Anniversary Cupcakes

[syzygy_dw]

John and I are celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary this coming Sunday. Every year, I make a cupcake version of our awesome chocolate-ginger wedding cake. I made it as a layer cake on our second anniversary, but the cupcake version has been the most successful.

And so, in honour of our anniversary, and because it's chocolate, I will share them with you.

The original recipe for the wedding cake came from the fall 2001 version of Martha Stewart Weddings. In the magazine, it's actually called a "Mocha Spice Cake", but trust me, it's chocolate-ginger. For the cake version, I used standard-sized round pans (10-inch?). I skipped the parchment paper, and because I don't have a Kitchen-Aid-type stand mixer, I used my old hand mixer with beaters. It works just as well.


Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans
3 cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon salt
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self rising)*
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups hot coffee**

*I remember the first time I made this recipe, I couldn't find cake flour that wasn't self rising. I asked the Suspects, and my mom, and everyone said that self-rising was OK. I never had any problems.

**I used espresso.

Directions:

1. Place rack in centre of oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners. (For cake, butter pans, line bottoms with parchment circles, butter again. Dust pans and liners with cocoa powder, tap out excess.) Set aside.

2. In bowl of mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium until light. Add sugar and eggs, beat on medium-high until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, cocoa, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, baking soda and salt; mix well.

3. With mixer on low, add a third of the flour, mix until just combined. Add half of sour cream; mix. Repeat with remaining flour and sour cream, ending with flour. Pour coffee into batter. Mix until smooth.

4. Pour batter into pans. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer comes out clean. (I usually eyeball this part, so your mileage may vary. Keep a close watch on them so they don't burn!) (For cake: bake for 1 hour and 50 minutes (rotating 90 degrees halfway through baking), or until sides start to pull away from pans and a few crumbs remain on a cake tester that has been insterted and removed. (I used a bamboo skewer, but I think I waited until it came out clean.) Let cool slightly in pans on a wire rack. Trim tops level with tops of pans. Invert cakes and unmold. Cool completely on racks. Wrap each cake layer with plastic wrap and chill overnight. (Or, do what I did and stash it in the freezer for a while. Don't let it freeze, though.)

The next step in this recipe, which you may decide to skip, is to make a ginger-infused simple syrup. In a saucepan over high heat, combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 cups of water, and 1 2x2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove it from heat, let it cool completely, and strain out the ginger pieces. Brush the cake layers (or cupcakes) with the syrup before you frost them with chocolate buttercream frosting. (If you are too worn out from all the cake baking to make your own chocolate buttercream frosting, a can of Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Whipped Frosting works perfectly.)

Yield: This recipe is designed for a wedding cake (if you double it), so you get a lot of cupcakes out of it. Last year, I doubled the recipe and got something like 7.5 dozen cupcakes. I made so much batter I had to use my two largest bowls. So even if you don't double, you'll probably get about 4 dozen. They freeze really well (without icing), but you might not have the chance to freeze them!

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Comments

[laeb.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a recipe I might have to try :)

And happy anniversary to you both!

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

Congrats! Here's to many, many more happy returns!

[nonelvis]

That sounds so good I am willing to set aside my Martha Stewart hatred to make this recipe.

Happy anniversary!

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

I have a huge hate-on for Martha Stewart, too. The only reason I bought the magazine was because they had a feature on chocolate wedding cakes. I'm glad I did, though, because the cake was amazing!