“That is one good thing about this world
…there are always sure to be more springs.”
L.M. Montgomery
Dark Chocolate Wholewheat & Walnut Cupcakes, indulgent little treats for days when you want something to go from simple to simply delicious in a matter of minutes. These wholegrain cupcakes are just that and more. Easy to stir together with almost staple pantry ingredients, they are light, moist and full of chocolaty flavour. Have them as they are ‘naked’ if that’s your call, else spruce them up with a sinful dark chocolate ganache, some sprinkles if you like, and voila! You have magic {if I may say so myself}. That these are wholewheat, use jaggery as a sweetener and top of the milk cream or ‘malai’ make them worth the try!!
These cupcakes are inspired by the sweet Shikha of Cocoka, who I met at my very first food styling workshop with Darter. She’s been difficult to shake off, and has attended each one of the other workshops, the sweetheart that she is. So she baked these absolutely delicious cupcakes in these absolute stunning liners, with the most delicious ganache on top for our last food styling workshop at Lodi.
She also gifted me some of those beautiful Spring like cupcake wrappers when I waxed eloquent about them. Non stop! I couldn’t believe how pretty they were. So here I was, armed with the prettiest ever cupcake wrappers and a need to bake that very day. Maybe something chocolate, possibly brownie cupcakes. With Spring here, the weather brilliant, these cases were all I wanted to use.
Setting off to make home made butter in the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, which is a BREEZE by the way, I stole some cream just because. Just because I suddenly remembered this top of the milk cream {malai} cake, Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake I had made a while ago, falling prey to a similar feeling then. So here you are, cupcakes adapted from that cake, cupcakes that came out really YUM. Wrappers like these must be the reason because they inspire you to excel! Honestly, good aesthetics give me a spring in my step, a reason to enjoy what I do a little more. What I didn’t manage very well was the piping as I haven’t piped ganache onto cupcakes in eons. Guess that’s what I will be practicing next, in my dreams immediately if not on cupcakes. Shikha received several SOS calls and now I am a little better educated. Her tips – let the ganache rest a bit, then whisk it again before piping. Notes taken for next time!
- Cupcakes
- Wet Mix
- 85ml top of the milk cream {malai}
- 75g jaggery
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Dry Mix
- 85g wholewheat flour
- 30g Cocoa
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 50g walnuts, chopped
- 50g butterscotch chips, optional
- 75ml buttermilk
- Ganache
- 225g 52% dark couverture chocolate, chopped
- 100ml low fat cream
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Place 6 cupcake wrappers on a baking tray {or line a 6 mold muffin tray}
- Place dry mix ingredients in a bowl, and stir well to mix
- Place the wet mix ingredients in bowl of stand mixer, and whisk at speed 4 for 2-3 minutes. Mixture might look slightly curdled but that’s OK.
- Gently fold in 1/3 of dry mix, followed by half buttermilk. Repeat ending with dry mix.
- Spoon into cupcake/muffin cases, 3/4 full. Bake for 35 minutes, until tester comes out moist with a few crumbs hanging. Cool on racks.
- Serve warm or at room temperature if sans frosting. If you are frosting them, cool completely before piping the ganache on.
- Ganache
- Place chopped chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl and run at high in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth, then leave it to rest to cool and thicken. Whisk again before piping.
- Pipe onto cupcakes with a star nozzle.
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
