Cupcake Basics: Chocolate Frosting
What’s your favorite kind of frosting? I’m not talking about cake-frosting combo, but just the frosting itself. For me, this is it. This is it, people. Chocolate sour cream frosting is a recipe that you need in your repertoire. This is my go-to chocolate frosting. It’s rich, silky smooth, super chocolatey, and tastes just as good on a cupcake as it does straight from the bowl. I may or may not have eaten it with reckless abandon on multiple occasions. Give it a try yourself and I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
I whipped up these cupcakes last week to mark my baby girl’s first birthday (!) We had her party over the weekend (can’t wait to share it with you!) but I certainly couldn’t let her actual birthday pass without lots of birthday kisses, hugs, and a little bit of cake. This was her first time tasting any sort of cake or frosting. Being the chocolate lover that I am, it seemed only fitting to use chocolate frosting for her cupcake initiation.
I think she liked it okay.
Ingredients
9.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4 tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. sour cream
Directions
To make the frosting, melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Set aside to cool until just barely warm. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and then the sour cream. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Frost cupcakes immediately before the chocolate hardens and the frosting sets.
*The cupcakes pictured above were frosted with a large, unlabeled star tip.
Source
slightly adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
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