
3 oz Finely chopped bittersweet chocola
3 tb Boiling wate
ICING:
1 tb Egg white, at room temperature
1 pn cream of tartar
1/2 c Plus 2 to 3 tbsp confectioner's
sugar
Make the cupcakes:
1. Position a rack in the center
and preheat oven to 325F. Lightly
butter twenty-four 1-3/4" x 3/4"
(1-oz) muffin of biscuit cups.
2. Into a medium bowl, sift together
the flour, cocoa, baking soda,
and salt. Mix in the sugar. Make
a well in the center. Whisk in the
water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
Blend until smooth. (The batter
will be very thin.)
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared
cups. Bake until a cake tester
inserted into the center of one
of the cupcakes comes out clean,
about 12 to 14 minutes. Cool the
cupcakes in the pans on a wire rack
for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes
from the pans and finish cooling
on the rack.
Make the filling:
4. In a heavy medium saucepan over
medium-high heat, bring the cream
to a boil. Add the white chocolate
and remove from heat. let the
mixture stand briefly; stir until
smooth. Transfer to a metal bowl
and refrigerate until chilled thoroughly,
stirring occasionally. (To
speed the process, set the metal
bowl over a larger bowl of ice
water; stir the chocolate mixture
until cool.) With an electric
mixer, beat the white chocolate
mixture just until fluffy, about 1
minute.
5. Transfer the filling to a pastry
bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain
tip. Insert the pastry tip 1/4-inch
into the bottom of each cupcake
and squeeze a little filling into
each one.
Make the glaze:
6. Place the chocolate in a small
bowl. Whisk in the boiling water and
blend until smooth. One at a time,
dip the top of each cupcake into
the warm glaze. Turn the glazed
cupcakes right side up and set them
on a wire rack on top of a baking
sheet. Refrigerate the cupcakes for
5 minutes to set the glaze.
Make the icing:
7. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg
white until frothy. Stir in the
cream of tartar. Gradually mix
in enough of the confectioner's sugar
to make a fairly stiff and smooth
icing. Fill a small paper cone with
the icing and cut a 1/16-inch opening
at the tip. Remove the cupcakes
from the refrigerator. Pipe a design
(a squiggle, spiral, etc.) on
the top of each cupcake. Let the
design harden and then cover and
refrigerate the cupcakes. Serve
at room temperature.
The cupcakes can be made and refrigerated
up to 2 days in advance, or
frozen up to 2 weeks.
Makes 22 to 24 miniature cupcakes. |