Best Dressed Dessert: Tuxedo Cupcakes

When I heard that my significant other was a huge fan of tuxedo cake, of course for his birthday, precisely 43 days in advance, I began my plans. This occurred in tandem with the Autobot/Decepticon and Spiderman cookies I wrote about earlier.

Everything had to be perfect. I made chocolate decorations. The colour was off, so I re-melted them. Those were ugly, so I re-melted those. Then they were garbage, so I ate some, tears streaming down my face--munching on deformed transformers. Deformers? Anyways..

Tuxedo cake traditionally is a dark chocolate layer cake with whipped cream and chocolate ganache. I had honestly never had it before, so Google and Pinterest were my friends. I knew I had to manage it somehow, but If the cake screwed up, I'd be devastated.

Cupcakes, I thought! Perfect! But the cupcakes had to be like mini tuxedo cakes..with whipped cream frosting, chocolate ganache and a dark fudgy cupcake...hmm...

Only...no. Whipped cream MUST BE STABILIZED! If you want it to hold it's shape and be able to be prepared ahead of time, at least. You cannot just whip it and stick it and hope it won't drip it, NA'MEAN PLAYA? You dig it. I just know you do.

SO I decided to make a buttercream and a whipped cream. That curdles into a giant mess which I poured down the sink. Legit. Large chunks of lumpy butter and cream. No bueno.

What you must always remind yourself through this recipe:

1. Stabilize whipped cream! Read about it here. 
2. Keep whipped cream cold or it will weep. Yes, it's a big soft, fluffy baby.
3. Cupcakes must be cool before decoration. Whipped cream frosting= cold.
4. Cold.
5. Do you get it now?
6. Oh and stabilize!
7. And I love you. Bonne chance! 

Moral of the story, please learn from my mistakes and enjoy this beautiful, absolutely elegant and sinful cupcake. The whipped cream frosting is the icing on the...er, cupcake!

Not quite dressed yet..missing their fancy topcoats!

Ready to make one of these? Keep reading for recipe, and if you only want the pictures, go to the end ;)

Best Dressed Dessert: Tuxedo Cupcakes

Makes 22-24 Cupcakes

You Will Need: 

• Your favourite chocolate cake recipe (either from scratch or a box) that will yield 24 cupcakes or 2 9-inch round cakes 

Ingredients:


Whipped Cream Frosting

• Large mixing bowl and mixer attachment in fridge to cool at the beginning of your baking (whipped cream needs COLD!)
• 2 cups (500 ml) whipping Cream (35% fat content) 
• 1/4 cup (60ml) confectioner's sugar (or more, I used a tad extra)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (use clear if you want a whiter frosting, I used organic ordinary vanilla!)
• One stabilizer of preference: icing sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, piping gel, agar agar, commercial stabilizer (I used Whip-It by Dr. Oetker)

Chocolate Ganache

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) whipping cream or heavy cream (35% fat and up)
• 1 cup (175-200 grams) chocolate chips of choice (semi-sweet works well)

How To:

Absolute perfection.

Step 1: Cupcakes

1. Set oven to 350 (or whichever setting your recipe dictates) and allow to heat up. 
2. Line your muffin tins with 24 liners (2 pans full)
3. Prepare batter and either use a cookie scoop or put batter into a piping bag. My batter was thick, so I put it into a piping bag to pipe out a perfect shape!
4. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the tops bounce when touched and when a toothpick inserted through the centre comes out clean
5. Set cupcakes aside to cool completely. Either on a wire rack or in the pan. 

Step 2: Chocolate Ganache

Fully combined ganache!

1. Pour 1 cup of chocolate chips into a large heat-safe bowl. 
2. Heat your 1/2 cup of whipping cream in the microwave in short bursts until very hot, or on the stove top. If you allow a thick layer to develop on top your ganache won't be as smooth, so watch carefully!
3. Slowly and gently pour the whipped cream over the chocolate chips
4. The cream will melt the chocolate slightly, causing the cream to turn brown
5. With a spoon or spatula, slowly stir, being sure to be gentle, until your mixture incorporates--this may take a few minutes! Be patient. We don't want too much air in our ganache, so stir slowly!
6. When fully combined, you will have a dark chocolate liquid
7. Leave aside to set--the longer ganache cools, the firmer it gets. We don't want it TOO firm, so we will use it once we are finished step 3. 

Step 3: Whipped Cream Frosting

1. Take out your cold whipped cream and cold attachments from the fridge. 
2. In the cold bowl, add in your whipped cream, vanilla and sugar.
3. Begin to beat until the mixture begins to develop some body (not stiff peaks, just growing in size)
4. At this point add in your stabilizer! I did a lot of research and did use the Whip-It which I purchased at the grocery store. You can use any stabilizer (usually only a teaspoon or so per cup of whipping cream of the gelatin, cornstarch, etc). While there is icing sugar, I was worried that would not stabilize it enough because I made these a day in advance
5. Continue beating while you add your mixture. Beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over-beat!
6. Keep bowl in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it or put it in your piping bag if you are piping it on cupcakes!

Step 4: Prepare Your Self!

1. Assemble cupcakes, put ganache in piping bag (or use a spoon or fork to pour over cupcakes) and put whipped cream frosting into a piping bag.

Ready to go!

  2. Pipe on your whipped cream frosting on all 24 cupcakes. Then drizzle your ganache on top in any pattern or way you would like! Don't stress if the shape isn't perfect. The whipped cream isn't as firm as say, a buttercream would be. I think it makes them look magical :D

3. Keep refrigerated as long as possible until you serve them. Whipped cream desserts only last a couple of days! Without the fridge, like at a party, I'd give them a few hours but not the entire day or else they will week. Oh those sensitive cupcakes!

4. Add decorations with chocolate decor if you so desire. You could make little fondant ties. How cute would that be???! WHY DIDN'T I DO THAT D:

5. Brag. Brag a lot. Because these were hard work. As seen here:

And here:

Don't you waste that ganache that falls! At the end, scrape it up and store it in a container in the fridge. It gets firm and delicious!

And especially here:

That's a chocolate hockey puck I made. YUP! It cracked :( But it's full of m&ms and looks super fun inside!

There you have it! I really hope you try this. They are so beautiful when all is said and done. I did cry three times. I feel like you should know that. But I did share with you all the ways to correct errors so you don't cry. At least not because of cupcakes! Remember to save the ganache that falls, too! It gets really firm and you can use it for frosting other things!

**Note: These lasted just fine in the fridge for a few days! NO melting. I was so happy!**

Have an amazing day,

Happy Dashing Dessert Delivering!

XO