Dark Chocolate Bird's Nest Cupcakes

This recipe came about because my mother-in-law gave me half a gallon of buttermilk, and some yummy Jordan almonds. I thought it would be a cute Easter cupcake, but it was gone in 2 days. Didn't even make it to Easter eve.

I got the recipe for the cake from Tartelette, but I tweaked it a bit and used some dark cocoa powder. For two reasons - first, I really ran out of regular cocoa powder. And second, I like dark chocolate anyway. So it really was a win-win. ;-)

I wasn't in the mood to whip some frosting from scratch, so I just used a store-bought one. The frosting wasn't really the "star" for me - it was the cake! It was so moist and dark and yummy! I had to stop myself from finishing the batter before I could pour them in the cupcake liners! Yeah. They were THAT good.

Anyway... I originally wanted to make a "nest" using toasted coconuts, but a.) I don't like coconut in desserts and b.) I don't want to make a special trip to the store, so I just used buttercream frosting. I attempted to make "wisps" of some sort, but unfortunately, I used the wrong cake decorating tip so I ended up with a different kind of nest. Oh well. I thought it still looked cute.


What you need: (Yield: 24 cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup hot brewed coffee
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tub (16 oz) buttercream frosting
Jordan almonds
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
few drops of green food color


What to do: 

Using your food processor, coarsely grind chocolate morsels. Place them in a bowl and pour in the hot brewed coffee. Stir until the chocolate morsels melt. Set aside to cool.

Put cake flour in a large bowl. Add by sifting the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well and set aside.

Sift sift sift!

With your mixer in medium speed, beat together the eggs and sugar for about five minutes, or until thick. Add the oil in a continuous stream, then the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and the coffee mixture. Continue beating until well incorporated. Divide the flour mixture in three and add it, a third at a time, to the liquid ingredients while beating. Do so until you have used up all the flour.

Meanwhile, prepare your pans by greasing it with baking spray, or placing cupcake liners into 2 pans. Preheat oven to 300°F.

 Divide batter among cupcake liners. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on rack.

To prepare your frosting, put about 5 drops of green food color to the tub of buttercream. Mix well. Scoop frosting in piping bags and decorate cupcakes. Top with Jordan almonds.

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks: 

1. Not a fan of dark chocolate? Use 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder instead.
2. Substitute cake flour with all-purpose flour. Just make sure you sift it.
3. If you don't have a food processor, you can just chop the ingredients by hand.
4. Use a regular zip loc bag as a piping bag. Just fill the bag with frosting, seal, then cut a small corner off the bottom. Voila!