Chocolate Mascarpone Cupcakes Dipped in Ganache

Oh, cupcakes. And ganache. How well they pair.

In my search for good homemade cake recipes, I stumbled upon this Everyday Italian recipe before it was yanked from Hulu, and I'm so glad I did! The cake itself has mascarpone cheese in it, and it ends up moist, nicely textured, VERY chocolaty, and not too sweet. This was not the most smooth ganache that I've ever made since I sort of forgot to stir it for a while after I had poured the cream over the chocolate, but still, the dipping process went well. I think they would look really pretty with a sugared violet on top of each one, so maybe that will be the plan next time!

Chocolate Mascarpone Cupcakes

5 oz. chopped unsweetened chocolate
1/3 C mascarpone cheese
3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 C chocolate chips
2 1/4 C sugar
1 T vanilla
1 C vegetable oil
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Boil 1 C water in a small saucepan, and once it boils stir in the chopped unsweetened chocolate and turn off the heat. Off the heat, add the mascarpone cheese and set aside to cool.

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Adding the chocolate chips at this point will allow them to be coated in flour, which will help them to be suspended in the batter.

Use a handmixer to beat the wet ingredients in a new bowl: sugar, vanilla, oil, and eggs. Add the cooled chocolate to the wet ingredients and mix well with mixer. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in a few batches, stirring each batch just enough to mix it in without over mixing.

Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; recipe makes about 33 cupcakes. Bake the pans one at a time in the oven for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Bittersweet Ganache

2/3 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C bittersweet chocolate chips

Heat the cream until bubbles form around the edge of the saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the heated cream over the chocolate chips in a bowl. Stir gently until the chocolate has melted and well incorporated with the cream. Let sit and thicken until cool. Dip the cooled cupcakes and serve!