As it's Chocolate Week I made some super chocolatey Brooklyn Blackout cupcakes. These cupcakes were made popular by Ebinger's Bakery in Brooklyn, New York. A rich chocolate cake filled with rich chocolate custard and frosted with the same rich custard and covered in cake crumbs.
These cakes were named after the blackout drills in New York in World War II performed by the Civilian Defence Corps. All lights in the city were turned off and windows were covered with black material to practice so that ships sailing off to battle could not be spotted by enemy planes.
(Adapted from Hummingbird Bakery, makes 12 cupcakes)
100g unsalted butter, softened
260g caster sugar
2 eggs
45g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
170g plain flour
160ml whole milk
For the chocolate custard:
500g caster sugar
1tbsp golden syrup
125g cocoa powder
200g corn flour
85g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Heat the oven to 170 degrees and line a muffin tray with cupcake cases.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Slowly beat in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt until well mixed.
- Add half the flour, then all the milk, and finish with the remaining flour.
- Mix well until everything is well combined.
- Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for 20 minutes.
- Leave the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack.
- For the chocolate custard, put the sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and 600ml of water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, whisking occasionally.
- Mix the cornflour with 120ml of water, then whisk into the cocoa mixture in the saucepan. Bring back to the boil, whisking constantly. Cook until very thick, about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract.
- Pour the custard into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until very firm.
- When the cupcakes are cold and custard cooled, use a pairing knife to cut out a cone shape from each. Put all 12 into a food processor and blitz to make fine crumbs.
- Fill each cupcake with a piping bag (I didn't use a nozzle for this) and then finish with a swirl on top.
- Sprinkle the cake crumbs over each cupcake to decorate.
The amount of cornflour in the custard look like a lot. That is way too much cornflour.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lot but is the correct amount for the recipe - recipe from Hummingbird Bakery and that's what they say!
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