The Unofficial Schwazwälder Cupcakes

Long time no see... ! I'm enjoying my (probably) last long summer holiday, and although I still find time for cooking and baking, I moved, left my kitchen behind and had to start adjusting to a new one. Fun. As I'm moving long-distance, I got to do some shopping - new trays, cupcake cases, mixer, measuring cups... and I also got to know my new neighbour who seems to be interested in tasting my culinary experiments, and,  in exchange, offered to supply me with his home-grown tomatoes.

Since my mum and grandma love to make cherry jam and the pantry at my parents' house is slowly filling up with dark red jamjars, I got inspired... I've decided to bake some Black forest (Schwarzwälder) cupcakes for my high school reunion and for Honza's gaming session.

Little did I know that my cupcakes cannot be officially called "Black forest"... The original Black forest cake has to contain cherry brandy, at least that's what the German Leitsätze für Feine Backwaren (Guidelines for Fine Bakery Products) say. According to these "guidelines", the cherry brandy flavour has to be "clearly distinguishable" if the "fine bakery product" is to be called schwarzwälder. 

My cupcakes don't contain any cherry brandy or cherry brandy flavourings... Be aware that the bellow described recipe cannot therefore be officially considered "black forestish". Nonetheless, despite my ignorance of German traditions and guidelines, the cupcakes met with positive critique.

Schwarzwälder Choco-Cherry Cupcakes with Sour Cream Stracciatella Frosting
- picture taken by Honza -

Ingredients (makes for about 12 medium cupcakes)

     Cupcakes
75 g plain flour
70 g butter
60 g quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup brown sugar 
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup full fat milk
12 tsp. sour cherry jam
0.5 tsp. baking soda
0.5 tsp. baking powder
0.5 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract* (not the Dr.Oetker clear essence!)
1 large egg
*the only good vanilla extract I discovered in CZ/SK so far is the one from Marks and Spencers, in the UK I like the one from Dr.Oetker (brownish and thick, available with, or without the vanilla seeds)

     Sour Cream Stracciatella Frosting
150 g sour cream (30% fat)
100 g mascarpone cheese
75 g quality dark chocolate (grated)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
3 dark cherries for decoration

Directions
      Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Beat egg with sugar
3. Melt butter with chocolate and add it to the egg and sugar mixture
4. Mix the remaining dry ingredients and slowly add the dry mixture and milk to the egg and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly until smooth
5. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake cases and fill each one a bit over 1/2 full
6. Bake for about 20 minutes (toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean)
7. Let the cupcakes cool and use a small paring knife to cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake, save the top part
8. Fill each cupcake with a spoonful of sour cherry jam and top with the piece you removed

     Sour Cream Stracciatella Frosting
1. Mix the sour cream with mascarpone
2. Add powdered sugar and beat thoroughly until smooth
3. Gently fold in the finely grated chocolate
4. Refrigerate for at least 30 min before frosting the cupcakes

CNS Stimulating Mocha Cupcakes

Ivka, one of my lab friends, celebrated her birthday yesterday. She, as well as the rest of the serious scientists, cannot imagine a day without coffee. It is understandable, considering the hours spent in dark rooms, sterile environment without windows, and late afternoon and evening shifts... From all the different flavours of cupcakes, Ivka likes the mocha ones with espresso mascarpone frosting the most, and it was therefore the obvious choice for our little "lab-rat" celebration... 

C2H10N4O2, or caffeine, is a xanthine alkaloid compound found in the leaves and beans of coffee plant. It acts as a CNS stimulant in humans and, as such, it has the power to temporarily ward off drowsiness and restore alertness. Caffeine has several other names which are often mentioned when talking about its different sources. These include guaranine, mateine, or theine found in guarana berries, verba mate, and tea, respectively. From the evolutionary perspective, caffeine, commonly found in over 60 plant species worldwide, is believed to have a protective role, as it acts as a natural pesticide which paralyses and kills various insects.

Apart from caffeine, coffee also contains trigonelline, a bitter alkaloid which has a significant role in the development of flavours and aromas during roasting. During the roasting process, trigonelline decomposes and gives rise to a large class of aromatic compounds (pyridines). These are responsible for producing the sweet/caramel/earthy-like aromas.

The coffee aroma is perceived by two different mechanisms. We can sense the scent nasally via smelling the coffee through the nose, or retronasally, when we swallow the coffee or when it is present in our mouth and the volatile aromatic compounds drift upward into the nasal passage.

Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Mascarpone and Dark Chocolate Frosting - Notice the beautiful new cases! 

Ingredients (makes for about 12 cupcakes)

     Cupcakes
2/3 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup strong black coffee
0.5 tbsp. baking powder
0.5 tsp. vanilla extract* (not the Dr.Oetker clear essence!)
0.25 tsp. salt
0.25 tsp. baking soda
1 large egg
*the only good vanilla extract I discovered in CZ/SK so far is the one from Marks and Spencers, in the UK I like the one from Dr.Oetker (brownish and thick, available with, or without the vanilla seeds)

     Espresso Mascarpone Frosting
200 g mascarpone cheese
6-8 tbsp. powdered sugar
2-3 tsp. instant coffee powder
(1-2 tbsp. heavy cream if the frosting turns out too thick)

     Dark Chocolate Frosting
40 g quality dark chocolate (melted)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup heavy cream
4-6 tbsp. powdered sugar

Directions
      Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Whisk together sugar and softened butter
3. Add the egg and whisk to blend
4. Add tepid coffee, milk, and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly
5. Mix the dry ingredients and slowly add the dry mixture to the wet one, whisk thoroughly until smooth
6. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake cases and fill each one a about 2/3 full
8. Bake for about 20 minutes (toothpick inserted in the centre should come out mostly clean)

     Espresso Mascarpone Frosting
1. Whisk together mascarpone with the instant coffee powder
2. Add sugar (less if you like your coffee more bitter) and whisk to blend
3. If too thick, whisk in some cream

     Dark Chocolate Frosting
1. Whisk together the softened butter and cocoa powder
2. Add melted chocolate and cream and mix thoroughly
3. Stir in sugar and beat until smooth

Ultimate Theobromine Delight - Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm back with another cupcake recipe! ...my cupcakes are becoming so popular, that I had to order new cases ... hopefully they will come soon, because I'm running out of my decent reserves.

So this one is all about chocolate...

Theobromine is one of the chemicals that make chocolate so irresistible. It is a methylxanthine found in products of the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao. The Latin name of this plant is derived from two Greek words - theo (god) and brosi (food) - "food of gods", maybe? I forgot to tell you that, apart from science, I'm also little bit into etymology.

...back to theobromine... Along with caffeine, anandamide and few other compounds, theobromine is one of the chemicals responsible for the lift that one gets from eating chocolate. It increases heart rate, dilates blood vessels and opens up airways (BC1036 is a programme intended to develop theobromine capsules for the treatment of cough - European phase III (clinical study in development) and a post-marketing safety study currently runs in Korea).

- I made these triple chocolate ones for my boyfriend's birthday which is tomorrow -

Triple Chocolate Cupcake - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENÍČKU!

Ingredients (makes for about 12 medium cupcakes)

     Cupcakes
110 g plain flour
100 g butter
60 g quality dark chocolate (at least 65%)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
0.5 tsp. baking soda
0.5 tsp. baking powder
0.5 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract* (not the Dr.Oetker clear essence!)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup full fat milk
*the only good vanilla extract I discovered in CZ/SK so far is the one from Marks and Spencers, in the UK I like the one from Dr.Oetker (brownish and thick, available with, or without the vanilla seeds)

     White Chocolate Frosting
200 g quality white chocolate
1/3 - 1/2 cup whipping cream (at least 35%)
1 egg yolk
10 g whipping cream stabilizer (CZ/SK smeta-fix Dr.Oetker)

Directions
      Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Mix eggs with both sugars
3. Melt butter with chocolate and add it to the egg and sugar mixture
4. Mix the remaining dry ingredients and slowly add the dry mixture and milk to the egg and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly until smooth
5. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake cases and fill each one a bit over 1/2 full
6. Bake for about 20 minutes (toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean)

     White Chocolate Frosting
1. Melt the white chocolate with cream and let cool for a while
2. Mix in the egg yolk
3. Add the stabilizer and mix for about 3-4 min on medium to high speed