These cupcakes are pretty similar to the recipe in the Cake Bible, but with a slight difference in when the liquid ingredients go in. For more details on the differences, visit Jennifer’s blog.

You start by mixing together the dry ingredients.

Mix together dry ingredients

Then add the cocoa (first steeped in boiling water and cooled), and the butter.

Beat in the cocoa slurry and butter

Next, you’ll add the eggs, more water, and vanilla, in two batches.

This is my second egg addition

Mix that up, then divide into your cupcake pans. I won’t even try to pass these off as “muffin tins”.

Cupcakes!

For those of you who may question the whole idea of the ‘mise en place’, because you think it might generate too many dishes, let me assure you, it’s really not that bad.

Aside from the mixer bowl, this was it.

I had one cup with cover for steeping the cocoa, one bowl for the eggs, water and vanilla, and one for the butter to come to room temperature in (I measure it first, then let the appropriate amount come to room temperature). Then there was a couple of spatulas and a fork.

Finished Cupcakes

I had a bit of leftover raspberry cloud cream (recipe is in the Cake Bible) in the freezer. I think this was from my cousin’s wedding cake last August. After thawing and rebeating, it still tasted great to me, so I figured it was time to use it up. That’s what I love about cupcakes — I can make a batch and frost with 3 different batches of leftover frosting, without anyone thinking I’m making strange flavour combinations. I used up a bit of peanut butter frosting too, though it was still a bit firm from the fridge, so it looks more like a blop of fudge than frosting, so I didn’t include it in the picture.

Taste impressions: The raspberry cloud cream is delicious, and it’s a nice contrast to the chocolate. The cupcake is rich and chocolate-y, with a nice fine crumb, but I think I may have overbaked slightly (probably due to me stretching the recipe into 24 cupcakes, instead of 16). I’ve made this recipe before and it came out much more moist last time.

This cake bakes up really easily and is structured just like most of Rose’s butter cakes — mix dry ingredients, add butter and part of the liquid, beat the mixture, then add the rest of the liquid in a couple of additions. I scooped the mixture into paper cupcake liners, and into the oven it went. I probably could have made several more cupcakes than I did (I think I got 17 out of it), because they overflowed the liners a bit while baking. After they came out of the oven, I poked holes in them, then brushed the tops with ganache. I think the holes I poked were a little small, because there was no noticeable ganache inside the cakes, just basically a glaze on top. I think maybe the probe from my thermometer would have been a perfect size for this, so I’ll try to remember that for next time. I didn’t add raspberries to the top, because I dislike buying non-essentials like that out of season, and frozen really wouldn’t have been the same.

Verdict: Honestly, not my favourite cake, and not as nice and moist as the cupcakes I made last weekend (vanilla & chocolate from the recipes in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes), but not a bad cake, really. It probably would be better with raspberries, just to add some juiciness. My version must have been edible, though, because my friend told me today at work that he’ll bring the empty container tomorrow (he didn’t want to return it dirty today). I sent the leftovers home with him on Saturday nightSunday morning.