20051006

chocolate cupcakes with mascarpone cheese frosting

chocolate cupcake

bittersweet chocolate cupcakes with a mascarpone cheese frosting. i found the one-bowl chocolate cupcakes recipe in sara neumeier's cupcakes book, and i used it because it is one of the few chocolate cake recipes that actually uses chocolate, not cocoa powder (i ended up adding a cup of cocoa powder into the recipe anyway). i wasn't wowed by it, even though i used a very nice sharffen berger bittersweet chocolate and shockinag cocoa. if anyone has a great chocolate (cup)cake recipe that uses chocolate, point me to it.

mascarpone cheese frosting was a doddle. i decided to use mascarpone because of a movie i'm looking forward to watching this weekend. anyone care to guess?



mascarpone cheese frosting

1/2 stick/1/4 cup/56g unsalted butter, softened
8oz/227g mascarpone cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb/427g sifted confectioner's/icing sugar

with an electric mixer, beat the butter and mascarpone cheese together until fluffy. add the vanilla extract, and the sugar incrementally, until fully incorporated.

20 comments:

I know this goes without saying, but I don't care, I'm saying it!

What a cool photo! :)

Is the movie "Capote?"

What a fabulous head piece on that cupcake! Mmm edible spikies...

I agree with McAuliflower - great 'do on that cupcake! I read somewhere that substituting cocoa (and butter) for chocolate gives a cakier texture. I wonder if cocoa is more common in cupcakes because of the lighter texture? I suppose you could turn brownies into cupcakes...

hi alicat! thanks for saying it :D what do you think of the cupcake 'do?

hi ollie--hm...mascapote cheese? ;D actually, no, although maybe if i was i'd make "in cold blood" orange sorbet....

hi mcauliflower! i had fun blobbing it up.

hi cathy! thanks for the insight. i want something cakier than a sponge cake, but not something as dense as most brownies, although maybe you can recommend a good recipe...? all the ones i try tend to be too dense.

hi milgwimper! i am really getting my hair cut this weekend--maybe i'm subconsciously auditioning new 'dos?

Um, "The 40 year old Virgin?" :-P

Hi S,

I love the spikey hair treatment. It's so 80s Billy Idol. LOL! =P

omg, sasha, old virgins and creamy cheese...yike!

hey reid, it's a nice day for a white...frosting :)

what a beautiful cupcake! it has so much more spunk and attitude than the average smooth-headed cupcakes.

Great cupcake topping.

Adorable frosting job, Santos.

Yummm!

That's a punk cupcake for sure! I found Nigella's Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes/Queencakes/Fairycakes - they use real chocolate as well as cherry jam (sounds strange but it really works) - are easy and delicious. There's a recipe here:
http://www.bibliocook.com/archives/2005/05/queencake_centr.html

hi everyone! thanks for the lovely comments, and thank you caroline for the recipe. i don't have much faith in mrs. saatchi's recipes, but i'll give it a go.

sooo cute. looks like a hedgehog.

you're so right!

Debbi's (Mrs Fields) Devil's Food Cake uses both cocoa & chocolate and makes a mean cake.

any day now!

Is the movie Al Capone in "Scarface"?

glad I found this recipe -- am making the icing tonight!