Chocolate Cupcakes

I have made this ganache frosting for 30+ years. I got it from one of Maida's cookbooks. I always dip the tops of the cupcakes into a small bowl of the ganache as she advises in her book. It leaves the topping totally smooth and shiny! I also use the sprinkles. This is truly one of the best chocolate frostings for cupcakes you will ever find.

It's even better if you put a piece of chocolate into the dough. The chocolate melts and gives an amazing flavour to the cupcake !!

I found the cake in this kind of dry and not particularly chocolatey. I modified by cutting down to 2 eggs, cutting flour to 1.5 cups, cutting sugar to 3/4, adding a square of dark chocolate to the dough of each cupcake and substituting sour cream for the milk. Also cut down cooking time by a few minutes. Much more moist.

We (the USA) tried to make the switch about 35 years ago but it never took. We have never, however, tried driving on the left....

Light and fluffy, super delicious! I used baking powder instead of baking soda since the cocoa contains alkali and added semisweet chocolate chips because the chocolate flavor is subtle and I wanted to top with vanilla frosting.

5 1/3 ounces of butter = 150 gr for those of us who use metric measurements

How long should these be baked if they are in mini-muffin pans?

Dear USA, please change to weight/metric measurements! I had to play with the flour measurements a couple of times to get the right level of moistness in the cupcake that most reviewers seem to be missing. But even with a dry cupcake the ganache saves everything!

Ganache can be made without heavy cream. You can try all sorts of substitutions.....Greek yogurt, pureed banana, beer!!! The sky is the limit. I also place a few frozen raspberries ( fresh would be great, too ) inside the cakes themselves - more towards the top, rather than the middle.

These cupcakes are obviously very chocolate-y, but they are also just a touch too sweet for me. The ganache turned out beautifully smooth, rich, and glossy, but I would try it with a more bitter chocolate and toss in a pinch of salt next time. The cupcake is moist and fluffy, although I might also toss a bit more salt in the batter next time, too.

I followed the suggestions below and added chocolate chips to the dough. This definitely improved the recipe but it still was not enough chocolate. I wasn't sure how much to add so I went with 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Though the cakes were moist and had a nice texture, they still lacked rich chocolate flavor. Visibly they baked up a light brown color, not a deep, dark brown.

Add a couple of tablespoons of chocolate syrup to the batter. Use large 6 cup pan as the recipe calls for it allows the cake to expand. You can frost with ganache by simply dipping the top of the cake into the warm frosting when it's about the consistency of thick honey. It makes for a perfectly consistent cap of frosting on the top. Colored sprinkles (and a ribbon of white frosting) make all the difference.

I baked these for a holiday party last night. Used crushed candy cane for the nonpariel decoration. Very good cupcakes. I did bake them only 22 min per others' notes, and they were moist and perfect. Love the ganache icing. Would make these again.

It's the frosting that speaks to chocolate lovers, especially if you use bittersweet chips. Cake alone is not as chocolatey as others.

The recipe did not work for me, the taste was ok but the texture was unpleasant.