Super moist chocolate cupcakes with a creamy mascarpone frosting and raspberry sauce.
*Updated (first published 5th of April 2016)
I have decided to go back on some of my (super!) old posts and not only give them nicer photos but also update them as a whole. One of them being these delicious cupcakes right here. I love the recipe, but wanted to tweak it a bit and give you more precise instructions in the recipe. While the photos certainly weren’t the worst I’ve ever shot back then (view an old photo here), I felt like these cupcakes deserved better! So I hope you won’t mind the repost (as well as any future reposts I am currently planing) and hope you’ll give these chocolate raspberry cupcakes a try!
These cupcakes are perfect for Valentine’s Day but can also be enjoyed throughout the year. I typically don’t buy any fresh berries during the winter, apart from cranberries. However, I do sometimes make exceptions such as for these cupcakes right here. Since we are using frozen raspberries for the sauce, we only need about 12 fresh raspberries to garnish our cupcakes with. If you don’t wish to purchase any raspberries in the cold months, you can also omit the raspberries for garnish and substitute them with sprinkles of your choice. They’ll taste just as good!
Mascarpone Frosting
This frosting is hands down one of my favourite types of frosting. It’s so light in texture but has such a decadent and creamy taste…it’s simply to die for! Since the frosting is softer than your average buttercream, it’s important to chill it before piping it onto the cupcakes. You also want to keep your frosted cupcakes chilled if you make them ahead of time.
To get the two tone effect, let 4 strips of the raspberry sauce run down inside the piping bag, then fill with the mascarpone frosting and pipe onto the cupcakes. I used a Wilton 1M tip, but feel free to use any piping tip you’d like.
That’s it! These cupcakes are easy to make and soo worth it.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Original text from 2016 (Can you believe how short I used to keep my texts? Nothing compared to the novels I typically write today!) Here it is:
I wanted to post these last week for you but didn’t get the chance to as I was really busy baking for a wedding. The bride asked me to make lots of pies instead of one big wedding cake because her fiancée loves pies so much. So there I was baking away into pie oblivion. Overall I made 8 pies, enough to feed 60 people. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The challenge to make every pie special and unique was exciting and fun. Here are some photos for you.
Fresh out of the oven
Presented at the wedding
As you can imagine after baking pies for one week I wanted to make something other than a pie. That’s when I usually make cupcakes, they are done very quickly and taste great. Especially these chocolate raspberry cupcakes here. Even the two colored swirl effect isn’t much effort, its one simple trick that anybody can do. Try the recipe and see for yourself!
Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
Moist chocolate cupcakes with creamy mascarpone frosting and raspberry filling.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 125g flour (1 cup)
- 45g unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 120ml oil (1/2 cup)
- 180g brown sugar (1 cup)
- 1 medium egg
- 120ml buttermilk (1/2 cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120ml hot water (1/2 cup)
Raspberry Sauce
- 200g frozen raspberries (2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Frosting
- 240g mascarpone, chilled (1 cup)
- 170g powdered sugar, sifted (1 and 1/2 cups)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 12 fresh raspberries for garnishing
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 150°C or 300°F and place liners into a muffin tin.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together, stirring with a whisk until well combined
- In a seperate bowl cream together the oil and sugar for 2 min. Then add in the egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract and mix for an additional minute.
- Pour both mixtures together and mix until no flour specs remain. Then slowly add the hot water to the batter while continuously mixing. (The batter will be very thin at this point, that’s okay.)
- Now pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each liner 3/4 full. Bake for about 35 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool completely.
Raspberry Sauce
- Add frozen raspberries and powdered sugar to a saucepan. Cook raspberries on stovetop until they have released their juices and most of them have broken down. Then puree until smooth and pass through a sieve.
- Using an apple corer or a large piping tip, make a hole the middle of the cupcakes and fill with the raspberry sauce, setting aside about 4 teaspoons for the frosting.
Frosting
- Mix together mascarpone, powdered sugar and salt in a bowl and cream together for 2 min. Let the mixture chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- To get a two colored swirl effect, fill one part of the raspberry sauce into your piping bag letting four stripes drip down horizontally into the bag. Then fill half of the mascarpone mix into the bag and pipe on to the cupcakes (I used a Wilton 1M tip). Use only half so you can repeat the process and fill raspberry sauce and mascarpone mix into the piping bag once more to not lose the effect while piping.
- Garnish with fresh raspberries.
Notes
Store these cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
When a man is found on a Norfolk beach, drifting in and out of consciousness, with no identification and unable to speak, interest in him is sparked immediately. Who is this man?
I’m Natanja, a blogger, food photographer, web development student and lavender enthusiast. Here on Home Baked Bliss, I get to share mouth-watering recipes, easy DIYs and everything related to the home with you. I hope it will make you feel inspired!
Chocolate and raspberry my favorite combo! I’m going to try this tomorrow!
Thank you so much!!
Mine too 🙂 Let me know how you like it.
Nice to meet you Jackie.
Hi Natanja! I made these today! Best cupcakes ever! No problems making them.
Thanks again!
Hey Jackie!
Thanks so much for your feedback. I’m happy to hear you like them so much 🙂
Looking good!!!! What flavors were the wedding pies?
Thank you Nancy! 🙂 The bride chose 3x blueberry, 2x apple, 1x apple rose pie and 2 peanut butter chocolate pies. The small blueberry pie with the hearts was only for the two of them.
Oh, it’s so exciting to see some of your professional handiwork. It’s so cool that you were asked to make unique pies, instead of a big wedding cake. All of them look beautiful at the wedding. 🙂 I can definitely see why you wanted to make something non-pie related after that. Hehe. These chocolate raspberry cupcakes look gorgeous! The raspberry swirl came out beautifully in the frosting. Well done, Natanja! Hope you’re having an amazing week. 🙂
Thank you so much Demeter! That means a lot to me 🙂
Although I have to say…I’m already planning my next pie recipes for the blog, somehow you kind of get addicted to all the crimping, braiding and all that.. I think I still crimp in my sleep 😉
These are literally the prettiest cupcakes I’ve seen! And they look so delicious. I will definitely try these (they might not look as pretty but I will try lol). I’m a fan 🙂 PS: Your pies look awesome too. I couldn’t imagine making 8! I’ll go insane.
Aww thanks so much! 🙂
Don’t worry, they aren’t difficult to make, I bet yours will look just as pretty.
Haha yes making 8 pies was a bit stressful, but since pie crusts are ideal for making ahead of time I prepared them the week before and froze them. That saved me a lot of time since I only had to make the fillings then. Its a great trick and it works like a charm 🙂
These look fantastic! I really want to make them. Would it be okay if I used fresh raspberries instead of frozen ones?
Greetings from Sofia, Bulgaria!
Hi Blaga! Sure, feel free to do so. The only reason I wrote ‘frozen’ is because they are cheaper, I usually have them at home and for the sauce you really cannot taste the difference. If you measure in cups and use fresh ones you will slightly have more raspberries than if you use frozen (due to fresh ones weighing more), but it won’t be a problem. If you measure in grams it’ll obviously be the same amount. Let me know how you like them and all the best for making them 🙂
Thanks for the advice, Natanja, will definitely give these beauties a try the minute fresh raspberries appear on the market 🙂
Hey, Natanja, I finally made the cupcakes and they are gorgeous! Loved the special frosting effect too – not at all difficult to pull off but really pretty:). Thanks for a fantastic recipe :).
Thanks for the feedback Blaga! I’m happy you like them 🙂