Mud Pie Cupcakes

Last weekend, I participated in a bake sale for charity at a really cool craft store in Silverlake called ReForm School. As part of that, I wanted to think of a couple of new, fun cupcake recipes. Even though people seemed to like the Shirley Temple cupcakes, I felt that they needed to go back into the "think tank" for a while, but the Mud Pie cupcakes turned out great.

The cake part of the cupcake was mocha cake, which was then filled with a chocolate ganache, oreo cookie crumbs, and topped with coffee swiss meringue buttercream. A drizzle of ganache and a mini oreo were added as garnish. My favorite part was the coffee swiss meringue buttercream. Just a couple tablespoons of cold, strong coffee made for a deliciously smooth and creamy (and not too sweet) coffee frosting.

For the Mocha Cupcakes:
Use the same chocolate cupcake recipe from the scotchmallow cupcakes, but substitute the cup of boiling water for 1 cup good, strong coffee.

For the Chocolate Ganache:
Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Heat the whipping cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat until simmering and bubbling, but not boiling. Turn the heat off after the cream reaches appropriate heat and stir in chocolate chips until fully melted. Add in the butter. Allow ganache to cool before using.

For the Coffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 egg whites
3 sticks unsalted butter
1 tbsp vanilla
2-3 tablespoons cold, strong coffee

Heat sugar and egg whites in a heat safe bowl place inside a pan of boiling water. Do not allow water to enter the mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk until sugar is fully dissolved and mixture reads 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. Transfer mixture to stand mixer and beat on medium high using whisk attachment. Continue to whisk until mixture is completely cool and fluffy. Add butter a piece at a time, whisking well after each addition. Once butter has been added, switch to the paddle attachment and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and coffee last and beat until well mixed.

To assemble the cupcakes:
Core each cupcake with a paring knife. Fill each whole with chocolate ganache, spreading the excess onto the top of the cupcake. Sprinkle a generous heap of Oreo crumbs on the ganache of each cupcake. Pipe coffee swiss meringue buttercream on the top of each cupcake using a pastry bag (or durable plastic bag) and large star pastry tip. Put excess ganache into a plastic bag with the tip cut off and drizzle onto the frosting of each cupcake. Add a mini Oreo topper to each cupcake.