Double chocolate strawberry truffle baby cupcakes

I haven't baked in a while. Last weekend was Melbourne cup weekend, so we had four days off. We had a great day on Derby day, and a lazy Sunday. By Monday I was ready to bake! I wasn't really sure when I started making these how they would turn out, but I had truffle cupcakes in mind and was determined to give it a go. And... everyone likes strawberries dipped in chocolate, right?

I made the chocolate ganache and the strawberry curd a day before making the cupcakes to ensure they had firmed up enough to use.

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

Truffle centre
Strawberry curd filling (adapted from Baking Bites)
200 grams strawberries, pureed
1/2 cup white sugar
5 tbs cornstarch
4 tbs thicken cream
1/4-1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted. Amount depends on how sweet your strawberries are.

Chocolate truffle filling (Adapted from Simply Recipes)
150g good quality dark chocolate chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup of thickened cream
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Cupcakes
Half this chocolate cupcake recipe

Method:

Strawberry curd filling
Combine strawberries and sugar in a food processor and blend until very smooth. Add cornstarch and blend again. Strain into a medium saucepan. Over medium heat, cook until it just comes to boil - this shouldn't take long. Stir continuously and cook for about a minute, until the mixture thickens slightly (If it covers the back of a wooden spoon, this is the thickness you want). Pour into a heat proof container and cover the top of it with cling wrap. By having the cling wrap in contact with the curd it will prevent a skin from forming. Leave to cool and thicken.

Chocolate truffle filling

Put cream in a microwave safe bowl and put it in the microwave on medium for one minute. Stir, then return to microwave for another 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and add chocolate, stirring regularly until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Stir it regularly - it should start to look lovely and smooth. Pop in the fridge to cool.

Once both the strawberry curd and chocolate mixture have cooled and thickened, line a plastic container with baking paper and pour the ganache into a smooth layer. Top with the strawberry curd and pop back in the fridge over night.

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Spray 24 mini silicon cupcake moulds and place on a baking tray.

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and oil. Beat ingredients with a mixer for approx two minutes. Occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure all ingredients are incorporated. Add the boiling water, and beat until just blended. Don't over-mix. Make sure you pour the mixture into the liners when they are on the tray that you are using to put them in the oven - due to the boiling water, the mixture is very runny!Bake for 10-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Mine took about 12 minutes. Leave in the moulds to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

To assemble the cupcakes:

15 minutes prior to filling the cupcakes, remove the truffle filling from the fridge.

Use this method to hollow out the top of the cupcake and fill with the truffle filling. You will need approx one teaspoon per cupcake.

Very vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing and strawberry filling

We just got back from an overseas holiday and I haven't baked in nearly 5 weeks! Despite the jet lag, I really wanted to get back into the kitchen and bake something.

Cupcakes (Recipe from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup room unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg + 2 egg whites (keep seperate)
1/2 cup whole milk (room temperature)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Icing and filling

Icing:
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
2/3 cups unsalted butter 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
4 tbs milk

Strawberry filling:
1/3 cup vanilla icing
2 large strawberries, mashed
4 tsp strawberry jam

Method:

Preheat the oven to 176 degrees celsius. Grease and line a 12 capacity cupcake pan.

Beat the butter on medium for 3 minutes before adding the sugar. Beat for a further 3 minutes to combine. Add the egg then beat for 30 seconds. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating in between.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, add the milk, vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract and the sour cream in a bowl and mix together well.

Add the milk/vanilla.sour cream and flour mixture to the butter/sugar alternatively, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing in between. Make sure you start and end with the flour mix.

Make sure you don't over beat the mixture.

Divide the mixture evenly between cupcake liners and bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

They smelt lovely when they were baking!

To make the icing and filling

Icing:

Place butter in mixing bowl and beat for two minutes. Sift in icing sugar and beat to combine. Add vanilla bean paste. Add the milk, one tbs at a time, beating mixture in between until reach desired consistency.

Strawberry filling:
1/3 cup vanilla icing
2 large strawberries, mashed
4 tsp strawberry jam

Mix until smooth. 
Click here for instructions on how to fill cupcakes