Chocolate Valentines Cupcakes

I have been on a cupcake roll for the last month and found a chocolate raspberry cupcake recipe which is decorated with chocolate fondant topped with red and pink fondant hearts. I thought this a perfect entry into Zorra's Heart for Your Valentine event. She posts each one as they come in and the last day for submission is February 15. The round-up can be seen here As my Valentine loves chocolate and raspberries, these chocolate raspberry cupcakes with fondant hearts were a perfect choice for Zorra's edible heart event.

Fondant is a confection I have never worked with, but prepared fondant is easily obtainable from many grocery stores or craft stores who sell Wilton products. The chocolate
fondant is hard to find so I bought brown edible paste to color it with. My friend in exercise class who bakes beautiful wedding cakes told me that you can order the chocolate fondant online and some tastes just like Tootsie Rolls. Most fondant doesn't have a real taste , but extracts can be kneaded into it to add additional flavor.

Adding raspberries and almond meal to the batter gives these Chocolate Valentines Cupcakes a rich and unique flavor. Below is a slideshow of some of the step by step instructions for making the cupcakes.

Double Chocolate Raspberry Cake

2 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup self-rising flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup almond meal
3 1/2 ounces frozen raspberries

Decorations

3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 lbs chocolate prepared fondant
1/3 cup raspberry jam, warmed and strained
1/2 cup powdered sugar
5 ounces red prepared fondant
5 ounces white prepared fondant
pink food coloring

For Cakes
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a large cupcake tin with 6 large paper baking cups or one standard 12 cupcake tin with paper baking cups.
Combine chocolate and the water in a small saucepan;stir over low heat until melted and smooth.
Beat butter, sugar and eggs in a small bowl with an electric mixer until just combined. Stir in the sifted flour, cocoa and almond meal; then warm chocolate mixture. Fold in raspberries. Divide among baking cups smoothing surface.
Bake large cakes about 55 minutes, small cakes about 45 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.

Decorating the Cakes
Remove baking cups from cakes. On a surface dusted with sifted cocoa powder, knead chocolate fondant until smooth. Roll out to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut out rounds large enough to cover the tops of the cakes.
Brush top of cakes with jam; cover cakes with the rounds of chocolate fondant.
On a surface dusted with powdered sugar, knead white and red fondant separately until smooth. Use coloring to tint the white fondant pink.
Roll each colored fondant to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Using heart-shaped cutters of varying sizes depending upon size of the cupcakes, cut out hearts from fondants of each color. Decorate cakes with fondant hearts using a small drop of water to secure the hearts to each other.

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