Blueberry-Mud Ice Cream Cupcakes

You’ve probably been led hither by reading my blog about Ice Cream Cupcakes, but if you haven’t seen it, please check it out! My blog also talks about Banana Split Ice Cream Cupcakes, the recipe for those beauties is here.

Blueberry Ice Cream Cupcakes

Blueberry-Mud Ice Cream Cupcakes

a note about making the cupcakes

Because waffle cones are pointy, you’ll need to make yourself a baking stand keep them upright in the oven. A disposable aluminium baking pan is the perfect answer. The one I used was about 20x30cm. You wouldn’t want to try to use one smaller than this – but larger would be fine.
With the pan upside down, first mark out 12 crosses, evenly spaced across the base of the pan. Then, draw a circle, about 3cm in diameter around each cross. Cut these out using kitchen scissors. Place your cones in the stand to test out the fit. You want the cones to sit straight up while the cakes are baking. If you have cut your holes too wide and the cones lean, you can sit the pan on top of a mini muffin tin – this will allow the bottoms of the cones to sit a little lower, making them straight for baking.

Baking stand for ice cream cone cupcakes

Baking stand for ice cream cone cupcakes

 

Blueberry-Mud Ice Cream Cupcakes
makes 12

ingredients

12 waffle cones
70g dark chocolate, melted and warm
5g coconut oil
1 quantity Chocolate Mudcake (recipe below)
1 quantity Blueberry Ice Cream Frosting (recipe below)
1 quantity Chocolate Ganache (recipe below)
sprinkles, mini marshmallows etc
12 glace or maraschino cherries, well drained on paper towels

Chocolate Mudcake

ingredients

150g dark chocolate (50-60% cocoa solids)
125g butter
6 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
3 large eggs (70g each)
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

mixing

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave for a minute on high power (or in a bowl over simmering water), stirring until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and salt, followed by the eggs, stirring until smooth. Sift the flour and baking powder together and sprinkle the over the chocolate mixture and stir until just combined. The mixture is ready to use.

Blueberry Ice Cream Frosting

A lovely combo of butter roux and Swiss meringue frostings. Strawberries or raspberries would also be great instead of blueberries.
You’ll need a candy thermometer for this recipe.

ingredients

345g fresh or thawed frozen blueberries
4 1/2 tbsp flour
120mL egg whites (about 3)
150g caster sugar
375g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 tsp powdered critic acid

mixing

Purée the blueberries until quite smooth. It’s ok if there is a little bit of texture to the purée. Measure the purée, you should have 1 1/2 cups of purée. Add a little water if needed to make up the volume. Place the purée in a small saucepan together with the flour. Heat the mixture, stirring all the time until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Blueberry Roux

Finished Blueberry Roux

Make the Swiss meringue. Place the egg whites and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture over the heat using a wire whisk until the mixture reaches 55°C. The mixture will foam slightly during the heating phase but will not take on the appearance of beaten egg whites. When the mixture reaches55°, transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer (stand mixers are great for this, but you can do it with hand held beaters). Beat the mixture on high speed until it is room temperature. During this time, a marshmallowy meringue will form.
Swiss Meringue

Swiss Meringue

Continue beating the meringue in high speed and add the butter, a cube at a time, allowing each addition of butter to completely incorporate before adding the next. If your meringue is too warm, it will melt the butter and create a soupy mixture. Never fear- chill the mixture and beat again. If the butter is too cold, it won’t incorporate well, so make sure it is uniformly soft. If the mixture is too cold, it may sieve. If necessary, you can fix this by warming the mixing bowl a little by standing it in warm water or wrapping a hot wet tea towel around the bowl.
Finally, continuing beating on high speed, add the cool blueberry mixture, a tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to be incorporated before adding the next. Beat in salt, vanilla and citric acid. The frosting is now ready to use.

Chocolate Ganache

ingredients

75mL pouring cream
75g dark chocolate (60% cocoa solids) chopped

mixing

Heat the cream in the microwave on high for 30 seconds or in a small saucepan until it just starts to simmer. Remove from the heat, tip in the chocolate. Stir gently until the chocolate dissolves and the mixture is smooth. The addition of the chocolate cools the cream quite rapidly, and you may need to heat it up a little bit (5 seconds in the microwave or in a bowl over simmering water) to get the chocolate to dissolve completely. When the mixture is smooth, check its temperature, it should be no more than a body temperature (37°). Put it in the fridge for a few minutes too cool it further if necessary. You want it to be cool enough that it falls a little over the top of the cold frosting and sets in drips. If the ganache is too hot, you run the risk of too much dripping, or worse, melting the frosting. Nobody likes melted ice cream cones!

 

assembling the cupcakes

Combine the melted chocolate with the coconut oil, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Working one at a time, drop a teaspoon of chocolate mixture into each cone, and, using the spoon and then a narrow headed pastry brush, coat the inside of the cone up to the rim. If your cone has an assymetric rim like the ones I used, just coat the chocolate up to the lowest point in the rim.

Set your cones in the baking stand.

Make the Chocolate Mudcake mixture. Pour about three tablespoons of mixture into each cone (the mixture should sit about three millimetres below the rim).

Bake the cupcakes at 160 degrees C for about 15 minutes, giving the baking stand a half turn after about ten minutes to ensure even cooking. The cakes will have little rounded tops and be completely set to the touch. Let cool.

While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting.

Load the frosting into a large piping bag fitted with an open star tip. Trim the rounded tops off the cakes, so they are level with the lowest point on the edge of the cone (note I didn’t need to do this in the picture below because I under-filled the cones!). Pipe big, cone shaped swirls of frosting on each cupcake, to look like soft serve ice cream. Allow about half a cup of frosting for each cupcake. Refrigerate until cold and completely set.

Blueberry-Mud Ice Cream Cupcakes

Frosting the cupcakes

While the frosted cupcakes are setting, make the Chocolate Ganache for the topping.

When the ganache is cool but still liquid, remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator and, working one at a time, pour a dessertspoon (about 10 mL) of ganache directly over the top point of the frosting. Immediately top with a cherry and sprinkles, so they stick to the ganache before it sets.

Blueberry Ice Cream Cupcakes

Blueberry-Mud Ice Cream Cupcakes

 

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