what to say about chocolate cherry cupcakes

it's hard to know what to say about these cupcakes, really. they're the little guys in the upper corner on the left. mini chocolate cherry cupcakes.

it's the difficulty with writing about food, I guess. it's not just that it's hard not to get lost in adjectives - tasty, dense yet light, crumbly yet moist, chocolate-y, dark, melting... all of which apply to these cupcakes, by the way. sometimes something is so good, it's hard to know what to say about it. I just kind of wish you could taste them. just by looking at these pictures.

I made them for a party last weekend (my parents both have/had a big birthday this year), but to test-bake them first, I made them in their original form, i.e. non-mini:

oh, yes.

the fortunate truth is, these cupcakes are ridiculously easy to make. you basically just shake a wooden spoon at some chocolate. the recipe is from nigella lawson's how to be a domestic goddess, I only tweaked it slightly by adding less sugar. but nigella said I could, ok! if you'd like these to be really sweet, or if you're using a very non-sweet cherry jam, you can crank up the sugar to 150 gr. I'll give you the recipe for the non-mini cupcakes.

heat the oven to 180 degrees, and line a 12-bun muffin tin with papers. in a big pan with a heavy bottom (teeheehee) (sorry), melt 125 gr. butter. when it's almost completely melted, add 100 gr. of the darkest chocolate you can find, broken up in pieces. give them some time to start melting, then turn off the heat, and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth. then, add 100 gr. sugar, a pinch of salt, 300 gr. cherry jam, and 2 eggs (already beaten) (or not, I tried both ways, and both ways worked fine). stir again until everything's combined, then add 150 gr. flour, and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. fold it into the mixture. poor the mixture into the tins, and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. after 15 minutes, check to see if they're not burning. if the cupcakes look like they're getting a little too dark, cover them with a protective blanket of tin foil.

take the cupcakes out of the oven, and let them cool down in their tins for about ten minutes. then let them cool further on a rack. after about an hour, they'll be cool enough for their ganache. to make that, melt 100 ml. cream in a small pan, and when it's hot, add another 100 gr. chopped up dark chocolate. stir until it's all glossy and smooth and sexy. with a spoon, ice the cupcakes with the ganache. if you want, you can put a whole cherry (or even a glacé cherry) on top. 'tis the season, after all!

(did I really give you two recipes including cream in two weeks? I'm not trying to give you guys heart-attacks, I swear!)

- anne