A Peek Inside Five Brand New Brooklyn Cookbooks
The cookbook: Robicelli’s: A Love Story, With Cupcakes by Allison & Matt Robicelli
The recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes
The difficulty level: First you’ve got to bake the cake from scratch, which involves making a paste out of cocoa powder and scalding-hot coffee. Then you must whip up your own batch of peanut butter-infused French buttercream or the slightly simpler American frosting, pipe it on the cupcakes, pulse some pretzels and peanuts in a food processor to coat the frosting, make your own chocolate ganache for drizzling and voila! The most decadent cupcakes you’ve ever made! Novice bakers will appreciate the easy-to-follow instructions, but be prepared for a lot of steps.
The verdict: The frosting was super-rich (3 sticks of butter plus heavy cream, sugar and peanut butter!) but the buttermilk and black coffee in the batter brought depth to the cake. These came out looking totally professional and were a big hit with our taste-testers.
The next recipes we’ll try: We’re looking at the four cupcakes inspired by the Golden Girls, each topped with cheesecake buttercream. The alluring Rue McClanahan cupcake pairs it with peach cake and topped with peach compote.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel
Makes 24 cupcakes
Chocolate Cake
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup scalding hot coffee
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola or grapeseed oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Peanut Butter Buttercream
(Note: For ease of preparation, we used the cookbook’s recipe for Peanut Butter American Frosting. For the buttercream, you’ve got to buy the book.)
3 sticks unsalted butter
½ cup all-natural peanut butter
1 1/2 cups 10x powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Classic Ganache
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup chopped semisweet chocolate
pinch sea salt
To Finish:
1 ½ cups pretzels
¾ cup roasted peanuts
Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line cupcake pans with 24 liners.
Place cocoa powder in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and pour scalding hot coffee over. Mix on low speed until a thick paste forms and mixture stops steaming, about one minute.
Turn mixer speed to medium. In a 4-cup measuring cup, combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla, egg, egg yolk, and salt and mix lightly with a fork, ensuring yolks are broken. Slowly pour into mixer.
Stop the mixer, detach the paddle, and scrape the bottom well to loosen any caked-on cocoa. Reattach and turn mixer to medium, letting it run for 1 minute. Stop the mixer again.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda and add to the batter. Mix on low speed until just combined. Remove bowl and paddle and use paddle to scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring everything is mixed.
Scoop cake batter into prepared baking cups, filling them two thirds of the way.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The cupcakes are done when the centers spring back when you touch them.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Let cool completely.
Peanut Butter Buttercream
3 sticks unsalted butter
½ cup all-natural peanut butter
1 1/2 cups 10x powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
Cream together the butter and peanut butter with a mixer set to “high” until light and fluffy.
Add powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time, beating well between each addition. Add heavy cream and salt.
Continue to beat on high for an additional minute to incorporate air. Once combined, taste for seasoning. Add more sugar or peanut butter if desired.
Classic Ganache
Place chocolate in a bowl, and shake back and forth until the chocolate flattens out on top.
Heat cream and sea salt in a medium saucepan until it comes to a boil.
Immediately pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes to allow chocolate to melt.
Using a heatproof spatula, stir the cream and chocolate together until completely smooth.
Allow to cool slightly before drizzling on cupcakes. The ganache should not be hot to the touch, but it should still be liquid. If it cools completely and becomes solid, microwave on 50 percent power in 20-second intervals, stirring between each, until desired consistency is reached.
Assembly
Fill pastry bag fitted with regular tip with the peanut frosting and pipe onto each chocolate cupcake. Put cupcakes into the refrigerator so the frosting hardens- about 20 minutes.
Pulse pretzels and peanuts in a food processor until they’re coarse crumbs. Alternately, place in a strong zip-top bag and repeatedly smack the bag with a rolling pin, a heavy skillet, or anything else your find enjoyable. Place crumbs in a pie dish or baking pan.
Remove the cupcakes form the refrigerator and gently roll the sides of the buttercream in pretzel mixture. Pour a handful of the mixture over the top of each cupcake and lightly pack on with hand. Shake off excess and set aside.
Drizzle ganache over the top of each cupcake.
Reprinted by arrangement with VIKING STUDIO, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © ALLISON AND MATT ROBICELLI, 2013.