Ingredients
2 ½ cups all purpose flour (sifted)2 tbsp baking soda
Pinch of Salt
3 cups strong hot coffee
1 ¼ cup unsweetened baking chocolate
4 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp Nielson Massey vanilla extract
¼ cup bourbon (preferably Jack Daniels) (optional)
Mascarpone Whip Cream Filling
1 cup Italian mascarpone cheese (room temperature)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
¼ cup powder sugar (sifted)
1 vanilla bean (scraped)
Mocha Hazelnut Buttercream
4 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup hazelnut paste (room temperature)
2 tsp Nielson Massey vanilla extract
2 lb. powder sugar (sifted)
¼ tsp salt
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted)
½ cup whole milk
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees2. In large stainless steel bowl over a large pot filled with simmering water (double boiler), combine coffee, bourbon, butter and chocolate chunk. Whisk continuously until melted.
3. Add sugar to chocolate/butter/bourbon mixture and whisk till begins to cool.
4. Slowly add the eggs to the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk till incorporated.
5. Sift flour, baking soda and salt.
6. Slowly add flour mixture in thirds to chocolate and whisk together. Scrape the sides with a spatula to make sure you get all the dry ingredients.
7. Place cupcake papers in pan and divide batter into cups evenly. Fill about 2/3 of the cup.
8. Bake for 18-24 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cupcake.
9. Let cool on wire rack before frosting.
Note: If you do not have a large enough stainless steel bowl to make the entire recipe in, you can use a medium size stainless steel bowl for steps 1-3 and use a stand-alone 5 qt mixer when adding the dry ingredients.
Mascarpone Whip Cream Filling
1. In stand-alone mixer with paddle attachment, beat mascarpone cheese till creamy and smooth. Place in separate bowl.
2. In same stand-alone mixer with a clean chilled bowl, whisk on medium to high speed the whipping cream, powder sugar and scraped vanilla bean till medium peaks form. Be careful not to over whisk creating air bubbles. Want a velvet appearance.
3. Fold the mascarpone cheese into the whip cream carefully till incorporated. Do not over fold, or whip cream will deflate.
4. Place covered with plastic wrap in refrigerator to chill until you are ready to fill the cupcakes.
Mocha Hazelnut Buttercream
1. In a stand alone mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, hazelnut paste and vanilla extract till creamy and smooth.
2. Sift the powder sugar, salt, cocoa powder together.
3. Slowly, on low speed, add the dry sugar mixture in thirds to the butter/hazelnut mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl, while slowly adding the milk to keep a creamy consistency. (add more or less milk as needed for desired thickness)
Cupcake Assembly
1. When cupcakes are cool, take an apple core tool and remove two holes in the center of each cupcake about 1/2" deep. Don't go all the way to the bottom, otherwise filling will seep out.
2. Fill a 18" piping bag with the mascarpone whip cream. Snip a small hole at the end of the bag, and fill each cupcake with the filling.
3. Fill a 18" piping bag fitted with a #848 French star tip with the mocha hazelnut buttercream. Pipe a circular dollop on top of each cupcake.
4. Finish off by generously sprinkling Valrhona Chocolate Crunchies on top of each cupcake!
Enjoy!
Recipe Courtesy of Amy Berman, Executive Pastry Chef & Owner of Vanilla Bake Shop, Santa Monica CA
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