Chocolate and citrus marmelade cupcakes

If you're like me and an awesome friend gave you a jar of kick@$$ mixed citrus marmelade that's so good you are running out of toast to eat it, look no further! This is a perfect recipe to use the liquid gold that is citrus jam.

If you don't have citrus or orange marmelade, don't worry you can absolutely make those cupcakes with just the zest and juice of the fruit!

Enjoy and feel free to comment!


INGREDIENTS (14 cupcakes - technichally yields 16, but a good baker needs to taste with and without frosting, no?)
for the cupcake batter:
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 stick butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup orange juice, with a splash of grapefruit flavored vodka (or not if you are baking for kids)
- 1/2 cup milk
- a splash of vanilla extract
- zest of 1 orange
- any kind of citrus marmelade, optionnal (mine is a mix of grapefruit, lemon and orange, a present from my friend R.)


for the frosting:
- 2 cups of confectionner sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 stick of butter
- a splash of vanilla extract
- a splash of grapefruit flavored vodka, optionnal


RECIPE:
prepare the batter first:
- preheat your oven at 350F
- cream the sugar and butter until fluffy

- add the egg, zest and vanilla and beat at low speed until soft and creamy

- mix the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt

- mix the milk and orange juice

- incorporate the dry ingredients and the milk-OJ mixture alternately, finishing by the dry ingredients and mix until smooth

- line a cupcake tray with paper liners and fill to 1/3 with batter, add a small spoonful of jam on top and cover with batter to 2/3 of the pan

Note: if you don't have jam, just skip the intermediate layer, and just fill the cupcake pan 2/3 up :)
- bake for 20 minutes at 350F (oopsie, looks like I forgot to take a picture of the final product!)
- let cool completely on a rack until ready to frost

prepare the frosting:
- mix the butter, zest, confectionner sugar and cocoa powder

- add the orange juice and mix until smooth

- fill a pastry bag (or just a plain ziploc bag that you cut a corner from) and frost away!


Try not to eat the paper liner... ;)

French Baking: Chocolate-Raspberry cake (Patisserie, gateau chocolat-framboise de Christophe Felder)

This recipe is taken from this wonderful book by Christophe Felder: Patisserie! It is THE most amazing baking cookbook. Full of elegant, decadent and delicious french patisserie recipes. If you can read French, I strongly advise you to get this book immediately! Actually, even if you can't. It's just too pretty!

Here's a traduction of the recipe for the gateau chocolat-framboise.



INGREDIENTS:
for the raspberry syrup:
- 100g (3.5 oz) frozen raspberries (the original recipe calls for fresh raspberries, but I just didn't have them on hand :) )
- 5cl (1.7 fl oz) water
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- 50g (1.7 oz) caster sugar

for the chocolate sponge:
- 120g (4.2 oz) egg yolks
- 240g (8.4 oz) egg whites (handily enough, the white weighs about twice as much as the yolk in one egg)
- 150g (5.3 oz) AP flour
- 20g (0.7 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 180g (6.3 oz) caster sugar

for the rasberry compote:
- 1 jar of raspberry preserves, with pips (375g -13oz)
- 250g (8.8 oz) frozen raspberries (original recipe calls for fresh)

for the chocolate mousse:
- 500g (1 pint) heavy whipping cream (pour in a bowl and keep in the fridge until use - it needs to be very cold)
- 90g (3.2 oz) caster sugar
- 5cl (1.7 fl oz) water
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 220g (7.7 oz) dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

for the assembly:
- 100g (3.5 oz) melted dark chocolate
- 50g (1.7 oz) confectioner sugar

RECIPE
- pre-heat your oven at 180C (350F)

raspberry syrup:
- mix the thawed raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl
- crush with a fork and reserve until further use


chocolate sponge:
- whip the egg whites with a mixer
- when the whites start getting fluffy, gradually add the sugar (this is a french meringue)
- when done, the meringue should hold its shape at the tip of the whisk
 
- incorporate the egg yolks

- slowly add the flour and cocoa and stir delicately with a spatula

- spread the batter evenly on a baking sheet covered with a silicone pad or greased parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes
 
- cool the sponge until further use

raspberry compote:
- mix the raspberry preserves and frozen raspberries
 
- cook in a small pan over low heat, stirring often
- reserve until further use


chocolate mousse:
- make a simple syrup: mix the water and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil (118C/244F reading with a candy thermometer). set aside.
- whip the egg and yolks together with a mixer
- slowly pour the syrup over the eggs while mixing at high speed until fluffy, smooth and creamy
Note: be sure to add the syrup very slowly, otherwise the eggs will curdle and you'll end up with sweet scrambled eggs. eek!

- melt the chocolate in a double boiler, over low heat

- whip the cold heavy cream until firm
Note: be careful not to whip the cream too long, otherwise it will separate into butter and buttermilk... not a bad thing really, because homemade butter is delicious, but you really want whipped cream for this particular recipe ;)

- incorportate the chocolate into the eggs

- then the whipped cream


Assembly:
- melt the chocolate and spread it on the sponge
- sprinkle confectionner sugar and let it firm up in the freezer for a few minutes
Note: I'm not sure why this step is necessary and it does not say in the book. But after thinking it over, I believe this is necessary for the cake to hold its shape once assembled and prevent the sponge layers from getting too soggy from the syrup and mousse filling.

- Cut the sponge into two sheets that fit in a rectangular cake frame
Note: if you do not own a baking frame, you can make your own (my friend actually crafted this for me, out of cardboard, scotch tape and saran wrap)
- place one sponge sheet in the frame, chocolate side down
- using a brush, imbibe the sponge with half of the raspberry syrup
- pour half of the chocolate mousse and even it out with a spatula

- repeat with the second half of the sponge, syrup and mousse
- place a sheet of saran wrap on top of the mousse, weigh down with a cutting board and place in the freezer for 30 minutes (2hrs in the fridge in the original recipe)

- when the cake is cold and firm, remove the plastic wrap and spread the raspberry compote on top

- remove the frame, slice in squares and ENJOY!!!


PS: this goes really really well with Champagne ;)