One Cake, Two Chocolate Frostings

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with either Ganache or Martha Stewart's Dark Chocolate Frosting.

adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 36

• 3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Nice delicately flavoured cupake, has a mild buttermilk flavour that easily goes with a deep chocolate frosting.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Sifting the cake flour gets the lumps out now, so they don't end up making your cupcake lumpy inside. Sift the flours, baking soda and powder and salt right into the bowl of your stand mixer (if using). Turn the mixer on very low and run for 30 seconds just to mix the dry ingredients together.
   
   
2. Turn the electric mixer to low speed, slowly pour in the canola oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Increase the speed to medium and mix for three minutes or so. Turn up to medium high for 15 seconds. This is a modification from Martha's method and is pretty much close to the 'dump' method. The one difference is that the dry ingredients are whizzed around on their own first. The reason for this is to fully mix up the two types of flours.
   
   
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
   
   
4.  This recipe makes 36 cupcakes. Freeze as many as you like before frosting. Freeze for two weeks maximum. Given the delicate flavour of the buttermilk (and the lack of chocolate content) they will start to suffer if left frozen for longer than this time.
   
5. Frost the ones you have left out with your choice of frosting. If using cupcakes that you had previously frozen, let them come to room temperature before you do this (or the frosting will just slide right off!)

Two types of Chocolate Frosting

I already had some chocolate ganache (from a separate baking activity) left in the fridge, so I thought why not try a taste test with this... which everyone in my house loves... and the "Dark Chocolate Frosting" from the Martha Stewart cupcakes book. Surprisingly, the regular ganache won here at our house. However, the Martha frosting was very pretty to look at, very glossy and shiny.

To make Ganache, simply heat 1 cup of whipping cream (heavy cream) and add
230g (8 oz) dark chocolate broken into small pieces. Remove from the heat and stir until all of the chocolate has melted and you have smooth shiny spread. To pipe ganache, put it in the fridge for 20 mins or so until is slightly firm. If not eaten right away, keep ganache-frosted cupcakes in the fridge, letting them come to room temp before you eat.