Baked Sunday Mornings: Devil's Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting

This week's assignment for Baked Sunday Mornings is Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting.  The recipe is written to produce a two-layer, 8-inch round cake, but it also contains a note that it produces a great cupcakes.  Since I was suffering from a bit of layer cake exhaustion (having already brought one into the office earlier this week to celebrate a birthday), I decided to go the cupcake route.  

As far as recipes from Baked Explorations go, this one has a relatively low degree of difficulty.  To make the cake, you cream together butter, sugar, and dark brown sugar, add in three eggs and vanilla, and then alternately incorporate sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt), with the remaining liquid ingredients (hot coffee poured over bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder, with milk whisked in).  I was able to make 19 standard-sized cupcakes from one batch of batter, and they finished baking in 24 minutes at 350 degrees. 

This frosting is unlike any I've ever made before -- first of all, it's fat free!  It's very reminiscent of marshmallow, made by beating egg whites to soft peaks, adding sugar, and then slowly incorporating a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, and water that has been heated to 235 degrees. (I would not advise trying this without a candy thermometer -- there is no visible change in the heated sugar mixture to indicate that it has reached the proper temperature, and the recipe specifically warns you not to let the mixture exceed 235 degrees.)  You whip the frosting for about 7 minutes until it's shiny and thick, and stir in vanilla at the end. 

The recipe makes an enormous quantity of frosting.  Usually when I convert a cake recipe to cupcakes, the amount of frosting that will fill and cover a 8- or 9-inch two-layer cake will also frost around 18 cupcakes.  I made a double batch of cupcakes (over three dozen), and a single batch of frosting was sufficient to cover them all.  I didn't put much frosting on each cupcake (mostly because I baked my cupcakes in deep tulip liners and was trying to keep the frosting from touching the liners), but after the tasting the finished cupcakes, I thought that the ratio of cupcake to frosting was about right.

The frosting is dense and creamy, bright white, sweet, and tasted a lot like the marshmallow filling that I use in a recipe for chocolate cupcakes with cream filling.  Eating these cupcakes gave me the sensation of eating a cream-filled cupcake, except with the cream on top.  At first, I thought the cupcakes looked a little boring with just pure white frosting, so I tried adding some chocolate shavings -- but there is also something very elegant about the stark contrast between the dark cupcake and the light frosting, so I think these look good even bare.

The cake is moist and tender, with a very deep chocolate-y flavor, certainly worthy of the devil's food moniker.  Although the recipe states that the frosting tastes best within four hours of being made, I frosted my cupcakes the night before serving them, and they still tasted great the following morning.  However, the frosting had definitely deteriorated by the end of the second day -- it still looked shiny and beautiful, but did not maintain its lovely creamy texture.   So if you try this recipe, make sure you have enough willing and able tasters around to ensure that there will be no leftovers!

Recipe: "Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting" from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at BAKED Sunday Mornings.

Comments

mike509 said…
Ha... I thought I had enough frosting to make 3 more sets of cupcakes! :) BEAUTIFUL cupcakes - what a great presentation. I love the shaved chocolate - very nice!
Janey said…
I love the chocolate shavings and I love the classic look of your cake!
Christina said…
Those liners are beautiful and I love the big dollop on your cupcakes. This was a great recipe- my cakes kept well, but I put them on our covered patio in a covered container to keep them cold; they were delicious cold and room temperature, by the way!
Elaine said…
Usually when I make buttercream frosting I hardly have enough to ice a two layer cake, but I LOVED that there was so much frosting with this recipe. Your cupcakes are so pretty. The chocolate shavings are a lovely touch.
Bri said…
I appreciated that you mentioned the frosting lasting longer than four hours. That was my big concern with this recipe. I made the frosting just before my hubby whisked the cake off to his office. I'm glad to know that next time I could frost them the night before with no problem. Yours look amazing with the liners!
Shelley said…
The cupcakes look great- good idea! My frosting wilted a bit two. I guess the meringue just loses it's punch after a while.
Kris' Kitchen said…
Very nice post...and your cupcakes are so beautiful that I'm making them next time! And... I imagine that this frosting would make a great "cream" filling
Desiree said…
they look amazing! i really enjoyed this one too.
Fabulous looking cupcakes. Beautifully presented.
Roadtrek Girl said…
Love your presentation in the paper wrap-they look very classic and very delicious !