After listening all day to Quinn saying that we hadn’t anything sweet in the house in days, I finally caved late last night and made these cupcakes. The recipe appealed to me because it was simple, quick, and mixed in one bowl. Their simplicity, in preparation as well as flavor, interested me enough to crank up my mixer at such a late hour.
These are the only cupcakes you’ll find thus far on BoB. I am not a cupcake maker for one simple reason. Icing. I don’t enjoy trying to make icing look pretty. I just don’t have the patience. Thus explains my love of the Bundt cake. These cupcakes, however, are simply adorned with confectioner’s sugar. Plus, the cakes are loaded with vanilla in addition to a chunk of bittersweet chocolate hidden inside.
I used vanilla bean paste for the vanilla beans. I fell in love with vanilla bean paste when I made pound cakes during the holidays. It’s a great alternative to vanilla beans, and it’s easier to have on-hand than the beans themselves.
I do offer one helpful hint for baking these. When adding the chocolate to the batter, do not try to cover the chocolate completely with batter. The cakes will rise and cover it. If you push it in too far, it will settle to the bottom and maybe even come out of the bottom of the cakes. I tried a couple of methods of putting in the chocolate, and the best I could do was just to lay the chocolate on top of the batter. It still settles to the bottom, but it did stay inside the cupcakes. How Martha got hers to look so lovely inside I just don’t know.
We loved these chocolate/vanilla cupcakes. The taste reminded me of vanilla bean ice cream. With chocolate sauce, of course. While they didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to aesthetically, the flavor is fantastic. A definite winner for my first cupcake venture.
25 responses so far ↓
1 JEP // Jan 10, 2008 at 3:43 am
Love the photo! I think cupcakes are rather tasty with just a sprinkle of pwd sugar & I agree…frosting all them can be a messy chore (unless you assign it to a child–ha!) I have been tempted to buy the vanilla bean paste & your suggestion has convinced me!
2 Patricia Scarpin // Jan 10, 2008 at 6:04 am
They look scrumptious, Jen!
I’m not a fond of buttercream, so I usually go for chocolate icing or ganache. I prefer simpler cakes, though.
And I have bought vanilla paste (I can’t find it here, luckily for me King Arthur delivers in Brazil) and can’t wait for my box to arrive…
3 Hannah // Jan 10, 2008 at 7:45 am
I too fell in love with vanilla bean paste- There’s nothing better than seeing those gorgeous flecks in your baked goods, and it just tastes so much more flavorful than the extract.
The cupcakes look and sound wonderful, and filling the center with chocolate is a great excuse to leave off the fussy icing off the top!
4 Julie O'Hara // Jan 10, 2008 at 9:06 am
Sounds like a really good one–and these definitely don’t need icing. I recently tried filling muffins with peanut butter and my problem was that it exploded out the top:)
Julie
5 jennifer // Jan 10, 2008 at 10:37 am
JEP, I love that vanilla bean paste. I think you’ll be pleased.
Patricia, I would be lost without King Arthur’s deliveries. If not for them, I would have to do without a lot of things.
Hannah, those little flecks make me giddy!
Julie, I can empathize with your cupcake filling problems. A few of these lost the chocolate completely out of the bottom. I’m glad I experimented a bit to get some of them to work.
6 Anita // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:10 am
Wow, so simple yet so utterly irresistible! I agree, those cupcakes with huge domes of buttercream look cute but are kind of sickly to eat. Yours on the other hand I could definitely dig into!
7 Alicia // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:17 am
I’m so out of the loop — I’ve never seen vanilla bean paste before! I’m going to look out for it; it sounds like something I would like to work with.
8 quinn // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:55 am
Based on Julie’s peanut butter experience, I think we should try them again but slathering a little peanut butter on the bottom of the chocolate. Maybe the two forces would cancel each other out?
9 Deborah // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:54 pm
These sound delicious! I’m going to have to start looking for vanilla bean paste…
10 jennifer // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Anita, those big tall cupcakes are pretty if not practical to eat. Maybe someday I’ll be brave and try them.
Alicia, I love, love, love vanilla bean paste. Probably my favorite baking find of last year.
Quinn, you are such an engineer.
Deborah, if you can’t find the vanilla bean paste, try King Arthur Flour’s website or Williams Sonoma.
11 brilynn // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I need to find some vanilla bean paste! And I’m with you, frosting is a pain!
12 Wanda // Jan 10, 2008 at 3:21 pm
These sound scrumptious and look divine.
Love your blog, great recipes and fab photos.
We have featured you as our Blog of the Week. Here is the link if you would like to have a look.
http://www.only-cookware.com/blog/2008/01/10/bake-or-break-blog-of-the-week/
Regards
Wanda
http://www.only-cookware.com
13 jennifer // Jan 10, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Brilynn, it seems that lots of people feel the same way we do about frosting. I’m glad I’m not alone.
Thanks, Wanda! How wonderful!
14 Megan // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I think you can keep the chocolate from sinking by tossing them with flour before adding, it works well with fruit and I have seen it done before with chocolate chips. Maybe that would help?
15 jennifer // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Megan, thanks for the tip! I’ll have to remember that one.
16 Mandy // Jan 10, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Even seen I bought 1/4lb of vanilla beans from ebay few months ago I have been using them a lot in my bake. I think I may switch to vanilla bean paste after my stash runs out. Love the flecks in your cupcake.
17 jennifer // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Mandy, that’s a lot of vanilla beans!
18 Hendria // Jan 11, 2008 at 7:02 am
Hi Jenn
I love your page. I am going to make these when I get up this afternoon.
19 jennifer // Jan 11, 2008 at 11:06 am
Hendria, I hope you enjoy them!
20 KimberleyC // Jan 14, 2008 at 12:46 am
Your photos are awesome!
21 jennifer // Jan 14, 2008 at 10:29 am
Thanks, Kimberley!
22 Julie // Jan 23, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Try baking the cupcakes for a few minutes, then stick the chocolate in them. This may keep the chocolate from sinking to the bottom.
It’s what I do when I make “lucky penny” sheet cake for St. Patrick’s Day for my class.
23 jennifer // Jan 23, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Thanks, Julie! That sounds like a good idea.
24 Stef // Jan 28, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I hope you give the cupcake more of a chance. You don’t have to do pretty piping to make the frosting look nice. Sometimes I just shmeer it on and it works just fine. Yours sound great. I’ve never used vanilla bean paste and would like to check it out.
25 jennifer // Jan 28, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Thanks, Stef! I’m sure this won’t be my last cupcake attempt. They’re far too good to ignore!
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