Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

As much moaning and belly-aching as I've been doing about 1.) chocolate and 2.) raspberries, I decided the best course to take would be to make a dark chocolate raspberry cupcake. I've never claimed to be logical, and I don't believe anyone's ever accused me of such, either. At any rate, I figured it was like one of those songs that you can't get out of your head until you play it (although in my case it went on for years and I had no idea it was the instrumental part of the Pogue's "Fairy Tale of New York" until just fairly recently).

I'm dragging my feet about these. I don't really know why. They certainly were no more complicated than the really chocolate-y cupcakes I made earlier this week. In fact, now that I used a different tool for the raspberries, the whole process is a great deal more simple.

Oh, yes! So the cupcake, from the bottom up, is a chocolate cookie, slightly salty from the salted butter, then a very rich and dense dark chocolate cake, filled with fresh raspberry puree, then topped with a sour cream buttercream flavored with more raspberry puree and drizzled with dark chocolate ganache. Then topped off with a fresh raspberry. Nice, no? These would be nice for Valentine's Day...for other people. I seem to mess up Valentine's Day every year, but if you want these for yourself let me know and I'll be glad to whip up a batch. Promise to not let me Valentine's Day storm cloud rain on your cupcakes. ;)

Shall we get started, then?

 ~ For the cookie bottoms ~

1 1/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (about 2/3 of a package of chocolate wafers)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate

Line 24 standard-sized muffin cups with baking liners.

Combine together the chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter until the mixture is damp and crumbly but holds together when squeezed into a ball. Place about a tablespoon of the crumb mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup, dividing as evenly as possible among the 21. Press down gently with your fingers to cover the bottoms in an even layer. Sprinkle over with the chopped chocolate. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until the chocolate melts a bit. Let cool for 10 minutes before filling with the cupcake batter.

The cake - well, the cake is not a recipe of mine, but it is one seriously good chocolate cake recipe. It's moist and dense (wow, have you ever thought about how those descriptions are only ever going to sound good if they're about a cake? Like, a potential date - those would not be positives) and you don't even need a mixer! So the full recipe is here and I'm just going to copy it (mostly) for ease of use for this recipe. It's awesome, though.

~ For the chocolate cupcakes ~

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add the heavy cream, brewed coffee and vanilla extract. Heat until just barely simmering. Remove from heat and allow to cool as you prep the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and eggs.

Slowly pour the slightly cooled chocolate mixture into the egg/sour cream mixture and whisk until smooth. Do this very slowly! You don’t want to cook the eggs, so start pouring a very small amount of the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, whisk it in, then continue this process until its all incorporated.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. In three parts, add the chocolate mixture to the flour. Whisk until just combined and smooth after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Finally, whisk batter about 20 strokes.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter. Bake 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Okay, y'all ready for the filling? I know I am...

~ Fresh Raspberry Filling ~

12 ounces fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Place the raspberries, lemon juice, and the sugar in a food processor. Pulse several times to chop raspberries; blend until pureed, about 30 seconds.

Place cornstarch in a small bowl and slowly whisk in the water until it is a smooth consistency.  Pour the cornstarch mixture into the raspberry mixture in the food processor and blend again until smooth. If you're using a mini processor, as I did, you're going to be cutting it close. It would probably behoove you to use the full sized machine.

If you have a food mill, use it now, using the finest setting? Blade? Something? I don't know - all I know is that you can get one of these at Target for about $25 and it is SO handy when you need something like this. Or, you can press the mixture through a sieve and get all the fruit pulp out. Your choice. 

Pour raspberry mixture into a saucepan and simmer over low heat until thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Let the raspberry filling cool.

To fill the cupcakes: Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut out a cone-shaped portion out of the top of each cake. Slice off the excess cake from the cone (leaving the flat cap) and reserve the top. Fill the resulting hole with about a tablespoon of the raspberry filling (or however much you need). Replace the cap. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes, and then put in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill and set the filling.

Now, onto the frosting. I totally made this up on the fly.

Raspberry Sour Cream Buttercream
1/4 cup raspberry puree
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
4 - 6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the puree, butter, and sour cream until well combined. Add in the salt and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, beating in at low speed to start and then increasing it to make sure it it well blended. You want a thick, spreadable frosting that will hold its shape.

Okay, you can now pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Or just spread it on with a butter knife. Wanna go even fancier?

~ Dark Chocolate Ganache ~
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, melt together the chocolate and the cream until it is smooth and combined. Now you can either put it into a recloseable sandwich bag (or I put it into a squeeze bottle because I just like having a bottle of ganache on the counter - and who wouldn't, I ask you!). If using the bag, snip one corner off and drizzle the ganache over the cupcakes. Top each one with a fresh raspberry and store in the refrigerator. There, you're done! Store these in the fridge - this makes about 24 cupcakes.