Preparation:
Make the cupcakes:
1 Position a rack in the center and preheat
oven to 325F. Lightly
butter twenty-four 1-3/4" x 3/4" (1-oz)
muffin of biscuit cups.
2 Into a medium bowl -- sift together the
flour, cocoa, baking soda,
and salt. Mix in the sugar. Make a well
in the center. Whisk in the
water -- oil, vinegar, and
vanilla. Blend until smooth. (The batter
will be very thin.)
3 Spoon the batter into the prepared cups.
Bake until a cake tester
inserted into the center of one of the
cupcakes comes out clean
about 12 to 14 minutes. Cool the cupcakes
in the pans on a wire rack
for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from
the pans and finish cooling
on the rack.
Make the filling:
4 In a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high -- bring
the cream
heat
to a boil. Add the white chocolate and
remove from heat. let the
mixture stand briefly -- stir until smooth.
Transfer to a metal bowl
and refrigerate until chilled thoroughly -- stirring
occasionally. (To
speed the process -- set the metal bowl
over a larger bowl of ice
water -- stir the chocolate
mixture until cool.) With an electric
mixer -- beat the white
chocolate mixture just until fluffy,
about 1
minute.
5 Transfer the filling to a pastry bag
fitted with a 3/8-inch plain
tip. Insert the pastry tip 1/4-inch into
the bottom of each cupcake
and squeeze a little filling into each
one.
Make the glaze:
6 Place the chocolate in a small bowl.
Whisk in the boiling water and
blend until smooth. One at a time -- dip the top of
each
cupcake into
the warm glaze. Turn the glazed cupcakes
right side up and set them
on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.
Refrigerate the cupcakes for
5 minutes to set the glaze.
Make the icing:
7 In a medium bowl -- whisk the egg white
until frothy. Stir in the
cream of tartar. Gradually mix in enough
of the confectioner's sugar
to make a fairly stiff and smooth icing.
Fill a small paper cone with
the icing and cut a 1/16-inch opening at
the tip. Remove the cupcakes
from the refrigerator. Pipe a design (a -- spiral,
etc.) on
squiggle
the top of each cupcake. Let the design
harden and then cover and
refrigerate the cupcakes. Serve at room
temperature.
bottle about the size of a Twink |