Week 3, February 14th, 2014 ~ Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

For Valentine's Day I wanted to do something different. I usually make red velvet but I wanted to be a bit more creative...It's only week 3 after all! So than I thought about different Valentine's Treats and thought Chocolate Covered Strawberries! I could of taken this cupcakes in a few different directions but I knew I wanted more of a fresh tasting strawberry as opposed to an artificial candy flavor. So I settled on a rich dark chocolate cupcake then filled it with a strawberry compote and topped it with a layer of nutella, to put my own stamp on it and I thought it would balance everything out and offset the sweetness of the frosting (It should be known I love nutella!), then finished it off with a strawberry cream cheese buttercream. This will be my go to strawberry frosting! It was light and had a fresh strawberry flavor! The decoration is dark chocolate hearts covered in sprinkles.  

DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES-makes 12 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup (1 stick or 115g) unsalted butter
• 2 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 1/2 cup (64g) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
• 3/4 cup (95g) all-purpose flour*
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a 12-cup cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each time. You may also melt the butter and chocolate over low heat on the stovetop. Stir until smooth and set aside to slightly cool.

In a medium sized bowl, toss the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together until thoroughly combined. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the cooled butter/chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add half of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk. Repeat until everything is added. Stir until *just* combined; do not overmix. The batter will be very thick like pudding.

Divide the batter between 12 liners in your cupcake pan. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

recipe courtesy of Sallysbakingaddiction.com

Strawberry Compote

• 2 cups of fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled and chopped--frozed fresh strawberries work well too (not the ones in juice or anything)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. corn starch

In a small saucepan, combine strawberries, sugar and cornstarch and stir.

Bring mixture to a boil and allow to thicken.

Remove from heat and cool completely.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz (1 package) strawberry cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized

1.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese. 
2. Gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined. 
3. Stir in powdered strawberries

Then lastly I spread nutella on top of the cupcake before I frosted them!

For the sparkly chocolate hearts on top I just melted some wilton candy melts --the dark chocolate ones and put it in a candy squeeze bottle. I then made heart designs on a plate covered in a layer of red wilton sprinkles. Once you let them dry for about 10 minutes they are good to go! I have also made four leaf clovers with green sprinkles for St. Patty's Day! It couldn't be easier they chocolate doesn't really get away from you. I am not the most coordinated person so if I can do it anybody could!