Sunday, September 20, 2009

Recipe of the Week - Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

Week 11

Chocolate malts bring back great childhood memories for me. I spent every summer at my grandmother's house in a very small town in south Mississippi. The Frostie Mug was the local drive-in (the only one) and I spent a lot of time there. To date it was the best chocolate malt I ever had.

When I was in Nashville a few weeks ago, I bought a malted milk cupcake at Gigi's Cupcakes. It had crushed malted milk balls all around the icing edge and of the four cupcakes I tried, it was my favorite.





Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups cake flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup malted milk powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 cups ice water
4 large egg whites - room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare baking cups. Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt & nutmeg together and whisk in the malted milk powder.

Beat the sugar and shortening until creamy (3-4 minutes). Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the ice water, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until done. Cool completely.

Milk Chocolate Frosting

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate - finely chopped
8 oz. milk chocolate - finely chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
3 sticks unsalted butter, soft and cut into 1-inch pieces

Place both chocolates in the bowl of an electric mixer. In a small saucepan, bring the cream and corn syrup to a boil - then remove from heat and immediately pour over the chocolate mixture. Let stand for 2-3 minutes. Whisk the chocolate mixture until completely smooth. Cool to room temperature. Add the butter pieces until completely incorporated. Frosting should have a smooth and silky look.

No comments: