Recipe review: Gimme Some Oven’s Salted Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

I’m not a big fan of dark chocolate. I don’t mind it, but I find it a bit too bitter. If given a choice, I’ll often go for a milk chocolate or white chocolate.

For some reason, though, I was really craving dark chocolate cupcakes a couple of weeks back. And, since I needed to make something for a work event, I had the perfect opportunity to indulge.

When I went looking for a recipe, I came across Gimme Some Oven’s Salted Dark Chocolate Cupcakes. I’ve had good experiences with the site’s recipes in the past, so I figured I’d give this one a shot.

I should be up front about something: I did stray from the original recipe a bit. I used regular cocoa powder, instead of dark chocolate. But that’s only because I couldn’t find dark chocolate cocoa powder when I went grocery shopping.

This, of course, meant that the actual cupcake didn’t have the punch of dark chocolate flavour that I’d been craving. But it did make a good base for the dark chocolate ganache that the recipe calls for in place of frosting. I used dark chocolate chips instead of a dark chocolate bar to make the ganache, but I didn’t have any issues with it. Although, I will say that you need a lot of patience when you’re making the ganache–it takes a while for it to thicken.

The cupcake batter came together really easily. Honestly, the only tip I have for that part is to make sure you remember to make the coffee ahead of time. I forgot, which meant that my batter had to sit and wait until the coffee was cool enough to use.

Although, I suppose that may not be an issue for someone who drinks coffee more regularly than I do. If that’s the case, all you’d need to do is set half a cup of it aside.

I also think the cupcakes could use a little more of the coffee flavouring. I’m not sure if that would be better accomplished with extra coffee or the addition of some espresso powder, but I think I may test the idea in the future. It would make for a great mocha cupcake recipe.

Ultimately, I really quite enjoyed these ones. I didn’t get quite the dark chocolate cupcake flavouring I was looking for, but that’s my own fault. And the ganache on top had enough to satisfy me.

The recipe made about 1.5 dozen, and I kept them in the fridge for almost a week. It’s possible they’d be good beyond that timeframe, but I ran out too soon to tell.

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To sum it up…

• Time to prepare and cook/bake: About an hour, not counting any extra time for the ganache to set
• Difficulty: Easy
• How it tasted: Straying from the recipe meant my cupcakes didn’t have that dark-chocolate punch, but the ganache more than made up for it
• Would I make it again: I probably will, though I’ll likely try to add a bit more of a mocha flavour