Here is another CSID-friendly recipe for all of you, and this is probably one of my favorites. Dark Chocolate Coconut Flour Cupcakes!! My quest for a CSID-friendly cupcake began with my sister-in-law's family, actually, because they have a lot of birthdays all clustered in one part of the year. Because we live so close to their family, we were always invited to the family birthday parties, but I must admit I had some underlying hesitancy because I knew that Jayson wouldn't be able to eat the birthday cake, and I didn't want him to feel left out.
So I started searching for chocolate cupcake recipes that would be CSID friendly, and I was rather lucky in my search because I could tap into the really big paleo-diet movement, which eschews grains and refined sugars for the most part. I decided to go with a chocolate cupcake because I knew that the cocoa would keep the coconut flour content lower, and would just be really delicious.
Anyhow, I found a recipe and tried it out, and the results were decent, but to be honest, I wasn't a big fan. Jayson ate it, especially since I made a sugar-free ganache to go on top, but I wouldn't eat it. They weren't very sweet and the cocoa made them kind of bitter. I wanted something better, something that with a texture more similar to that of real cupcakes.
I found another recipe which looked promising, but the mixing protocol was more similar to muffins than cupcakes. "Wait a second," I told myself, "Why not take these ingredients and adapt them to a cupcake recipe methodology you know works." Brilliant! The result was a light, fluffy cupcake with a deep chocolate flavor, and just enough sweetness to be a cake without getting overpowering with a frosting.
Please note that the pictures are for a half batch
Step 0:
Preheat oven to
350°F Line a standard muffin pan with paper liners.
Step 1:
Heat 1 cup milk to near boiling and add to
4 Tbsp Dutched cocoa powder and
4 tsp black cocoa. Whisk to combine. Set aside and
allow to cool.
Why in the world would I ask for both Dutch cocoa and black cocoa? For that matter, what is black cocoa, and where do you buy it? Well, cocoa is fun stuff, but natural cocoa is very acidic and therefore isn't very tasty. It also doesn't make great baked goods. a while back a Dutch guy figured out how to neutralize some of the natural acids in cocoa powder and created Dutch-process cocoa—also called alkalized cocoa. The result is a cocoa powder with a darker/redder color and a much deeper flavor. The level of alkalization can be controlled, and results in different types of alkalized cocoa. To get the darkest, blackest cupcakes I am using both a Dutched cocoa and a black cocoa, which comes from the highest level of alkalization.
I would recommend buying black cocoa from King Arthur Flour or from L'Epicerie. At L'Epicerie you need a minimum order of $25.00, but the cost per pound is less than at King Arthur Flour.
Step 2:
Separate 6 eggs into whites and yolks. Set aside the whites and put the yolks into a bowl.
Beat the egg yolks along with
4 Tbsp dextrose and
4 Tbsp fructose until very light in color and somewhat thick—also known as the
ribbon stage.
Ah, the ribbon stage. Beating eggs and "sugar" until they reach the ribbon stage means that they lighten in color, from dark yellow to very pale yellow, and get thick enough that they fall in a ribbon from the spoon/whisk and momentarily pile up in the bowl before flattening out again. This helps to dissolve the "sugar" and protects the eggs from curdling when they come into contact with heat. The result is a smoother finished texture.
You can buy dextrose and fructose online from sites like Amazon.
Step 3:
Realize that you have used too small of bowl for the batter because you need to add a whole lot more stuff and transfer the eggs to a larger bowl.
Step 4:
Whisk together the
beaten eggs and the
milk/chocolate mixture, along with
1 tsp vanilla,
1/4 tsp salt,
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp coconut flour and
1/2 tsp baking soda. Stir until thick. Set aside.
Step 5:
Remember those
egg whites from earlier? Well, make sure they are in a largish bowl and add to them the remaining
2 Tbsp fructose and
3/4 tsp cream of tartar. Get out your favorite whisk—if your arms are like Popeye's—and beat the eggs to stiff peaks. If you are in fact like the majority of the population read: not like Popeye, and like me (me being lazy), take out your favorite electric beaters and
bring the eggs to stiff peaks.
You all know what stiff peaks look like, right? Good. The sugar and cream of tartar will help those peaks you worked so hard to form stick around until you need them, which will actually be rather soon.
Step 6:
Fold the egg whites by thirds into the chocolate batter. This means that you take 1/3 of your beaten egg whites and stir them into the batter to lighten it. Then carefully fold the 2nd third into the batter. Finally, fold the last third extra carefully into the batter.
Transfer into your lined muffin pan and shake—gently mind—to even out the tops of the batter. My favorite tool for this job for this batter is actually a large pastry/frosting bag, or a large zip-top bag with one corner cut off. You could also use a spring-loaded disher.
Step 7:
Bake the cupcakes at 350°F for
30 minutes.
Use this time to clean up the huge mess you made so that your wife doesn't get mad at you. (^_^)
My mom will be so proud of me for putting this part in here.
Step 8:
Cool upside down on a wire rack.
Why in the world do I have you cool these upside down? Well, normally what keeps a cupcake so fluffy is the starch and protein in the flour, which set up in the oven and help the cupcake keeps its shape. These cupcakes don't have any starch, and the protein comes from the egg whites. Cooling the cupcakes upside down will let gravity keep the cupcakes fluffy, much the same way that it helps an angel food cake stay fluffy.
These were tasty!
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