brussels sprouts & cupcakes

September 21 2009 by Kristin at The Kitchen Sink in Dessert, Recipe » 19 comments

The other night, while Kevin was out wining-and-dining on the town for work, I indulged. I cooked a pasta studded with brussels sprouts, I watched DVRed episodes of Martha and flipped through old issues of cooking magazines. Okay, so it’s not exactly the stuff of a wild-and-crazy lady, but, let me tell you: it was bliss.

About those cooking magazines—they live under the living room coffee table. They’re piled in stacks and whenever I’m in need of a good read, I run my index finger down their spines and pull a couple, carefully and with all the Jenga-skill I can muster, out of the pile.

This time, as I thumbed through a few back issues, I took particular note of the recipes I had dog-earred so many weeks or months ago. Almost none of them held any interest for me now. Whether it was trendy ingredients or then-new-fangled techniques, they left me with a collective meh.

I shouldn’t be all that surprised, I suppose. I’ve been gravitating toward simple, homey, straightforward recipes lately. Apple pie. Baked beans. Buttermilk pancakes. This recipe for devil’s food cupcakes, capped with a glossy genache, fits squarely in that list. It’s a staple, a standard—it’ll never get old. Kind of like a night in, brussels sprouts and all.

Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Martha Stewart

Yield: A LOT. There is no yield listed on the online version of this recipe and I was a little bewildered when I filled 12 regulation-size muffin tins, 24 mini-muffin tins and I still has quite a bit of batter in the bowl. I’m guessing the recipe makes at least 36 cupcakes. So be sure to adjust accordingly.

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
Chocolate Genache Frosting (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature and garnish with chocolate curls just before serving.

Chocolate Genache Frosting
Martha Stewart

1 pound good-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/3 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup corn syrup

Place chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer over medium-high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.

Beginning near the center and working outward, stir melted chocolate into cream until mixture is combined and smooth (do not overstir).

Refrigerate, stirring every 5 minutes, until frosting just barely begins to hold its shape and is slightly lighter in color. Use immediately (ganache will continue to thicken after you stop stirring).

19 comments so far. »
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Elizabeth says on September 21 2009 at 8:12 pm:

The poor Brussels sprouts didn’t stand a chance of making it to your blog in the face of those cupcakes. They look wonderful. Usually the simpler the recipe, the truer the flavors shine through. Devil’s Food Cupcakes seem like the perfect example!
Half Assed Kitchen says on September 21 2009 at 9:04 pm:

Those look awesome. And your photos are just stunning. I’ve been thinking about the pie on the ledge at twilight for days now.
susan from food blogga says on September 21 2009 at 9:10 pm:

I would have watched What Not To Wear instead of Martha (I’m a sucker for make-over shows.) Otherwise, I agree — an evening of bliss.
chocoblock says on September 21 2009 at 10:29 pm:

Hi! I’ve been meaning to bake this devil cupcake but I don’t have unsweetened cocoa powder at home. I only have unsweetened chocolate bar…can I use it instead? If so, how many ounces/grams?

Thanks!
Barbara says on September 22 2009 at 5:40 am:

Wow. Those cupcakes are divine. Forget brussel sprouts!
Whitney says on September 22 2009 at 6:47 am:

Those cupcakes look pretty perfect. All you need is a big glass of milk.
Amanda says on September 22 2009 at 7:21 am:

At first, I thought you had baked cupcakes with brussel sprouts and I was like WHOA! How incredibly disgusting and genius at the same time But these cupcakes sound much more delicious… Now if I could only figure out how to work my DVR…
ingrid says on September 22 2009 at 7:38 am:

All of Martha’s cupcake recipes that I’ve made have been the same. They say 12 cupcakes and I wind up with 20. That’s a nice surprise if you aren’t dieting!
~ingrid
Eliana says on September 22 2009 at 8:06 am:

These cupcakes look stunning. And that ganache is so perfectly shiny. Awesome job.
Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes) says on September 22 2009 at 8:16 am:

These look soo good, I want to enter the screen and gobble them up right now!!!
Tabitha (From Single to Married) says on September 22 2009 at 9:57 am:

Wow! I don’t even eat chocolate and these still look amazing to me!
Dolce says on September 22 2009 at 10:58 am:

That’s a staple and that’s conforting. Double that with this great glossy chocolate and it’s an all time winner indeed… Great pics
dawn says on September 22 2009 at 11:45 am:

nothing like the perfect choco cupcake…
tara says on September 22 2009 at 12:18 pm:

… And that’s when my stomach audibly growled.

(by the way, your evening sounds lovely; cooking for oneself is sometimes such a luxury – as is the time to flick through a stack of magazines.)
Devon says on September 22 2009 at 6:34 pm:

Kudos to you for getting to that magazine recipe. I have a similar stack of magazines under my coffee table and they suffer from severe neglect.
emma says on September 22 2009 at 6:39 pm:

Great shots and delicious looking cupcakes. I can’t wait to cook them! Thanks for sharing.
jen says on September 25 2009 at 9:53 am:

I’ve done the same thing, wondering why I thought I found certain recipes intriguing, simple & homey is best.

btw, I have severe blog envy.
Yvonne says on December 17 2009 at 1:01 am:

What can I say other than wonderful. My choice for today.

Yvonne
Have anything planned for the weekend? | Studio Rose Flash says on February 12 2010 at 2:02 pm:

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