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Monday, October 31, 2005

Ginger-Cream Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting



I haven't really made pumpkin cupcakes before, but I have tasted a number of pumpkin muffins and have never really been very happy with them. I decided to use a Martha Stewart recipe as a base - I am rarely disappointed with the recipes on her site - and I wasn't this time. The cupcakes themselves were surprisingly tasty, moist, and pumpkin-y. I topped half of them with ginger-cream for more of a breakfast treat and filled the other half with ginger-cream and topped them with chocolate ganache frosting.


Cupcakes from Marthastewart.com
30 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2 cups flour, all-purpose
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
15 ounces pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin purée.
4. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool.



cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg


Ginger Whipped Cream
this whipped cream is stabilized with gelatin which is optional

2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 cups chilled whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup flavored simple syrup

1. First make the simple syrup. Heat 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and a 2" chunk of ginger that has been peeled and julienned until boiling and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside to cool and strain before using. (I rolled the strained out pieces of ginger in sugar and let them dry overnight. I dipped them in orange-tinted white chocolate and used them as a garnish.)
2. In a small metal bowl, soak plain gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes.
3. Place the bowl over a small pot of simmering water and stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream until soft and billowy.
5. Slowly drizzle in the simple syrup and vanilla, continuing to whip as you do.
6. Add the gelatin all at once and continue whipping until soft peaks form.
7. Finish beating with whisk to adjust consistency.



whisking dry ingredients


Chocolate Ganache Frosting

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1-1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
2. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.
3. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
4. Add butter to the chocolate (make sure its soft and at room temp) and stir until combined.
5. Whisk together sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in another bowl until combined.
6. Pour the sugar mixture onto the chocolate mixture, then stir until combined and smooth.
7. Let sit at room temperature until thickened.
8. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.





Assemble
1. Using a melon baller, scoop out a semi-circle of cupcake and set aside.
2. Pipe or scoop ginger cream into the cavity.
3. Cut the excess cake off the scooped out bit and cover the cream-filled hole with it.
4. Frost the cupcake.
5. Top with the white chocolate dipped candied ginger or whatever else you have on hand.


11 Comments:

Blogger Brownie Roo the Brown Monster said...

Yummy! Simply mouthwatering! Love your blog; keep it up! Would try your recipes some day.

10/31/2005 10:28 AM  
Blogger Alanna Kellogg said...

The photo's worthy of the MSL!!

10/31/2005 12:30 PM  
Blogger dangermama said...

yum!

10/31/2005 2:54 PM  
Blogger Culinarily Obsessed said...

As always they look FABULOUS!! Makes me want to reach out & grab one..unfortunately computers don't work that way..lol

10/31/2005 8:53 PM  
Blogger laura capello said...

I am always impressed with your creations!

Any hopes of making a gluten-free variety someday?

11/01/2005 6:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

chockylit, did you bake the prescribed 30 cupcakes, or did you make the mini muffin size cupcakes? If so, does the overall baking time change for smaller size muffin tin? (In you picture the cupcake liners look like the smaller kind).

11/11/2005 4:33 AM  
Blogger chockylit said...

capello, I have totally been thinking about gluten-free, but have been concerned with taste. I was just reading a promising article though, in Gourmet, about a flour mixture that is a promising substitute, developed by Annalise Roberts. It goes as follows: 2 cups extra-finely ground brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, and 1/3 cup tapioca flour. My plan is t make one of my standards that I have made a million times with this flour mixture and do a side by side compare. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

amy, those are indeed the regular sized cupcakes. (I have those containers in 1 ounce and 3.5 ounce sizes.) Generlly regular sized cupcakes take 20-22 minutes and mini 12-15 minutes, depending on the recipe.

11/11/2005 7:54 AM  
Blogger chockylit said...

Hey babycakes. I don't have a shop really... I have maybe done 10 paid orders in the past two years. I do this mostly for fun :)

You should totally go for it though!

11/12/2005 4:55 PM  
Blogger laura capello said...

Thanks for gluten-free baking mix recipe.

I haven't tried any gluten-free baking yet (just found out I have celiac disease three weeks ago). I just tried my first mass-produced gluten-free cookie and I was pleasantly surprised, even though there was a certain odd grainy-ness and crumble to the overall product (but really, what should I suspect from mass-produced foods? Espcially since I make nearly everything from scratch).

Thanks for the help!

11/13/2005 5:00 PM  
Blogger Chubby Hubby said...

what an interesting recipe. as usual, the pix are deliciously beautiful.

11/18/2005 2:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I made these tonight - after drooling over the picture and the recipe for a looooooong time. WOW! I'm totally completely and utterly impressed. They were a lot of work (I'm a wuss) and we had an inexplicably large amount of chocolate ganache and ginger cream left over - but.. WOW. Best cupcakes EVER. :)

12/10/2005 5:56 PM  

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