Black magic cupcakes with honeycomb, strawberry cream and strawberry purée

My favourite place in the world is my gourmet wholesale store. It’s situated in a very crowded, busy (not to mention dirty), wholesale market in Kolkata. But when I’m there, I don’t see the filth and hear the loud noises, I just feel my senses going berserk with all the mesmerizing smells and flavours…cheeses, sauces, essences, vinegars, and chocolate! Yesterday I found these amazing Belgian bitter chocolate chips and I had to have them! Like a child in a candy store, my eyes gleaming with desire, I bought them home and made the most indulgent bitter chocolate cupcakes! Personally, I am not a huge fan of chocolate, but dessert is just incomplete without it!

I was disappointed when I couldn’t get the cupcake to ooze chocolate from within (as per my fantasy), so I made them a second time, without much success again (although these were better than batch 1; almost oozing but not wet enough). I realised that it’s the shape of the mould that requires changing and not the actual technique. Read my bench notes below to understand this concept better. Try them and let me know if you got the stubborn babies to ooze chocolate!

Ooze or no-ooze, this cupcake is just divine. Hence the name black magic (kala jadoo sounds more dramatic though)!




Serves: 12
Prep time: 20min
Cooking time: 40min


Ingredients
Cupcakes
125g unsalted butter, cubed
150g dark chocolate roughly chopped
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp baking powder
50g plain flour, sifted with baking powder
Muffin paper shells
Muffin tray/moulds

Honeycomb
100g caster sugar
50grm liquid glucose
100ml water
1tbsp bicarb soda

Strawberry cream
50ml double cream, whipped
1tbsp icing sugar
50g fresh strawberries, puréed

Strawberry purée
50g fresh strawberries
1tsp caster sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
30-50ml water

Extra strawberries for serving

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Cupcakes
For the cupcakes, grease muffin paper shells with some unsalted butter, and place in a muffin tray.

Place butter and chocolate in a small heatproof bowl (use borosil) over a pan of one‑third full gently simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir over medium heat until the chocolate and butter are smooth and combined. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla until thick and pale. Next, gently fold in the flour and then fold in the cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Divide the mixture among the prepared muffin moulds and bake muffins for 12-14min or until risen and just set, but wobbly in the centre. Allow to rest on the bench for 5 minutes, before removing the muffin paper shells.

Honeycomb
For the honeycomb, line a deep roasting tray with baking paper (coming up over the edges).

Place the sugar, glucose and water in a large saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for 5 minutes or until a pale-golden caramel. Remove from heat and working quickly, whisk in the bicarb soda (it will froth and bubble – don’t whisk too much otherwise you will knock out all the air bubbles). Quickly pour into the lined pan and lightly shake to level out (take care as pan will become very hot). Cool for 45min or until hard. Break into small chunks

Strawberry cream
For the strawberry cream, whip the cream with the icing sugar until it holds firm peaks. Stir through the pureed strawberries and set aside.

Strawberry purée
For the strawberry purée, place strawberries, cater sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and water in a medium saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5min or until syrupy. Remove from heat; allow to cool for a few minutes and purée in a blender.

Finally, remove the cupcakes from the paper moulds, drizzle with strawberry purée, scatter some honeycomb and extra strawberries and serve with a spoonful of strawberry cream.




Bench notes
This recipe requires the use of non-stick dariole moulds which I could not catch hold of, and so I used the usual cupcake moulds. The shape of the dariole mould (like a tiny bucket) is such that it allows the sides of the cake to cook quickly, while the centre remains gooey and oozes out when you cut the cake (12-14min is sufficient for the outsides to cook completely). This is difficult to achieve with the muffin moulds as the shape of the mould allows equal and quick distribution of heat, leaving the centre of the muffin, surely softer that the sides, but not gooey and wet.

However, if you have non-stick muffin trays, don’t use the muffin paper shells. The paper further blocks the transfer of heat to the sides, leaving you with no choice but to wait until the sides get cooked, by which time the centre is no more wet or gooey. If you do use non-stick muffin trays, be sure to grease the moulds generously with butter.

It is important that while melting the chocolate in the double boiler method, you do not let the chocolate boil; stop heating when it melts.



As easy as it sounds, baking involves a lot of science and technique and it’s only when you get your hands dirty will you actually appreciate these subtle intricacies.

Mint and Kiwi Mousse

This recipe is an adaptation of Nigella Lawson’s ‘Grasshopper Pie’. I had to make some changes to the original recipe because I couldn’t find some of the ingredients in our Indian local markets. A Grasshopper Pie basically contains two main ingredients- crème de menthe (green peppermint liquor) and crème de cacao blanc (colourless chocolate liquor). The pie gets its flavouring and green colour because of these ingredients. But sadly, these liquors are not easily available in India (please let me know if you find them!). However, they can be easily ordered online at http://http://www.thedrinkshop.com// and http://www.drinksdirect.co.uk/index.html. The best brand to buy would be De Kuyper.

I have replaced these two ingredients with peppermint extract/essence (available in grocery stores) and pureed fresh kiwi fruit. If you want to avoid the kiwi fruit, you can use the mint extract alone. Be creative, marry flavours that go together.

I haven’t used any green food colouring in the pie, but feel free to do so if you want your pie to have better aesthetics.

It is a very indulgent pie, so make and eat at your own risk!



Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 20 min
Cooking time: 30 min
Cooking tray: 25cm tin (need not be ovenproof as this is a cold dessert)

Ingredients
Pie crust
300g bourbon biscuits (or any other with a choc cream centre)
150g dark chocolate cut into small pieces (or dark choc chips)
50g unsalted butter

Filling
125ml full cream milk
175g mini marshmallows (vanilla flavour)
375ml double cream
2 fresh kiwi fruits peeled and pureed and 1 kiwi fruit peeled and sliced for granish
½ tsp peppermint extract
2-3 drops green food colour (optional)

Method
For the pie crust, pulse the bourbon biscuits, dark chocolate and butter in a food processor until you end up with a soft rubble. Tip this mixture into the cooking tray and line the base and sides of the tray pressing with the back of a spoon or with your knuckles until you get an even top surface. Save some chocolate rubble for garnishing your final pie. Refrigerate the tray till you prepare the filling.

Whisk the double cream in a bowl until it holds soft peaks. This is important because we don’t want our final filling to be a runny liquid that will not set.

Place the milk and mini marshmallows in a non-stick saucepan and heat on a low flame, whisking gently until the marshmallows melt and the mixture comes together. Do not increase the flame, and remember to never let the mixture boil. This will split the gelatine in the marshmallows leaving you with an unusable mixture. Your end product should be a warm gooey white mixture. Allow to cool for 3-5 min, whisking gently. Now, add a few drops of green food colour if you wish to, and mix well.

Combine the whipped cream with the marshmallow mixture, folding in gently. Add the peppermint extract and kiwi puree at this point and mix well. Pull out the tray from the refrigerator and pour this entire mixture into the tray. Even out the surface with a spatula. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours until the gelatine sets.

Before serving, sprinkle some chocolate rubble onto the pale green surface of the pie and garnish with fresh kiwi fruit slices. Serve cold.

Bench notes
Marshmallows are used because they contain gelatine and you can avoid the mess and confusion that comes with melting actual gelatine.

Use confectionary cream if possible. This should be available at whole sale stores. It is thicker, and is naturally sweetened, which is why the recipe does not call for any added sugar.

If you plan to go with the original Grasshopper Pie recipe, eliminate the peppermint extract and the kiwi puree. Instead, add 60ml crème the menthe and 60ml crème the cacao blanc to the whipped cream and marshmallow mixture.

The final consistency of the pie should be such that you should be able to slice through it and lift it with a fork.

• It’s good to use a tin with collapsible sides, as this will help you cut and serve the pie as nice clean triangles. I have put up some pictures below to help you understand how these work.
• They generally come with corrugated sides (see picture 1)
• They have a separate central base that can be removed from the corrugated side piece (see picture 2)
• Once the pie is ready place the tin on a thin-necked bottle (see picture 3)
• Give the sides a mild twist and slowly slip it down, making sure the central base (with the pie resting on it) is resting safely on top of the bottle (see picture 4 & 5)
• Use a spatula to ease the pie off the central base and onto a serving tray.