Devil's Food Cupcakes W/Chocolate Ganache Frosting....ummmm

Well I have made my Devil's Food Cupcakes. I was super excited to use the Cocoa I bought at Costco (it is Dutch Process, which the recipe asks for). The batter ends up being really thick and rich. I only got 30 cupcakes, although it claims to make 34; however mine did rise really nicely so depending on how high you want your cupcakes if you cut a bit off per cup you probably will end up with 34!

Devil's Food Batter...nice and rich

Unfrosted Cupcakes

I am also going to make the prescribed Chocolate Ganache frosting...hopefully I shall have better luck than the Meringue Buttercream.LOL Because the sauce gets hard quick I have procrastinated to insure I have time to quickly ice the cupcakes, so I need a "no interruptions" time. We have had a sample of the un-iced cupcakes. Fred finds them dry...although he was eating a chocolate mint cookie at the time, which may have impacted his taste. I felt they were lighter than I expected them to be, but a rich taste. Fred has "tasted" another now (I hope this is not so confusing as I have been adding through the day) and still feels they are a tad dry, but not really dry? WTF I will hopefully get a batter taste tester. I try to reinforce to my husband how lucky he has it...a Martha Stewart like wife in the house, but I am not sure he gets how lucky he is!

So right at the minute I am making the Chocolate Ganache frosting (its 9:00 pm) these are all day events for me.LOL I  had to chop up blocks of chocolate and then simmer some cream and corn syrup...then add the cream and corn syrup mixture to the chocolate chopped up...careful not to over stir...WTF does that mean? Anyways I just bloody stirred it in a "slow" fashion until the bloody stuff mixed together! Duh. I am now at the "put in the fridge and stir every 5 minutes until it starts holding its shape"...with the bloody warning that "use it quickly as it will harden up quickly and you will need to reheat if that happens" Oh joy and I thought buttercream Meringue was bad! LOL Lucky I am not piping this stuff but slapping it onto the cupcake, very nicely I am sure with swirls. Than I get to make some lovely chocolate curls...I am using my multi grater to do this so wish me luck. I am sure to grate my skin off....promise not to get on the cupcakes...at least I won't tell you, but just be forewarned.

Cream & Corn Syrup added to Chocolate Chunks

Chocolate Ganache Frosting now blended

So stirring every 5 minutes until it takes shape has actually taken roughly 20 minutes so far, but it still not at that magic stage. But this frosting is very, very rich! Beware...I doubt Fred will appreciate this amazing frosting...nope probably scrap the stuff off! Need better taste testers so I will bring some to work, and for students on Tuesday. I am also planning on just trying to whip up some other cupcakes this week as I go, so stay tuned for those. I am thinking a pumpkin one as well as this Banana Pecan one, but may not be able to take those to school due to the nuts...hmmm, may need to rethink this.

Okay stirring we are now at 30 minutes....

I am figuring out why in the recipe it says nothing of how long these "5 minute" stirs happen for...so my warning to anyone is that you need a lot of time and patience to make this frosting...has to be stirred every 5 minutes so figure that in if you are  multi-tasking. You will also need the time that when this magic frosting is done to quickly frost your cupcakes, because remember the warning "its going to get hard quick and you will have to reheat" and start this LONG process again"...okay now tried my hand at curls...not so cool. Will need to work for these chocolate curl decorations...may mean only a few will get them!

Okay so lets call this the 1 1/2 hour frosting...OMG this took forever!

Finished cupcakes, without chocolate curls

Okay so Mike tested one for me....says its really good, but very rich...that half a cupcake would be good! So be sure to serve with milk.LOL