Chocolate Mascarpone cupcakes

September 8th, 2009 by justJENN

This is one of Giada‘s recipes that I adapted to suit what I had. Even though I don’t have T-rex arms like her I think they came out quite well. A nice little chocolate cupcake with the chocolate chips making it just about perfect.

cupcake ingredients:
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup milk
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Ganache ingredients:
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line a muffin pan with liners.

Combine the chocolate chips and milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly and eventually the chocolate will melt. Whisk in the mascarpone cheese until the mixture is smooth. Set aside and let cool for a few minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the mascarpone mixture.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and chocolate chips. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture. Stir until just blended.

Pour the batter into the prepped cupcake liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely – on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the ganache. In a small saucepan heat the chocolate chips, heavy cream and vanilla on low heat. Stir constantly until it all comes together. There’s nothing quite as beautiful as watching ganache suddenly turn into that familiar glossy chocolate.

Take the cooled cupcakes and dip the tops into the ganache. They are ready to eat, decorate or keep in the fridge. You could even make flower pot cupcakes…!