Black Thai Cupcakes

Each year, sponsors Scharffen Berger Chocolate the chocolate adventure Contest where, for a chance at $ 10,000 participants are challenged to come up with a recipe with Scharffen Berger Chocolate and a number of items from a list of "adventure ingredients."  It's like a chocolate Iron Chef!

Previous competitions have allowed participants to have some sort of dish (I, of course, came a cupcake last year anyway), but this year the contest is all about cupcakes!  The entry period ends on January 2, and you know I play will-I hope you do that, too!

Have a Cupcake Project Facebook fan, are because I have a giveaway coming up there just that your listing can inspire.

My chocolate adventure Contest entry last year was black Thai cupcakes-black bottom cupcakes with Thai herbs such as coconut and pandan (the Asian vanilla) and a little kick of smoked paprika and smoked sea salt.  The cupcakes contain also black-eyed peas, but the peas do not affect the taste; They offer only a moist texture (such as baking with applesauce).

As you can see the photo above, instead of baking the cupcakes in a cupcake liner, I they baked in a banana leaf!  If you try my exact recipe (I acknowledge that the collection of all these ingredients could be difficult), I highly recommend trying out the baking in banana leaves. Banana leaves make for an eye-catching, exotic presentation.  If you can't at a grocery store in your neighborhood, you can browse online buy bananas.

Black Thai cupcakes recipe

Yield: 24 Cupcakes

2 ¼ C coconut milk2 pandan leaves, cut into ½ half2 c flour1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika ½ teaspoon smoked sea salt ¾ c unsalted butter, room temperature2 1/3 C sugar3 large eggs, room temperature2/3 C canned black-eyed peas, drained and bittersweet chocolate, mashed5 oz melted8 oz cream cheese, room temperature2/3 C cocoa nibs2 banana leavesIn a small saucepan, coconut milk and pandan leaves to boil.  Reduce to a simmer for about 12 minutes or until there is ¾ Cup of coconut milk.Pan remove from heat and let cool.Remove pandan leaves and squeeze a liquid still in the leaves in the coconut milk.Preheat oven to 350 f. a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, smoked paprika and smoked sea salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy.Whisk in the 2 eggs, black-eyed peas, 1/2 cup of the reduced coconut milk, and melted chocolate.Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients a bit at a time until just combined. In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, less the remaining coconut milk, 1 egg and cocoa nibs.Use kitchen scissors to cut 24 4 ½ inch diameter circles from the banana leaves.Enjoy the banana leaf circles in hot water for three minutes to give them more malleable and press them in the pits of two cupcake tins.  As soon as they are formed, make sure that there is no standing water on the leaves. If necessary, pat dry with a kitchen towel.Fill each banana leaf 2/3 full with the chocolate dough.Place a tablespoon of the mixture of the cream cheese centered at the top of each sheet filled. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes dry. Black Thai for New year's Eve

It is a southern American custom to eat black-eyed peas on New year's for good luck. Sheridan Alexander from About.com explains:

The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the civil war. On the first planted as food for cattle, and later a food staple for slaves in the South, the field of black-eyed peas were ignored if Sherman's troops destroyed or other crops, making the modest, but nutritious, black-eyed pea an important role as an important food source for the survival of allies. stable

why not consider black Thai cupcakes your 2011 New year's cupcake?

View the original article here