Today is Pi(e) Day. I did not bake a pie, I baked chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

By Irvin Lin

These chocolate cupcakes are basically red velvet cupcakes without the red dye. To turn these into true Red Velvet Cupcakes, mix in 2 oz of red food coloring after the vanilla. Make sure to mix slowly as the food coloring might splash and stain your countertop. If you aren’t a cupcake fan, you can bake this batter in three 9″ pans to make a layer cake. Divide evenly in pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The frosting recipe makes enough to frost the layer cake as well.

Cake batter adapted from a New York Times recipe that was, itself, adapted from The Confetti Cakes Cookbook by Elisa Stauss. The frosting adapted from a New York Times recipe that was itself adapted from The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook by John Doherty with John Harrison

Ingredients
Cupcake Batter
3 1/4 cups (455 g) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (75 g) natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups canola or corn oil
2 1/4 cups (450 g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

Cream Cheese Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting
2 cups cold heavy cream
16 oz cream cheese
8 oz marscarpone cheese
1 tablespoon of store bought red food coloring (use your judgement and add as much or as little as you want depending on the color desired)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (175 g) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
sprinkles for decoration

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and prepare 2 muffin/cupcake tins by lining with muffin cups. Place the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl. Stir vigorously with a balloon whisk until uniform in color and all dry ingredients are evenly distributed. Place sugar and oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each egg. Add vanilla, beat well to incorporate.

2. Add half the flour mixture to stand mixer bowl, beating on medium to incorporate. Add half the buttermilk and mix well. Repeat with the rest of the flour and end with the buttermilk. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup mix the baking soda with the white vinegar and add to batter immediately mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.

3. Divide the batter between the muffin tins lined with muffin cups. You should have enough batter for 24 cupcakes. Bake for 24-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in muffin tin once you take them out, and then remove from tin and cool to room temperature on wire cooling rack.

4. After the cupcakes have cooled completely to room temperature, make the frosting by first whipping the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Put in the refrigerator while you prep the rest of the frosting. Blend the cream cheese and marscarpone cheese in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until smooth. Add vanilla and the red food coloring (if using) and then the confectionary sugar, mixing on medium speed until well blended.

5. Fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture. This is going to be tough to do, and your arms probably gonna get tired folding the whipped cream, and you’ll be tempted to just start mixing it in rigorously, but keep folding. It’s worth it. Once done, fill a pastry bag with a star tip at the end with the frosting and pipe onto the cupcakes. Drop some decorative sprinkles on top for festivity or conversely, put a fresh edible flour on top to give it that spring time feel.

One more thing. Try not to get the frosting all over your face as you eat it.

Makes 24 cupcakes