Fudge Marble Cupcakes

Lately, I have had an interest in baking cupcakes so when I ran across a 30%-off-of-all-cookbooks-sale at Borders, I was practically forced to buy a cupcake cookbook. In addition, Borders was giving out free books with a purchase of anything so you can understand the need to buy this book. The thing I love about cupcakes is that they are a dessert for any occasion. The first recipe I decided to try was the one for Fudge Marble cupcakes. We had family come over today so I figured it was a great excuse to bake and blog. I was so excited to bake that I finally allowed myself to get out of bed at 6:45 this morning to get started. The recipe below is from Elinor Klivans' book Cupcakes! and makes 12 regular size cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Easy-Mix Yellow Cupcake Batter

- 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 large egg

- 1 large egg yolk

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup canola or corn oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

Chocolate Fudge Glaze

- 1 cup heavy whipping cream

- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces

- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

- 9 ounces (1 1/2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients in a nutshell.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg and yolk and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes.

On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. The oil looks really gross in this picture.

Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain.

Remember that flour mixture we set aside earlier?

Mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.

The batter should be thick and goopy. I like that word.... goopy. According to an online dictionary goopy is used to describe a "sticky, wet, viscous substance." I think goopy perfectly describes the substance I created above. Now set the goopiness aside and mix together the fudge glaze.

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, butter, and corn syrup over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter has melted. The mixture should form tiny bubbles but do not let it actually boil.

Remove the pan from heat, add the chocolate chips, and let them sit in the hot cream for about 30 seconds to soften.

Add the vanilla and whisk the sauce until it is smooth and all the chocolate is melted.

This is what the yummy chocolate glaze should look like after it is whisked.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Spoon 3/4 cups of the cupcake batter into a small bowl and set aside.

Spoon 1/2 cup of the chocolate glaze over the top of the batter in the large bowl; DO NOT STIR THE GLAZE INTO THE BATTER. If you stir the two mixtures then it will all turn the chocolate color and then you would no longer have marbled cupcakes.

Using a large spoon, scoop both yellow batter and chocolate glaze that is in the large bowl and fill each paper liner with about 3 tablespoons. Then spoon about 1 tablespoon of the reserved plain batter on top of each (remember we set some aside in a small bowl that does not have any glaze in it). The batter will be about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner.

Bake just until the tops feel firm and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Use a small knife to loosen any tops that might have stuck to the top of the pan. Carefully place the wire rack on top of the cupcakes in their pan. Protecting your hands with pot holders and holding the pan and rack together, invert them to release the cupcakes on the wire rack. Turn the cupcakes top side up to cool completely.

Frost the cupcakes. Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the chocolate glaze evening over each cooled cupcake. The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Bon Appetit!