My Challenge! *Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mint Cream*

Leslie and I challenged each other this weekend, each giving the other a recipe that looked not only delicious, but a bit challenging. I have to admit, I wasn't overly excited when I saw the recipe she'd picked for me. I'm  not a huge chocolate cake lover (bring on the fruit!) and I'm generally not too into cupcakes either. The recipe looked very involved and I got an overall "bah humbug" feeling to a certain extent. At first, I felt that making these was more of a "to do" than a fun learning experience. What was I thinking? Not only do I love a challenge, but these were fun to make, NOT hard (but I did have a LOT of dishes!) and they taste absolutely delicious! Super moist and full of flavor, one of these is the perfect treat without being too sweet. So far I've had at least 5 people tell me they loved them. They taste so darn good I wolfed one down in about 2 minutes. Ugh... my arteries!

Special thanks to SmittenKitchen.com for the recipe! For the recipe, click here!

In the end, I think I was just nervous to disappoint with this one. This challenge really showed me that not only can I take any recipe on (and embrace any failure that may come my way!) but I need to have more faith in myself and keep my mind open. I started to hit "I can't do that" moments in my baking (the more experience I have the more I want everything to be perfect)... but after this challenge I'm pretty sure my confidence is back to where it needed to be.

Fast forward past the spaz attack to the baking fun! Smitten Kitchen noted that several people were claiming to get 12 cupcakes, not 9, so I followed their suggestion and doubled the cream recipe. I got 9 cupcakes... barely! I can only think that people getting 12 are using more chocolate than is called for... I made these again tonight (Yeah, I know, I'm nuts) and that left over cream came in VERY handy! Once again, I got 9 cupcakes. Maybe these other people have smaller trays? I only wish I could get 12! Long story short... you might get 9, you might get 12. Double the cream if you have the ingredients. Even if you don't need it, you can either use extra on the cupcakes you have, or use it with another dessert, or even toss a dollop in your coffee as a special treat! Yummmmm

The Ingredients

Cupcakes:

6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I preferred this with bittersweet)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) (86 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) espresso or instant coffee powder
3 large eggs, separated
6 tablespoons (97 grams) sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream:

2 ounces (56 grams) white chocolate, finely chopped
3 ounces heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

First you bring the cream to a simmer and pour it over your chopped white chocolate and allow it to melt. Whisk well, add peppermint extract, whisk again. Cover up the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

I found that the white chocolate was WAY easier to chop up than the dark. I used my Magic Bullet to chop up the white, but the dark just kind of got warm and messy. Maybe it wasn't as instant, but using a regular knife didn't take too long and worked much better. (The first time around I made my boyfriend chop them up though...muwahaha.)

Next, you pre-heat the oven to 350 and line your cupcake tray. Melt the bittersweet chocolate, butter and espresso together until almost completely melted. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth.

By now, your mouth will probably be watering. Be patient, these are worth the wait!

Seperate your eggs...

As the chocolate cools, beat egg yolks with 3 Tbs Sugar well, about 2 minutes. I didn't have any trouble with over beating, though I'm thinking it's a possibility?

Beat the chocolate into the egg mixture and then add the vanilla.

At this point, you need to beat up your egg whites. Being lazy, I decided that it would be easier to bust out my other mixer, instead of washing the beaters just to get them dirt again. So, my mixers tag teamed this recipe!

Blend in the remaining sugar and the salt; Then fold egg white mixture into the chocolate, in three parts.

Now you're ready to pour the batter into the cups... fill them 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes (18 minutes was perfect for me!)

Voila!

This recipe mentions that the cupcakes will cave in. Mine didn't, either time. Not to worry; If yours don't sink either, you can still top them with the yummy cream, or poke a shallow hole in the tops and fill that with the cream, after you beat it well. I found that my cream was very thin, so I added a bit of Cool Whip (which I actually had... super rare coincidence!) and that thickened it up perfectly without changing the flavor at all. I added rougly 1/8 cup, maybe a bit more. (Keep in mind that I had already doubled the recipe for this.)

Top them... and you're done!

Now I just have to delivery these to family. Well, that and eat one myself!