Stop the Traffik Chocolate Competition

 

As soon as I saw R khooks event, I knew I wanted to participate. After all, I knew I would be baking anyway, just needed the correct chocolate for the event to do so. Little did I know that finding Fair Trade chocolate would be such a problem to find. Neither my local grocery or the fancy one 20 min away had Fair Trade. Eventually, I checked at Target and they had one kind, Endangered Species Chocolate. While it didnt carry the Fair Trade logo, it did state 100% Ethically Traded on the back. It was on clearance at Target for $1.62 for a 3 oz. bar. With the event deadline looming, I ran home and baked straight away.

I had been wanting to retry Peanut Butter stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes for a while now. I made them 2 months ago with so-so results. This time, I made up the cake recipe by combining a chocolate cake recipe with a brownie recipe found in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I wanted kind of a cakey brownie for the cupcake. The peanut butter filling and chocolate ganache came from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. And I think her blog said she got her recipe for her post from Cupcake Bakeshop.

Overall, I was pleased. The cake came out extremely rich and chocolatey. Not very sweet. Which I think was good because the filling and ganache would be very sweet. The PB filling was awesome. I was literally eating it out of the bowl before I filled the cakes. And the ganache, that was my little issue for the day. There is always at least one problem when I bake. The ganache never seemed to get very thick. I put it in the fridge for 30 min and it seemed thick enough to be piped onto the cakes, but it still oozed a bit on some. All in all, the cupcakes are very, very good. The flavors really came together. Jaos and the boys all said they were good. Which is all I can really ask for. (They dont sugar coat anything.)

Chocolate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes 

Chocolate Cupcakes

3 oz bittersweet chocolate

3 oz semi sweet chocolate

3/4 cup butter ( 1 1/2 sticks)

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda (heaping)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or line muffin tin with liners.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl, stir to combine. Set aside. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Pour mixture into bowl of mixer. Beat in sugar and vanilla until combined. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape sides between additions. Alternate adding buttermilk and flour mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Scoop into cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a wooden tester comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Filling (Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

4 oz cream cheese
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons milk (Enough to reach the desired consistency. I used 4)

Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla, beat till combined. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add milk one tablespoon at a time. You may need to add the milk alternately with the cups of sugar to keep the smooth/creamy consistency.

Chocolate Ganache (Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

This is halved amounts from the original, as I did not need a ton of ganache.
3 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 1/2 oz milk chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon butter, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Melt chocolate, heavy cream and butter in a double boiler. Stir constantly until melted and smooth. Transfer to the bowl of a standing mixer and let cool. When cooled, add vanilla and beat until blended. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached Continue to beat until smooth, creamy and lighter in color. (I should have added more sugar than I did.)

To assemble, make a well in each cupcake using the cone method. Fill the well in each cupcake with 1 teaspoon of peanut butter filling and put the cake top back on. Frost the tops of each cupcake with chocolate ganache. Enjoy!