Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Two of my favorite flavors are chocolate and strawberry. I combined these into a delicious chocolate covered strawberry cupcake, using my Mom’s chocolate no-egg cake recipe, and a strawberry whipped cream filling. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to incorporate the flavor of strawberries into my mascarpone whipped cream, without using strawberry puree. That’s what I use to flavor my cream cheese buttercream frosting – but for whipping cream, it’s just too much moisture. I don’t care for artificial strawberry extract either. So I came across an organic strawberry powder – from www.nuts.com. It contains ground, organic dried strawberries, in a powder form. The flavor is amazing, and it doesn’t add ANY moisture at all!

I started with the jumbo chocolate no-egg cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 jumbo cupcake pans with paper liners.

Here is the recipe: (makes 12 jumbo cupcakes)

2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
6 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
3 c flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 c water

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. (I do tend to combine the dry ingredients first, then add the wet ingredients. I’m a victim of habit I guess!) Mix on med/high using a whisk attachment, until well blended, about 2-3 min. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Using a large ice cream scoop, fill cupcakes to 3/4 full. I used 2 scoops for each cupcake.

Bake for about 25 -28 min, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Make the strawberry whipped cream filling next. Mix 1 1/2 c heavy cream in a stand mixer using a whisk attachment, til stiff peaks form. Gradually add 3/4 c granulated sugar (you can substitute powdered sugar if you like). Add about 3 Tbsp of strawberry powder and blend to combine. Taste the mixture, and add more powder if you want more strawberry flavor. Add 8 oz mascarpone cream by spoonfuls, and blend til smooth. Refrigerate.

Finely chop about 1 c of fresh strawberries. Set aside.

Cut the center out of each cupcake, using a sharp knife. Remove the center, and cut off the top to create a disc, that will be used to cover the filling.

Add the whipped filling to a piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe a small amount of whipped filling into the bottom of each cupcake. Top with about 1 tsp of the chopped strawberries. Pipe more whipped filling over the strawberries til level with the top edge.

Cover with the remaining cake disc. Press til level with the cupcake.

Refrigerate while you make the chocolate ganache.

Add to a med bowl 6 oz chopped semi sweet chocolate, 6 oz heavy cream. Microwave for 1 min. Stir til melted and smooth. The mixture will be very thin and liquidy – let it sit at room temp for 10 – 15 min to thicken. Keep checking it and stir with a spoon, until lightly thickened. I don’t use the refrigerator for this – as it will thicken way to quickly.