Week 33, September 15, 2014 ~ Triple Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

I can't believe how behind I am! At this point I really don't have any good excuse. Oh well...I do need to catch up though because I don't really take notes and it only gets harder to remember what I did the longer I wait! This cupcake I kind of threw together. It was really good I just didn't put a lot of planning into it. I just used what I had! So anyway this is a olive oil and sea salt chocolate cupcake with a Frangelico chocolate pastry cream topped with a chocolate hazelnut ganache and a vanilla bean buttercream to balance out the richness of all the chocolate. The olive oil cupcake was very moist, dare I say almost too moist to support a filling. What I did like was that they didn't really have much rise so it gave for a cleaner and more put together with the ganache and buttercream. 

This recipe made 16 cupcakes!

For the Frangelico chocolate pastry cream:

• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 +1 tbsp cups milk
• 1/3 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp Frangelico

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, flour and cornstarch. 
2. In a saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a simmer; whisk 1/2 cup of the mixture into the eggs, then whisk the egg-milk mixture into the saucepan. Cook the pastry cream over low heat, whisking constantly, until thick, 2 minutes. 
3. Off the heat, whisk in the dark chocolate until melted and the liquor. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool, about 2 hours.

For the olive oil and sea salt cake:

The recipe made 16 cupcakes

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 ounces semi sweet chocolate

2 large eggs, room temp

2 large egg yolks, room temp

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup sour cream

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa powder--I use Hershey's Special Dark

1/2 cup brewed coffee, room temp

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
3. Beat butter and sugar until fully combined and looks like wet sand; add the melted chocolate once cooled and mix to combine.
4. Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until just combined.
5. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until just combined.
6. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture a little at a time until just combined.
8. Add the coffee and mix till combined.
9. Fill cupcake liners and bake with 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
10. Set aside on a wire rack and let cool. Once cool fill with the pastry cream.

For the Nutella ganache:

• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup Nutella

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Heat heavy cream in a medium saucepan until simmering, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips. Let stand for one minute, then stir together until all the chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in Nutella. Let cool and then dip each filled cupcake into the ganache.

For the vanilla bean buttercream

• 1 sticks unsalted butter
• 1.5 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1. Cream the butter until it is really light and fluffy. About 5 minutes, scraping the sides occasionally.
2. Gradually add the sugar, mixing after each addition--frosting will be pretty thick by the end.
3. Add the vanilla, 
4. Add cream and beat the frosting for a few more minutes.
5. Frost cupcakes!