Cupcake conundrum
Okay, so I just baked some chocolate cupcakes that came out tasting rather flat. I had planned on icing them with a simple vanilla buttercream, but I feel like I should do something a little more exciting to improve the taste. The cupcakes themselves are pretty mild, almost like a milk chocolate taste, though they are moist and the consistency of the cake is almost perfect—it's flavor they lack.
Any ideas for an exciting, perhaps even unexpected filling? I'm not interested in foam or anything involving 100 calorie packs, haha. These are for a party tomorrow afternoon. Your help would be greatly appreciated!
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21 Comments:
Filling them is a really good idea--maybe some marshmallow fluff?
maered at 12:43AM on 01/17/08
Unfortunately, I don't have any on hand, and I'm not sure it packs enough of a punch. Good idea, though! We had discussed making them into little Hostess-style cupcakes, but decided something more intense would be better. They're for a going-away party. :)
kmnola at 12:45AM on 01/17/08
coconut flakes?
sustarz at 12:55AM on 01/17/08
oh or a dark chocolate ganache filling, or chocolate cherry filling
sustarz at 12:56AM on 01/17/08
Ditto the ganache. You could pipe it into the cupcakes then frost with a good icing.
kjgibson at 1:13AM on 01/17/08
peanut butter offsets the milk choc very well. Make a peanut butter filling and then nice them however you want.
JerzeeTomato at 1:20AM on 01/17/08
Do your cupcake and buttercream recipes have [enough] salt in them? I gather you aren't going to bake another batch of cupcakes, but if you soften the buttercream, a[n added] pinch of very finely ground salt can really boost the flavour tremendously. Without salt, things can taste incredibly flat.
A filling with cherries, such as sustarz suggests, should bring a nice note of acidity and add dimension (perhaps cherries with ginger?).
Even simpler than a filling, and equally flavour-boosting, would be the addition of a bit of almond extract to the [softened] buttercream. It is a familiar flavour in baking, so it's 'safe', but it has a lot of presence. I'd also be reaching for a spice, probably some very finely ground pepper (or cinnamon, ginger, cloves, a good-sized scoop from the inside of a vanilla bean, etc). Unless the amount added is really over-the-top, the effect is subtle, but definite.
mongoose at 3:14AM on 01/17/08
Unless you are sure there are no allergies, I wouldn't bring peanut butter anything to a party. Ganache is a great suggestion - with perhaps just some raspberry or other jam as a filling.
SSMom at 8:26AM on 01/17/08
Ditto the peanut allergy comment. For the future, you can add a little intant coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor. What recipe did you use? Maybe we can suggest some alternatives. You could make a mocha buttercream to top the cupcake, or make half the toppings with vanilla buttercream and half mocha. Then put mini chocolate chips, or sprinkles or chocolate shavings to enhance the flavor
Mich23 at 8:48AM on 01/17/08
For a really nice filling in a pinch, why not try some jams? Blueberry or even orange marmalade work really well with chocolate, I have found, and they are easy to just pipe into the cupcake itself. I love that!
Traveller at 10:01AM on 01/17/08
Adding some espresso or coffee and a little orange juice and zest to a ganache frosting would add loads of flavor.
PerkyMac at 10:08AM on 01/17/08
While I am sure kmnola knows the crowd she is baking for I do not see anything wrong with peanut butter. If someone has an allergy I am sure they would ask and be careful. I do not understand why anyone would feel compelled to point out allergies when people are asked for suggestions when none were mentioned. She did not ask what not to bring. Really folks how about a little tolerance for those who like peanut butter. The OP said nothing about nut allergies or I would not have posted it. I reread the post and no special considerations were asked for. Just my 2 cents.
JerzeeTomato at 10:09AM on 01/17/08
Jerzee - I understand where you're coming from, but please indulge a mom who has a child who could die from accidental ingestion of peanuts and would like to raise awareness.
SSMom at 10:34AM on 01/17/08
I would squirt a seedless raspberry preserve in the middle of the cupcakes, then ice with Ganache. Chocolate and raz are a classic combination.
Although that peanut butter filling sure sounds good to me!!
chiff0nade at 11:36AM on 01/17/08
How about a chocolate/hazelnut mousse or ganache?
izzy's mama at 12:12PM on 01/17/08
SSmom althought I understand your need to bring awareness which I believe is needed, maybe a post about nutfree recipes and snacks etc is the way to go. To point out someone's ingredient choice as not a good idea is not a great idea. I respectfully disagree with you.
Thank you chiff.
JerzeeTomato at 12:40PM on 01/17/08
I don't really think it's necessary to fill them, unless you really want to take the time to do that. A really good tasting frosting will overpower the blandness of the actual cupcake for sure. My favorites are cream cheese frostings and you can find plenty of recipes with added flavors like coffee, coconut, orange, etc. Yummm.
alyssazor at 4:46PM on 01/17/08
Or maybe use some kind of syrup to drizzle on them before you frost them. This made a wonderful low fat carrot cake from delia really amazing.
jennywenny at 6:04PM on 01/17/08
I agree with Alyssazor, sometimes a bland cupcake is perfect to offset a succulent flavored buttercream.
Suggestion for buttercream flavors:
--Orange flavoring (you can use concentrate and/or orange zest instead) top with bittersweet chocolate curls or shavings or sprinkles
--Mix a little coconut milk into your buttercream, pipe it on and add oven toasted coconut flakes
--Add a little almond flavoring to your buttercream and throw some slivered almonds on top.
--A little Mint and green food coloring in your buttercream and top with some bittersweet chips or shavings.
--Chocolate buttercream, top it with fresh sliced strawberry fans and a poof of cocoa powder on top of that.
kcline at 6:39PM on 01/17/08
Your suggestions are ALL excellent. Thank you!!!
I ended up going with a cream cheese filling I devised, spiked with just a dash of cinnamon, and dusted the tops with powdered sugar. They were delicious. Other frosting/filling considerations included orange and lime. (I didn't have any cream on hand, which I should have mentioned; otherwise, I almost certainly would have gone for a ganache.) Has anyone ever had chocolate and lime? Not white chocolate, but dark? I thought the combination might have been interesting, but I didn't take the risk.
For those with questions about the recipe, yes, I've made it several times, and the results are usually flawless. No kidding. I was a bit surprised when the cupcakes turned out so off. Yes, there is enough salt in the cake--I didn't make a buttercream, since I felt that wouldn't have been exciting enough in this instance. I wanted these to be special.
So what was off? I am pretty sure it was the actual chocolate I used (I have had great results with an 85% and unsweetened mix--about 80% and 20% of each, respectively), since this time I used a 60-something percent dark. It was all I had on hand for this last-minute project, so I went with it, and didn't really make any adjustments. We learn from our mistakes, no? I guess some good came out of it.
kmnola at 7:27PM on 01/17/08
Maybe some NUTELLA or whip up some whoopie pie filling...
10SBLS at 6:13PM on 01/21/08