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Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Published 23 January 2013 by Veronica Stillwater

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes With Vanilla Buttercream Topping And Mini Meringue Toppers!

Make mini meringues as well as cupcakes using your large open star nozzle and a small closed star nozzle!

This week I decided to make these pretty buttercream rosette swirl topped chocolate chip cupcakes with mini meringue toppers. They looked and tasted delicious and were enjoyed by all the taste testers this week. With having made the mini meringues, there are some left over which can be stored for later use with other desserts or they can be served in a small side dish alongside the cupcakes for those guests who would prefer a smaller sweet nibble to a cupcake. You could of course store them for use on another day depending on how many guests you are entertaining. Hoping you enjoy this week's recipes and if you don't have the time to make the mini meringues as well as the cupcakes, you could buy them from your local supermarket as a quick time saving option.

 

For the toppers:

You will need:

Electric Mixer

Large mixing bowl

Piping bag

Large open star nozzle

Large flat baking tray

Greaseproof paper cut to size of your baking tray

Spatula

 

Ingredients:

3 medium egg whites (At room temperature)

110g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 　

Turn on the oven and set to 100

º　in temperature.

Place the greaseproof paper on your baking tray ready to pipe onto.

 

Place the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer or if using an electric hand whisk place them into a large bowl. Beat on a high speed setting until stiff peaks form (When raising the whisk from the beaten egg white a peak will form and should hold it's shape in place). Once the egg whites are stiff, add the sugar gradually a little at a time beating on a high speed setting until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and lightly beat in to combine. Switch the machine off and using the spatula, scoop the meringue into a large piping bag ready with your large open star nozzle. Pipe individual stars by starting to pipe on one spot with the nozzle pointing straight and downwards towards the baking tray. Apply moderate pressure to create a star shape, stop applying pressure and swiftly move onto starting the next one at least a centimetre away from the other. Pipe in rows across your baking tray until all the meringue mixture has been used. Place in the oven on the middle shelf for approx 1 hour and 30 minutes. They will keep their white colour and will harden on the outside with a soft centre. Once the meringues are baked, remove from the oven using oven gloves and allow to cool completely.

　

　

For the cupcakes:

You will need:

Mixer

12 cup muffin baking tray
12 muffin paper cases
Teaspoon　Tablespoon　

Spatula　

Ingredients:
115g butter or margarine
115g sugar
225g self raising flour

3 medium eggs
1 level teaspoon baking powder
120ml milk

150g milk chocolate chunks or drops (You can always chop a bar into chunks)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

　

Turn on the oven and set to 180

º　Prepare and line your 12 cup muffin tray with the muffin paper cases.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of the mixer and mix well until combined, pale and fluffy. With the exception of the chocolate chips, add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined. Once a spoon dropping consistency is achieved, switch the mixer off and switch to using a spatula to fold in and incorporate the chocolate chips by hand. Place a spoonful of the cake mix using the tablespoon in each of the muffin cases ready in your 12 cup muffin baking tray.

Place the cupcakes in the oven near or just above the middle shelf and allow to bake for approx 30 – 40 minutes. Checking at 30 minutes cooking time on their progress. The cakes will appear golden, will have risen, be firm to the touch with some of the chocolate oozing out.
You can always test by inserting a clean skewer into one of the cakes, if it comes out clean they are ready, if not return to the oven checking with the skewer again at 5 minute intervals. (Always really important never to open the oven door and allow any air in before 30 minutes of cooking as this will allow for the mixture to 'drop' and sink, look through the oven door if you have one that's made of glass to visually check on their progress rather than open the door). Once baked, using oven gloves remove the baking tray from the oven and rest on a trivet until completely cooled.　

 

 

 

For the frosting:

You will need:

Mixer

Piping bag

Small closed star nozzle

Spatula

 

Ingredients:

25g butter

750g icing sugar

Seeds from one whole vanilla bean (You can use a teaspoon of vanilla extract as an alternative)

1-2 teaspoons hot water

With the exception of 1 teaspoon of hot water, place all the ingredients in the bowl of the mixer and place a clean tea towel over the machine to cover the surface area of the bowl ensuring the tea towel can not be trapped in the whisk or any part of the machine to avoid the icing sugar leaving a dust trail across the kitchen. Star on a low speed setting to incorporate the ingredients and mix until well blended, switch to a high speed setting until a creamy piping texture is achieved. Using the spatula, spoon the frosting in to your piping bag ready with the small closed star nozzle and pipe a ring of small rosettes around the outer edge of each cupcake leaving enough room to pipe one nestled in the centre of the outer ones. To pipe the small rosettes, start to pipe in the one spot and in a continuous motion pipe applying moderate pressure in a circular formation coming back on and over the join from where you started. Stop applying the pressure and pull the piping bag up and away quickly to finish. Once all 12 cupcakes are decorated in this way, add a small peak to the small gaps from where the circles meet each other around the edges of the cupcake by piping in the one spot applying pressure until the frosting forms a small star shape, stopping pressure to finish and pulling the piping bag up and away quickly.

 

Once you have decorated all 12 cupcakes with the buttercream piping detail, place a mini meringue on each cupcake or just on 6 if you wish so that the piping detail can still be seen on the others and people have a choice when deciding which to pick. You can place the remaining mini meringues in a small bowl as an alternative sweet nibble to the cupcakes or store them to serve with a dessert another day. You can also dust a little edible dusting powder in silver or gold on the meringues for a sparkly effect but they look equally as good without and just plain. Ready to serve and enjoy! Until next week! Happy baking and look out for next week's post with more creative cupcake ideas!