Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

Go with bittersweet; if you choose an overly sweet chocolate (with just 50 percent cacao), the cupcakes will be very sweet. Likewise, low-quality chocolates can be gritty and while this won’t affect the cake portion of this recipe, the frosting and ganache filling won’t be perfectly smooth. The sweetness level of bittersweet chocolate varies significantly. Choose a brand that is labeled 60 percent cacao. (Sugar makes up the balance of the ingredients, or roughly 40 percent.)

Bread flour might seem like an odd choice in a cake recipe but it’s essential in this recipe. The bread flour has enough protein to create a cupcake that is sturdy enough to hold its shape when eaten. If you use cake or all-purpose flour, the cupcakes might fall apart during the frosting process and will end up crumbling as you eat them.

The three components in this recipe—the cake, the ganache filling, and the frosting—each require that you melt and then cool chocolate. If you rush the cooling steps, bad things will happen. The ganache should be cool enough to scoop into firm balls. If the ganache is too soft it won’t hold its shape during the baking process. Likewise, the melted chocolate for cake should be chilled briefly so that it won’t overheat the other ingredients in the cake, especially the eggs. Finally, melted chocolate is added to the frosting. It’s imperative to cool this chocolate to a temperature below 100 degrees or you risk melting the butter in the frosting.

We’d guess you overbaked them. The volatile oils in chocolate dissipate during the baking process. To maximize flavor in brownies as well as chocolate cakes, it’s important not to overbake chocolate desserts. Not only will they be dry, but their flavor will be compromised too. Because of the ganache filling, you can’t test these cupcakes for doneness with a toothpick. Instead, gently touch the tops of the cupcakes. They should be firm to the touch. Also, check the sides of the cupcakes—they should be starting to pull away from the muffin tin.

Never frost any cake—including these little cupcakes—until cooled to room temperature. If you rush this process the frosting won’t hold its shape and all the butter can even start to melt, giving the frosting a greasy mouthfeel. This recipe calls for cooling the cupcakes in the tin for 10 minutes—just long enough to ensure that they will hold together—and then on a wire rack for another hour. The cupcakes should be at room temperature before you frost them.