Simple Measure

It was Jared’s birthday last week, and I owed him a cake. Not just because he’s my future brother-in-law and a great friend, but the last two birthday cakes I made him were, well, more conversation pieces than dessert.

For his twenty-seventh birthday, I attempted my first layer cake. It was the real deal – two whole yellow cakes stuck together with a ton of chocolate frosting and decked with chocolate-covered almonds.

It was right out of Betty Crocker… and it sat there untouched all night. Was everyone intimidated? Just not hungry? It doesn’t matter, nobody ate the thing.

Last year I thought I would be cute and make Jared a chocolate whiskey cake. I had successfully baked with alcohol before, so I thought this cake would be a hit, too.

Everyone said they liked it, but come on – it was spongey, sunken, and it didn’t taste anything like chocolate.

This year, I wasn’t taking any chances. I went straight to the man himself and got his request: chocolate and peanut butter cake. Perfect.

Now I just needed to find the right recipe. I wanted a peanut butter mousse filling, but everything I found online suggested using cream cheese, which sounded too rich to me.

At www.foodandwine.com, I stumbled upon a recipe for dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling. I just needed to add butter and confectioner’s sugar to the creamy peanut butter to make the mousse.

I ended up with a moist cake, the dark chocolate flavor boosted by the rich ganache poured on top.

And the peanut butter filling inside? Really light and creamy, just like I hoped it would be. These cupcakes were a big hit at Jared’s dinner and really easy to make. They definitely pulled me out of the birthday cake slump!

I didn’t alter any part of this recipe, but I organized the ingredient list and steps so that they reflect how I put everything together.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

Makes 24 cupcakes

Cake
3/4 cup plus two Tbs cocoa powder (not dutch process)

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup buttermilk

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 and 1/4 Tsp baking soda

1/4 Tsp baking powder

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 Tsp vanilla

Peanut Butter Mousse
1 cup creamy peanut butter

2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

3 Tbs unsalted butter, room temperature

Ganache
1 cup heavy cream

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Sharffen-Berger 62%)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place two racks in the lower and middle third of the oven. Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners.

2. To make the batter, put the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until it creates a smooth paste. Whisk in the buttermilk until combined. Set aside.

3. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the 1 1/2 sticks of butter with the granulated sugar until it’s light and fluffy. This takes about three minutes. Beat in the eggs until just combined. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Beat in half of the flour mixture, and then beat in half of the cocoa mixture. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Fill them 2/3 of the way through. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean and the tops are springy to the touch. Let the cupcakes cool on wire racks.

5. To make the mousse, beat the peanut butter with 3 Tbs of butter until creamy. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar a bit at a time and beat until creamy. To fill the cupcakes, you have a choice between piping the mousse directly into the center of each cake, or cutting a cone out of the middle of each cake, spooning in the filling, and replacing the top. Since I don’t have a pastry bag, I just waited for the cupcakes to cool and then cut the cone out of the center of each cake. I spooned about a tablespoon of mouse into each depression. Next, trim the bottom off the cone you removed from each cupcake. Gently press just the top of the cupcakes back over the filling.
6. To make the ganache, bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate. Let this stand for 5 minutes and then whisk until the chocolate and cream have combined into a smooth, shiny ganache. Pour the desired amount of chocolate onto the top of each cupcake. Place a dot of remaining mousse on each cupcake for decoration.