Dark Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

My co-worker and friend, Timothy, likes dark chocolate cupcakes so I went looking for something inspiring on the web.  I found this, but when I tried making their icing I was disappointed.  Also, my experience tells me that cake recipes found on the internet can be disasters.  So I decided to let Duncan Hines and the Keebler Elves help me out, but I also used my own recipes for the ganache and the icing.  They were so good that after Timothy's birthday I made more for everyone who missed out.  

Unlike some of my creations, this one only took an evening after work.  Timing is important though because butter needs to be at room temperature, and ganache and cupcakes need time to cool before you can assemble everything.  Here is how I did it, in order, so that it all fit in before bed time.

First of All

Get out 4 (not 6, that's just the picture) sticks of butter and let them come to room temperature.  You will need them for the icing so make a little Stone Henge out of them so that they can warm up while you do other things.  Do this a few hours ahead of time if you are able to.  If you're short on time, it helps to unwrap them and cut them into chunks. 

Dark Chocolate Ganache 

Ingredients

1 bar Ghirardelli dark chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 tablespoon Karo Light Corn Syrup

Directions

1) Put chocolate bits in a bowl that can withstand heat.  

2) Heat the cream and syrup in a small sauce pan until simmering.  

3) Pour cream over chocolate pieces and let sit for 1 minute.

4) Stir with a whisk until well mixed.

5) Cover with Saran Wrap directly on the surface so that it will not form a skin.

6) Let sit for 20 minutes.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix

Water, eggs, and oil as specified on the box

Directions

1) Follow the directions on the back of the box.  They work just fine.

2) Here is my trick for making cupcakes quickly, neatly, and roughly the same size.  Pour the batter into a 1 gallon Ziplock bag.  Squeeze the air out, and cut off the corner.  Use your hand to control how much goes in each cupcake liner.

3) Don't worry if some are flat and some are rounded on top.  The ones in the top of my oven turned out round.  No matter.

4) While the cupcakes are baking, your 20 minute timer for the ganache has probably gone off.  Remove the Saran Wrap and whisk again.  Cover it up and let it sit on the counter for an hour or more.  When it gets to the right temperature it will be like icing.  

5) Another thing to do while cupcakes are baking or cooling is to put a few of the Keebler Grasshopper cookies in a small Ziplock bag and crush them.  This will be part of the decoration.  

6) If it's warm and the cookies you plan to use for decoration are sticking together, put them in the fridge.  When they're cold, pry them apart with a small knife, and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to use them.  Remember only half of the cookie will show so if they get messed up a little because of the weather it's ok.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (this is a keeper!)

Ingredients

4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into roughly 8 chunks per stick

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

Directions

1) Place sugar and egg whites in a heat proof bowl.  The metal bowl that comes with a stand mixer is perfect.

2) Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch.  The best way to know when you're done is to rub it between your fingers.  When you can't feel the grains of sugar, you're done.  

3) Remove the bowl from the pan.  Place on stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

4) Beat on high until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.

5) Change to the paddle attachment and add the butter one chunk at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.

6) After all the butter is added, beat on medium high until thick and very smooth.

7) Add mint to taste, then food coloring if desired.

8) Put the icing in a large piping bag.  I used a 1M tip, which is common for cupcakes, but you can use what ever you prefer.

Assembly

1) By now your ganache should be the right consistency to spread on the cupcakes.  I put it in a Ziplock bag and cut off the end, and I also used a small knife to spread it around.

2) Let the ganache sit for a little while to become thicker.  It doesn't need to be completely dry, but we don't want the icing sliding off.

3) The icing recipe makes enough to be quite generous.  Pipe it on so that some of the ganache still shows around the edges, and make it high enough that when you shove that cookie in, there is enough icing to support it.  Then sprinkle with the crumbled cookies.  

4) Top it off with a cookie on each and you have a really special and delicious treat.

Happy Birthday Timothy!