Cupcake Adventures

I’ve always wanted to enter a recipe contest. So, when my mom mentioned the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Cupcake contest, I knew it was my time. After recruiting my cupcake-fanatic friends, we set out on our cupcake adventure.

The rules of the contest were as follows:

• Use a Scharffen Berger product
• Make use of at least one of the 14 adventure ingredients (we tried adzuki beans, Sumatra coffee beans, buttermilk, molasses, chili peppers, ricotta cheese & stout beer)
• The recipe must be original

After several hours of baking, we had created 25 cupcake/frosting combinations and a giant mess in the kitchen. But it was so much fun and I think we came up with some pretty adventurous cupcakes!

In the end we submitted our favorites (see one recipe below) and now we will just hope for the best! Until then, I think we’re all going to cut back on the cupcakes for awhile….maybe:)

Chai-Chocolate Cupcakes with Sumatra Coffee Frosting
Makes 18 cupcakes + 3 cups frosting

Ingredients
3/4 cup Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 cups AP flour
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Saigon cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2  cup Tazo Chai Tea Latte concentrate
1/4  cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.
2. Mix together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. To the dry ingredients, add the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping the sides to make sure batter is mixed well.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. Let sit for 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Sumatra Coffee Frosting

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cut into chunks
2 Tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp strongly brewed Sumatra coffee (3Tbsp. ground coffee per 1 cup water)
3 Tbsp low-fat ricotta cheese
3 cups confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Add coffee and ricotta and mix until smooth, 1-2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed of mixer and gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, beating until smooth, about 4-5- minutes. Once well-mixed, increase mixer speed and beat frosting until well-incorporated, about 5 minutes. (If not mixed long enough, the frosting will appear oily).