Saturday, October 9, 2010

Chocolate and Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

My sister's coworker and friend, Alecia, is one of those crazy, super awesome, totally inspiring marathon runners and she'll be running in the huge Chicago 10/10/10 marathon tomorrow. It's over 20 miles long, goes through several neighborhoods around the city and will draw over a million spectators in addition to the runners, so once you're in it, a million people will see you if you stop. As her "I did it!" treat, she asked for cupcakes, and not just any cupcakes. She wanted chocolate, dulce de leche, and crunch, so after a bit of going back and forth, I came up with this:

Chocolate Dulce Cupcake4

It's a chocolate snack cake filled with creamy dulce de leche covered with a dark chocolate and whipped honey ganache frosting and topped with an almond praline shard and a sprinkle of black Hawaiian salt to cut through all the sweetness and deepen the chocolate flavor. And if anyone recognizes the colors of the box, it's from Victoria's Secret. This box has really gotten around! It's pretty, the perfect size for giving blankets, carrying birthday cakes, and to store exactly 25 cupcakes. I really hope she likes how it came out. Good luck Alecia!

Chocolate Dulce Cupcake3

Also, a quick reminder, enter the giveaway before midnight tonight for your chance to get something really cool from CSN Stores with the $45 GC that's being given away. Good luck!

Chocolate Dulce Cupcake Cut


Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes
Recipe from The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
Makes 12 individual cakes

I'm including the snack cake recipe because it was the only new recipe I had tried, the frosting and the filling were variations of things I'd done in the past and I like how desserts can be a culmination of various different components that all start from the simple and can be built up as high as you like. This is the base, the level you take it to is up to you.


7 ounces (200g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (125ml) unflavored vegetable oil, divided
1/2 cup (125ml) plain, whole-milk yogurt
1 cup (200g) sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups (180g) flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with 12 indentations with paper cupcake liners, or lightly butter them.
2. In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, melt the chocolate with 1/4 cup (60ml) of the oil. Once melted and smooth, remove from heat.
3. In another bowl, mix together the remaining 1/4 cup (65ml) of oil with the yogurt, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and almond extracts.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the yogurt mixture. Stir lightly a couple of time, then add the melted chocolate, and stir until just smooth.
5. Divide the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes, or until they feel barely set in the middle.
6. Remove from oven and cool before serving.

11 comments:

Abby said...

Those look PHENOMENAL. I'm sure she'll be more excited than ever to find them waiting for her!

Unknown said...

dang you! I am now craving caramel. *Shaking Fist at you

scrambledhenfruit said...

That's a fabulous cupcake- I love the caramel in the middle!

cocoa and coconut said...

These look so good; worth running a marathon for!!

LimeCake said...

oh wow that is some intense chocolateness! looks delicious!

alecia - the crazy marathon runner said...

As I have downed about three of these cupcakes in the past 12 hours, I can attest that they are, in fact, quite PHENOMENAL.

I picked these up the day before the race and spent anywhere from one to three hours staring and salivating. (I did not allow myself one until after finishing - a girl needs some sort motivation, right?) They were well worth the wait.

I had a lot of sharing to do with 24 cupcakes and everyone was in love with these little beauties. The frosting was out of this world and the dulce de leche was the perfect touch.

I know what I am having for breakfast tomorrow...

Thanks again Anna!

Evan @swEEts said...

Anna these look delicious! I have that book by David in my amazon list and now I think I'm going to actually purchase it :)

Truly Smitten said...

WHOA!!!!! WHAT are you trying to do to me?!?! that looks f-ing amazing!!

FOODESSA said...

Your friend Alecia is one very fortunate gal to have a talented generous baker like you around ;o)

The cupcakes...well, let's say, I'd have a very hard time stopping at just having one!

Ciao for now,
Claudia

Jan/Thella said...

oh wow. these cupcakes look gorgeous! i'm a sucker for dulce de leche myself and when paired with chocolate, ah, it's pure heaven :)

mensajes claro said...

these cupcakes look gorgeous!