HCB: Mud Turtle Cupcakes

This cake is my 77th cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes.

It feels so good to say that.

I have been saying that I have 17 cakes remaining. That number seem so small in comparison to 77, and yet, if I bake one every week I have 3 months left.

I can't wait!!!

It's not because I don't like being part of HCB. But at this point in the game, where the end feels so near (what's 3 months!?!) but yet so far (still 3 months!!!), I am itching to finish. 

I can smell and see the finish line (okay, I am being a tad melodramatic).

But wouldn't you be?

I am not very excited to make this cupcakes. Like I said last week, a cupcake named "mud" does not make me think "yum."

Still, I woke up on Sunday morning feeling quite excited.

Not necessarily about "mud," but about photography. Cupcake photography, in this case.

I am not very good at photographing cupcakes. It always seem to be challenging.

Today, the cupcakes are posing quite nicely.

That makes me happy.

Okay, back to the cupcakes (I should actually start talking about making these cupcakes).

They are so easy to put together. It probably takes the same amount of time to put them together as weighing each cupcakes to be the same amount!

I made 1/2 recipe, so first mix the egg, sour cream, and loads of cocoa powder. Whisk them together.

Then combine the rest of the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in the mixer. Add in the butter and half the cocoa mixture, mix until combined. Next add in the rest of the cocoa mixture in 2 additions, beating until incorporated.

Usually when I make cupcakes, I weigh each one to be about 40 grams. This time, Rose said to fill them about 3/4 full, which end up to be about 48-49 grams.

They turned out really nice, with a little mound on top.

I had leftover mystery ganache in the freezer, so I cheated and used those. Mystery ganache because it's not labeled so I had no idea what it is or from which time it's from. It smells good and tasted good, so I declared it good to use.

Makes my life easier because all I had to do is left them outside the whole night and by morning they are frosting consistency.

I also skipped the caramel. I know... it's terrible. But hear me out first. I had forgotten to buy heavy cream and didn't feel like running to the store to buy it. The recipe only use 3 tablespoon of it. Feels silly to buy heavy cream just for that - and knowing the rest might go to waste. So then I thought to myself, well, I didn't really need all that sugar to begin with. And since I don't feel like making it, I don't want to force myself and then ended up with caramel burn like last time.

So I skipped it and proceeded to decorating.

See all the excuses I made to myself to justify not making the caramel? :)

Decorating the cupcakes were really fun and here they are posing again for the step-by-step-decorating.

I topped the cupcakes with chocolate pearls from Whole Foods. I don't know what the brand is (they are not Valrhona) but they're pretty tasty, there's a crunch to it - I think it has cereal flakes inside.

I admit I might have gotten carried away with the picture-taking. This is what happens when one does not have to make either ganache or caramel.

Tasting impressions:
It's pretty good. Very chocolate-y! It's a bit denser than I expect, but good anyway. Perfect for a rainy Monday morning when you're sleepy and need something to jump-start your morning.

Edited to add: I have to revise my comment about the texture. This morning when I tried them, they still haven't completely come to room temperature, so they taste a bit more dense. By the afternoon, they were nicely soft and a bit crumbly. Not too crumbly, just enough.