Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

I tried something new yesterday with chocolate.

Triple.
Chocolate.
Cupcakes.

That got your attention, didn't it?

Devils food cupcakes, ganache dipped, then topped with a ganache-buttercream swirl.

I just typed 'buttcream swirl'.

Thank goodness I caught that.



Here is the recipe:
First, get out your trusty Kitchenaid.


Devils Food Cupcakes:
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups cake flour (this is key)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk (I never seem to have buttermilk on hand, so I pour 2 -3 tsps cider vinegar in my measuring cup, pour in whole milk to reach 2 1/4 cups and let it sour for a few minutes before using - works great)

• Beat sugar and butter together until fluffy
• Beat in eggs, one at a time
• Add vanilla
• Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl
• Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the mixing bowl, mixing well and scraping down sides after each addition.
• Pour into cupcake liners or paper sample cups; I made about 50 2-ounce cucpakes, but could have made more from this batch, as I filled the cups too full and they spilled out onto the cookie sheet. FILL ONLY HALFWAY FULL!!! The cake flour makes these rise well.
• Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, depending on the size of cupcakes you make.

After they have cooled, dip the tops of the cupcakes into warm ganache (this is where the paper pleated cups come in handy!), and put in a cool place to set the chocolate.

Ganache Topping:

• Approximately 3 cups good semisweet chocolate
• 1 cup heavy cream (or 3/4 cup half-and-half in a pinch!)

For this batch, I used about one and one half 12 oz bags of really good semisweet chocolate chips.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler (at my house this is a small saucepan nested into a larger saucepan with about 1/2 inch of water in it). Take care not to let any water splash into the chocolate!
Traditionally, ganache is made with heavy cream, but all I had in the house was half-and-half, so that's what I used. And it worked; I just used a bit less; about 3/4 cup.
Heat the 1 cup of cream (or 3/4 cup of half-and-half) just to boiling; remove the melted chocolate from the heat, and whisk the warmed cream into it until it is smooth and shiny. I keep it over the warm water but off of the heat and it usually stays smooth enough to dip the tops of the cupcakes into it.

Transfer the rest of the ganache to the mixing bowl, and after it cools, whip it until it becomes lighter in color. At this point, add:

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, whip very well
• Add 3 cups of powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mix well until whipped.

Fill your frosting decorator (or cream squeezer) with this frosting and decorate the cupcakes as you wish. I like to leave some of that rich ganache shining through.

This firms up quickly, so use and decorate as soon as possible!