Tuesday, October 28, 2008

TWD - chocolate chocolate cupcakes


This week’s TWD recipe was chosen by Clara of I heart Food for Thought and is double chocolate cupcakes (Clara also has a great cupcake blog whcih you can see here). Clara specifically requested that we decorate our cupcakes with a Halloween theme. Halloween isn’t that big in NZ – but is getting bigger! So I went for a fairly mild Halloween theme by using these Halloween sprinkles.



The cupcakes get their chocolateness from melted chocolate and cocoa. The batter was easy to bake and baked perfectly – no major peaks, sinking or anything like that. However, I was disappointed with how dry the cupcakes were. I filled mine with nutella which gave a bit of moistness, but I’m not sure if I over baked the cakes or what, they were just drier than I like. The glaze wasn’t that great either. The glaze was made with melted chocolate, butter and icing sugar, but when I added my icing sugar, the chocolate seized – I will be interested to see if anyone else had this problem. I managed to rescue it by adding some rice bran oil, but I think I would prefer a ganache type icing.



Oh, and here are the bases of my new cupcake cases - aren't they cute!

There are not many Dorie recipes which I have been disappointed with, but unfortunately, this one of them. See what the other TWDers thought here.

25 comments:

kimberly salem said...

they look really cute, love the new cases! sorry you didn't love them. i definitely baked mine for less time than dorie suggested, and they were tasty.

Snooky doodle said...

yummy cupcakes :)

Flourchild said...

Hey sorry you didn't like them. FYI we post recipes on Tuesdays for TWD!

CB said...

Bummer you weren't a fan but I love your new cupcake liners! Adorable! Thanks for baking with me this week!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Tammy said...

Flour Child, it is Tuesday in New Zealand where I live! Not all TWDers live in the States

Cakelaw said...

Hi Tammy, they look great. I had the same seizing problem, but just kept madly adding the butter and it seemed to work itself out.

threesidesofcrazy said...

They look adorable. Being new to TWD I didn't want to miss doing this week but as much as we love chocolate around here, we're not big chocolate cake fans. So, I added a heaping tablespoon of a strong instant coffee to the batter for a bit of an espresso flavor. Hubby gave it a 2 thumbs up. They took only 20 minutes and were much moister than last week's Pumpkin Muffins (I think the coffee helped there as well as the shorter cooking time). We're not big on bittersweet chocolate either and I had some cream cheese frosting left. So, I used the glaze on just a few, the cream cheese frosting on a few and the mixed the remainder of the glaze with the cream cheese frosting and did a few more. The mix of both the glaze and the cream cheese frosting was our favorite.

Di said...

Well, your cupcakes look very cute, even if they didn't turn out the way you'd hoped. And filling sounds like a great idea. =)

Nancy/n.o.e said...

I'm a big baby when I cook something and it doesn't turn out! I was worried about these after reading the P&Q this week. I made a few tiny changes and mine were fine, but I can see the potential for dry. Also, that's weird about your icing. Good save, though, they look great (and nutella inside, yum!)
Nancy

Pamela said...

I agree that they weren't what I was hoping for. I also think that they were a little dry. Cute cupcake papers!

Engineer Baker said...

Very cute cupcake liners, and I love the big round sprinkles.

Christine said...

I'm sorry you didn't like them but your decorations are too cute!

Peggy said...

Mine seized as well, but they tasted really good! Yours look great. I will definitely make these again.

chocolatechic said...

How cute.

Where did you find the cupcake liners?

Jamie said...

They look great, but I did not love these either, but I made them for my students who gobbled up without chewing!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

very cute cases, and i like that confetti sprinkle, too! i've seen lots of reports about dry cupcakes out there, unfortunately.

Maria said...

Sorry they weren't your favorite. They look lovely!

Prudy said...

Oh, darn. Sorry this one was a disappointment. I made them once a few months ago and did not like them too well, and made them again and loved them. I had to take them out of the oven before they were really set, but then there were good. I love those sprinkles. Color always pops against chocolate frosting.

The Food Librarian said...

I seized too...and it has worked before in the past! Don't know what went wrong. But your cupcakes look great!!!!

Rachel said...

I wasn't a huge fan, eitehr. But they were still fun. Have a great week!

Marthe said...

Your cupcakes look great, love the sprinkles! Too bad you didn't like them, I loved them but mine weren't dry at all!

Leslie said...

I love your simple but elegant Halloween decorations! I hope your home/kitchen reno is going well. It is fun to be able to plan your dream kitchen! Looks like the oven in your temporary flat is working well.

Unknown said...

Hey Tammy!! I did hear from another TWDer that their cupcakes were dry too. BTW: My ganache siezed up too!! I had to add a bunch of butter to it. Even though it didn't work out, they still look delish!!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, these were very disappointing! That is SUCH a cute base for your cupcake!

Anonymous said...

Love the new cupcake wrappers. I'm sorry this recipe didn't work out. Mine were a little dry too.