Death by Chocolate Cupcakes
Have we got a treat for you! Chocolate delight fills every bite of these dark chocolate cupcakes with a surprise ganache filling, a smooth chocolate buttercream frosting and, just for fun, tempered chocolate from a new favorite mold we’ve been playing with. We’ll share how we made each component and you can mix and match to create your own gluten free treats, in your own kitchen.
Celiac Kitchen’s top cupcake creator demonstrates each step in our Death by Chocolate Cupcake video at Celiac Kitchen’s YouTube channel… where you’ll find lots of inspiration, demonstrations and more!
Death by Chocolate Cupcakes
Serves 12
Preheat oven to 325°F
Prepare cupcake pan with liners spritzed with a little bit of canola oil
Cupcakes
Allow any chilled ingredient to come to room temperature:
2 eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (15 seconds at a time in microwave or in small pan on stovetop); allow to come to room temperature
½ cup milk
½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar, stir into milk, let sit for at least 5 minutes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup boiling water
In large mixing bowl add:
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour (contains xanthan gum, no need to add more in this recipe)
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons espresso powder
Mix the dry ingredients together
Mix as you add each of the following to the large bowl of dry ingredients:
Eggs
Melted, room temperature butter
Milk and apple cider vinegar mixture
Vanilla
Stop mixing as needed to scrape sides of bowl and beaters
Batter takes on a nice sheen and looks almost like a frosting at this point
Slowly add boiling water; mix while adding to keep heat even throughout batter
Once water is mixed in, batter will be loose and liquidy
From upper left, going clockwise:
eggs mixed in
melted butter added
scraping bowl & beaters or whisk
milk mixture & vanilla blended in
boiling water mixed in
Fill each cupcake liner about ½ - ⅔ full, aiming for consistency in fill level
Bake at 325°F for 20 – 25 minutes
Let cool for at least 20 minutes before frosting
Toothpick Test
Insert toothpick in center of cupcake. If toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are fully baked
Tempered Chocolate for Molds
1 cup chocolate (we used 62%; whichever chocolate you choose, be sure it contains cocoa butter to ensure proper melting and a shiny finish)
Easy method for melting chocolate:
place in microwave safe bowl; microwave for 30 seconds; stir
microwave for another 30 seconds; stir
microwave for 15 seconds (this will bring chocolate to desired temperature of about 90°F); stir
Allow melted chocolate to cool for about 3 minutes
Fill molds using funnel or syringe
Let rest and come to room temperature
Chocolate Ganache Cupcake Filling
Using same microwave safe bowl, melt
1 cup of 62% dark chocolate
place in microwave safe bowl; microwave for 30 seconds; stir
microwave for another 30 seconds; stir
microwave for 15 seconds; stir
Let cool for about 5 minutes
Mix in ⅓ cup heavy (whipping) cream
Add to melted chocolate slowly while stirring
Stir well to make thick, beautiful ganache
Add Ganache to Cupcakes
Cut out a small section in center of each cupcake, creating a well for the ganache to go into
Spoon a small bit of ganache into each little well
Place the cut out part of the cupcake over the ganache. It will look a little messy at this point but no worries, our frosting will cover this.
Buttercream Frosting
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
2 ½ tablespoons melted chocolate (left over from molds)
2 - 3 Tablespoons heavy (whipping) cream (we ended up using 2 ½ tablespoons)
Cream butter until fluffy (using whisk attachment if available)
Add powdered sugar ½ cup at a time. Mix together starting at low then increasing speed. Push down sides, scrape bottom and beater in between
Mix in cocoa powder, salt, melted chocolate
Whip until well mixed. Start on low and gradually increase speed
Push down on sides of bowl and clean beaters
Continue this process as you gradually add in heavy whipping cream to desired consistency
Frost cupcakes using your favorite method from a baker’s bag to a butter knife
Information and Tips
Be sure that any baking spray is 100% oil as any flour ingredient will contain gluten
Cocoa powder tends to avoid water when it’s dry but once it’s mixed in, it will soak up even more water than the flour soaks up; when using a cocoa powder-base recipe, be sure it also has a lot of moisture-containing ingredients in it
High moisture content, extra leavening agents and an acid component help improve the texture of most all gluten free baked goods.
Baking soda reacts with any acids in our recipe to create a leavening. In this recipe our acid-containing ingredients include cocoa powder and vinegar.
We’re also using a double acting baking powder - that includes its own acid ingredients - as a second leavening agent that activates at two distinct points in the process:
when moisture is added
when heat is applied
Fine grains of espresso bring out the bitter and dark notes of chocolate for a fuller, richer chocolate flavor, without any coffee flavor.
A whisk attachment works well for this recipe - if available - as a whisk will aerate the batter
If you want to test if your chocolate is tempered before putting it into a mold, place a thin swipe of it on some parchment paper. It should harden within 5 minutes or so in an average temperature room
Gradually changing temperature of chocolate while tempering it gives the crystals in the chocolate a chance to reset in a way that gives a shine to the finished mold
Water droplets affect the chocolate as it takes shape in your mold. Be sure it’s good and dry before filling