Almond Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Mousse Frosting & Cherry "Bang" Cake

HI WORLD! Wow, it's been a while, huh?? I've been SO freakin busy! Between working at the bakery and working with my parents at the Isle of Wight County Fair, I totalled over 70 hours last week! Needless to say I didn't have the time or the energy to bake. But this week, when I actually got home early from work I finally made the cupcakes that won the poll forever ago... Welllll... I didn't actually make the flavor that won. I didn't know it until the cupcakes were already in the oven, but my mom threw away my raspberries when she cleaned out the refrigerator. So instead, I filled the almond cupcakes with ganache and topped them with chocolate mousse. Then with the leftover batter, I made an 8-inch round cake. I poked holes in it while it was still warm and topped it with triple cherry jam. I frosted it with almond buttercream, which was actually delicious (and I don't even like regular buttercream!). Because I'm nice, here's the recipe for the Almond Raspberry Cream Cupcakes that you voted for, plus some pictures. And I'll post the recipe for what I named "Cherry Bang Cake" at the end of this post as well!

Ingredients for the cupcakes AND my beautiful new "tangerine" colored mixer!
Almond cuppies cooling...
Making the Cherry "Bang" Cake!
So I made lemonade from lemons... well no I didn't... but you get my point. Right?

The cupcake recipe is from Favorite Brand Name: 100 Best Cupcake Recipes. I invented the Cherry "Bang" Cake, mostly because I was bored. And because I had some Lollipop Tree Triple Cherry Jam laying around.

MY NOTES: To make the chocolate ganache and mousse topping: Melt 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1/4 cup heavy cream in the microwave for 60 seconds. Stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Beat 2/3 cup cold heavy cream with a mixer on high speed until stiff. Fold half of the cooled ganache into the whipped cream. Fill the cupcakes with the rest of the ganache.

Almond Raspberry Cream Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
Raspberry Cream (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 18 standard (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Beat granulated sugar, butter, almond extract and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating well after each addition (Eff that! Beat just until the flour is incorporate unless you want hockey pucks instead of cupcakes!). Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling three-fourths full.

Bake 20 to 22 minutes (Mine were done at 19 minutes) or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
Prepare Raspberry Cream. Cut tops off cupcakes; spread with Raspberry Cream. Replace cupcake tops; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Raspberry Cream: Beat 1 cup cold whipping cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at high speed 5 minutes (It only takes about 2 minutes with my hand mixer) or until cream is thickened and almost stiff. Place 1 pint fresh raspberries in small bowl; mash lightly with fork. Gently fold raspberries into whipped cream mixture until well blended and evenly colored. Makes about 3 cups.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting (Chocolate Mousse): 5

Cherry "Bang" Cake
1 (8-inch) round cake (You can bake the whole recipe above as 2 (8-inch) rounds, OR make 12 cupcakes plus 1 round like I did)
1/2 cup cherry jam
1-2 tablespoons hot water

Almond Buttercream
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon almond extract

Make 12 cupcakes and pour the rest of the batter into a greased 8" round pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove pan from oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and place it on a serving dish. Poke holes in the warm cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Dilute 1/2 cup of cherry jam with 1 or 2 tablespoons of hot water. Spread over cake. Lift the cake plate up and bang it on the table a few times until most of the jam seeps into the holes. Cover tightly and refrigerate until cool. To make frosting, beat butter, sugar, and extract for 3 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy. (Makes enough to frost a 2-layer cake).

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting: 4 (I prefer it less sweet)

Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes

I let Stephanie choose the 3 cupcake flavors in last week's poll. Of course, she chose all chocolate so there was NO WAY she could lose! Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes were the winner with 43% of the votes. I think we're gonna change the name of these to Brownie Batter Cupcakes. Because that's exactly what the frosting tastes like! There is nothing "moussey" about it. It's thick and sticky and fudgy just like brownie batter. If you ask me, that's not a bad thing. However, I was expecting the topping to be light and fluffy. I dunno how light it could be though with 6 egg yolks in it. But the cupcakes are delicious no matter what. The cake is very soft, moist, and chocolatey (chocolat-y? How do you spell that?). The frosting is smooth, rich and extremely chocolatey as well. These cupcakes are made for chocolate lovers!

IngredientsMelting butter and chocolate in a double boiler.The melted chocolate mixture cooling.Ready to fold egg whites into the stiff chocolate batter.Almost done!The "chocolate mousse" divided in half,
and flour being mixed in to make the cupcake batter.Dividing batter the only way I know how!
(If you don't use an ice cream scoop, get one.)Cooling, and you can see I did such a great job dividing the batter...The recipe said take them out when the are just cooked and the middle is still moist.
I guess they were a bit too moist because they sunk (sank?).I used a cookie scoop to divide the batter.
It made exactly 11 perfect scoops for my 11 cupcakes!
(Only 11 because one was destroyed when I was removing them from the pan... and it was delicious)The final product. You can see how fudgy the frosting looks!

They're really good even when they're cold!

Here's the recipe from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman.

MY NOTES: I used 5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate and 5 oz. extra dark chocolate. I took mine out after 13 minutes (because usually my cupcakes are ALWAYS done before the time on the recipe), and they sank. Leave them in for at least 15 minutes!

Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes (AKA Brownie Batter Cupcakes!)
Makes 12 cupcakes

4 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus good pinch for the egg whites
10 ounces dark chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
Grated chocolate for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave. Don't cook -- the chocolate and butter should be just melted (Take the bowl off the heat before the chocolate is completely melted. Keep stirring until it's smooth). Stir and set aside.
4. Beat egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and foamy, about 1 minute on high. Beat in the melted chocolate until totally blended.
5. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold into chocolate mixture (Fold in 1/3 at a time, being extra gentle with the 2nd and 3rd addition). Divide mixture into two parts and put one of them in the refrigerator to be used later to frost cupcakes. Gently whisk flour mixture into other half until it is completely absorbed (I folded it in with a rubber spatula).
6. Fill cupcake papers about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 15-20 minutes. Don't overcook. Cupcakes should be just cooked and moist in the center (This freaked me out, and I ended up taking them out too early. Leave them in for at least 15 minutes so yours don't sink like mine). Remove from oven and cool.
7. When cupcakes are cool, frost with remaining chocolate mousse. Decorate with grated chocolate.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5

Triple Strawberry Cupcakes

I know, I know! I owe you guys the Salted Caramel Cupcakes that won the poll like forever ago. But I had strawberries that were going bad, and mom requested these. They are triple strawberry cupcakes because they have strawberry jello mix and chopped fresh strawberries in the batter, then strawberry mousse for frosting. They really are a perfectly light summer cupcake. The frosting is SO good! I used the leftover cream cheese mousse from the Barefoot Contessa cake and added some strawberry flavoring. It's so fluffy and delicious! Make these for your next cookout and you won't be disappointed.
PS: New video in the YouTube, I Tube section over on the left!!

Ingredients...Ready to be mixed!Bright pink batter ready for the oven...Cooling and smelling so summery!Topped with strawberry mousse frosting!Inside you can see pieces of strawberry... yum!

Recipe for "Pretty in Pink" cupcakes from Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. Strawberry mousse frosting recipe from me! :)

MY NOTES: My sugar-free Jello box said it was .6 ounces. I just used the strawberries I had; it didn't make a whole cup, but it still worked.

Triple Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry gelatin
1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries with juice from 1 1/2 cups whole berries (see “The Cupcake Doctor Says” below)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Strawberry Mousse Frosting
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon strawberry flavoring

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
2. Place the cake mix, gelatin, strawber­ries and juice, milk, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat 2 minutes more on low speed, scraping down the sides again if needed. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.
3. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden around the edges and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
4. Beat heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, and extract on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Frost cupcakes and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

The Cupcake Doctor Says…
“Although these cupcakes put the season's best berries to good use, they are also perfect for those berries that arrive at your market from far away and have little juice and less flavor than good local berries. If you are using juicy berries, drain them well and use only the juice that clings to them when the berries have been chopped for the cake and the frosting. A pinch of cinnamon picks up the strawberry flavor in the cup­cake batter.”

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5