I am happy to present yet another kind of fruit/chocolate combination: Chocolate muffins topped with a fresh, fruity raspberry buttercream. While I don't mind using artificial vanilla or rum flavouring, I am not a big fan of artificial fruit flavours, so the raspberry flavour is all natural! :)
Ingredients:
Batter:
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cups caster sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate (50% cocoa)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4-1 cup frozen raspberries
- 1/2 tsp salt
Yields ~12 cupcakes
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a paddle mixer attachment, slowly start adding in the sugar, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil until well-combined. Melt the chocolate in a water bath or in the microwave, then let it cool down for a bit.
Add the chocolate to the other ingredients, then distribute the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes.
For the buttercream, start whipping the butter with a paddle attachment at medium speed. Do this for approximately 5-10 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape the butter off the sides of the bowl. You want the butter to turn a very pale yellow and get really fluffy.
While the butter is whipping, put your frozen raspberries into a food processor or mixer. Since we are working with frozen berries, the mixed berries will look kind of crystallised rather than like a smooth paste. Heating the crushed berries on the stove at medium heat in a sauce pan for a few minutes will fix this problem. Give the berries some time to cool down (as we do not want to melt our butter by adding hot berries), then sift the berries and make sure to really press the berries into the mesh with a spoon to get the most liquid out of your berries.
Slowly start adding sifted powdered sugar to your butter one cup at a time, mixing in between. Once combined, keep mixing for another few minutes to get a really airy buttercream. Add salt and start adding the strawberry juice one tablespoon at a time. You will probably want to aim for around 2-4 tablespoons, but this can be adjusted depending on the desired consistency and flavour.
Lastly, you get to go crazy with the piping. I used Wilton 1M, 6B and 104 tips for the cupcakes shown above. Personally, the 1M and 6B are my favourites. On their own, they can either create hydrangeas and rose-shaped swirls (1M) or multi-ridged stars and swirls (6B). Also, sprinkles are always a great idea. If I want feel like I want to be really extra, I will dye small portions of the frosting to match the colours of the sprinkles. I recommend using gel-based food dyes such as the ones sold by Wilton. Enjoy! :)
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