Well it’s been a while – I was traveling eor work and then playing catch up and that left precious little time for baking.  Last week a made a Chocolate Chai cupcake from the Alice’s Tea Cup Cookbook.  Alice’s is one of my favorite restaurants of all time and if you’re ever in NYC you should give it a try – especially for brunch.  Given that the recipe came from a cookbook and isn’t available anywhere online I decided not to post on it.  The cookbook is well worth the purchase if only for the pumpkin scone recipe.  My rendition of the chai cupcakes didn’t really turn out that well – I left them in a tad too long and they were dry.  I also used a chai I’m not 100% fond of which really just set me up to not like the cupcakes.  So the lessons are: when baking with tea make sure you actually like the tea before putting it in a cupcake.  If you don’t, you probably won’t like the cupcake

The upshot of my less than loved Chocolate Chai was a desire to take one of my favorite teas and turn it into a delicious cupcake.  So I decided to rework the matcha cupcake recipe and substitute Lupicia’s Momo Oolong Super Grade for the matcha.  Since the tea is a bit more delicate I didn’t think it would pair well with chocolate and I decided to use a vanilla cupcake and matcha frosting instead.

Notes on this recipe: I call for a spice grinder to create a “tea flour” from the tea leaves.  I tried using a food processor on the chai cupcakes and it didn’t really work that well.  I picked up a cheap spice grinder from amazon - I’ve only used it once so far but it definitely did the job in 10 seconds.  It’s your call on whether or not to use one, but the finer the “flour” the better a consistency you’ll get.

Peach Oolong Cupcakes (makes ~44 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups self-rising flour
• 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons ground peach oolong tea “flour”
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. In a small bowl, add the flours and tea powder; whisk to combine; set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
4. Add the sugar gradually and beat for 3 minutes or until fluffy.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.
7. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix.
8. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 3/4 full.
9. Bake for 11-12 minutes
10. Remove cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack before icing.

Matcha Frosting

Per my useual tastes it’s a cream cheese frosting – changed from the original buttercream

Ingredients

• 4oz butter
• 8oz cream cheese
• 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 heaping tablespoons matcha (I used Lupicia’s)

Directions

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese- it’s best if they’re a bit warmer than straight out of the fridge but I’ve found that if you beat them enough before adding any other ingredients you can get away with cold butter and cream cheese.
2. Add 1 cup of sugar and more to taste in half cup increments
3. Add vanilla and matcha powder
4. Add more sugar and/or matcha to taste

Notes:

• There is a bit of graininess to the cupcakes – because tea flour isn’t as fine as real flour.  Grind more or less and sift if that will bother you.
• These cakes seem to peel away from my liners when left in the pan after coming out of the oven for too long – pull them out ASAP to prevent this (I use two toothpicks as tools to pull the mini cupcakes out)

Reactions:

Pomegranate Cupcake

I had to replace the cinnamon dry ingredient in the apple cider cupcake with something non-fall flavored so I went with vanilla powder in order to reinforce the flavor of the frosting.  I also decided to add a hint of white chocolate since a lot of the recipes were pairing pomegranate and white chocolate and I wasn’t sure how well the pomegranate flavor would come out in the final product.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 c sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature (I didn’t bother and it was fine)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 oz melted white chocolate
• 1 2/3 c flour
• 1 c pomegranate juice
• (optional) 2 tsp red food coloring

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, beat well after each addition.
4. Add the baking powder, vanilla powder and salt. Stir.
5. Melt the white chocolate and add.  Stir to combine.
6. Add the flour, alternating with the pomegranate juice until thoroughly combined.
7. Add food coloring if you want the cake to have a nicer red velvet-esque coloring.
8. Pour into prepared cupcake pan, filling each cup 3/4 way full.
9. Bake 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center cupcake comes out clean.

Notes: final product didn’t have quite enough of a pomegranate taste for me – or a white chocolate one for that matter.  Next time I might try reducing the pomegranate juice to concentrate the flavor, or finding some extract in addition to the juice.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Grabbed the recipe from Chaos in the Kitchen.  I didn’t have any vanilla bean, so I substituted vanilla powder.  It didn’t come out quite as vanilla-y as I would have liked, but it was nice. 

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Whip cream cheese in a mixing bowl until smooth.
2. Add butter and beat to combine.
3. Add vanilla and vanilla powder.
4. Beat in powdered sugar a little at a time until frosting is as thick and sweet as you’d like.  I stopped at 1 1/2 cups -  most people advise 2-4 c.

Reviews

They were good cupcakes – but no one could really taste the pomegranate in the cake.  Once I told them it was there they could find a hint of it if they ate the cake alone, but the frosting overpowered all pomegranate taste.  Next time I might try reducing the juice to a syrup even further – starting with twice as much and going down to the same liquid volume possibly. 

I got the base from Cupcake Project, but I also really felt like chocolate so…I went with a chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Initially I wasn’t sure how it would taste, but it paired really well.

Ingredients – Makes 36 mini cupcakes

• 5 T unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1/2 C unsulfured molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1 T cocoa powder
• 1 3/8 t ground ginger
• 1 1/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/8 t cloves
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 C hot milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Cream butter with the white sugar.
3. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk.
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. (I didn’t have allspice so I substituted 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/8 t ginger and 1/8 t cloves for the 1/2 t  of allspice the original recipe called for).
5. Heat the milk until just before boiling, then dissolve the baking soda in it.  Stir well.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined.
7. Stir in the hot milk mixture.
8. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
9. Bake  for 12 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when touched.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I wanted to use real melted chocolate to get the chocolate taste in the cream cheese frosting, but after referencing Cupcake Project as well as  Coconut Lime (one of her commenters) I decided to add a 1/4c of dutch processed cocoa powder as well.

Ingredients

• 1 oz melted milk chocolate
• 1/4 c dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 c confectioners sugar
• 1/4c butter
• 8 oz cream cheese

Directions

1. Cream cream cheese and butter together
2. Add melted chocolate
3. Add confectioners sugar to taste.

Note: I like my frostings a bit less sweet than is tranditional.  You definitely might want to add more confectioners sugar if you like them sweeter.  Because of the relatively small amount of sugar in this frosting it’s fairly thick and makes slightly less than a normal batch of frosting – it covered all my cupcakes, but I used every last bit.

Reviews:

Everyone really liked this cupcake (except for the one guy who doesn’t love ginger).  I found them extremely addicting, and would definitely make them again.  I’d make it again exactly as-is (although I might pull it out at 10/11 minutes instead of the 12 I used for a slightly moister cake).  A storage note – stored in a small-ish airtight container the cupcakes actually became moister as time went by.

Grabbed the recipe for the cake from well…a lot of noding.  Originally epicurious, which then led me to google, which landed me at this gorgeous picture on tastespotting, which led to Ward Street Bistro featuring a recipe from Coconut & Lime.

Ingredients – Makes 40 mini cupcakes

• 1/2 c butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 c sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature (I didn’t bother and it was fine)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 c flour
• 1 c pasteurized apple cider

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, beat well.
4. Add the baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir.
5. Add the flour, alternating with the apple cider until thoroughly combined.
6. Pour into prepared cupcake pan, filling each cup 3/4 way full.
7. Bake 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center cupcake comes out clean.

Apple Cider Cream Cheese Frosting

I didn’t feel like a caramel sauce, so I did sort of a redux on the pomegranate frosting.  It had some of the same…liquid-y problems, but I managed to get it a bit thicker, and since I’d learned from last time that it would probably be an issue, I was able to control it better.

Ingredients

• 2 cups apple cider
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened but still cool
• 1 – 2 cups powdered sugar
• a pinch of salt
• Toasted chopped walnuts and pecans (or just one or the other, or another nut).

Directions

1. Reduce the apple cider  – bring to a boil in a small pan, continue to boil until the cider is reduced to about 4 tablespoons (it will be slightly syrupy). Set aside to cool completely.
2. Cream the cream cheese
3. Beat it together with the cooled reduced cider and a pinch of salt
4. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Add enough additional powdered sugar for desired frosting texture and taste.
5. Frost cupcakes and top with a sprinkle of toasted nuts.

Reviews

The crunch was a great adder to the overall cupcake – the texture element as well as the flavor really brought things together.  Definitely a make-again, although I’m still looking for a good way to incorporate liquid into frosting without them getting more liquid-y than I really like. 

I’m actually caught up!  (minus pictures.  fine :p).  I found this cute recipe when looking for a pumpkin pie for thanksgiving.  (I made the one from the same website – it was delicious and is highly recommended).  I didn’t have a great concrete plan for this week and was feeling more than a little bit lazy – and this recipe from JoyofBaking fit the bill perfectly.  So without further ado – Chocolate Marshmallow Cream Cupcakes!

Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes

• Heaping 1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons (15 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place chocolate chips and cocoa powder in a heatproof bowl, add boiling water and stir until melted.  Set aside to cool.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Cream butter in a large bowl until smooth and creamy.
5. Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is fluffy.
6. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.
7. Add vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture and beat to continue.
8. Add milk and flour in three additions, begining and ending with the flour.  Do not overmix.
9. Bake cupcakes for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.
10. Let sit for 2 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool.

Note:  Did I mention I was feeling lazy?  I didn’t have unsweetened chocolate chips so I used bittersweet instead.  I’m sure unsweetened would have worked just as well.

(Adulterated) Marshmallow Cream Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 – 7 ounce jar of marshmallow creme
• 1.5 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 2-3 oz cream cheese

Directions

1. Beat butter until creamy
2. Add vanilla and marshmallow creme
3. With mixer on low gradually beat in the sugar
4. Add cream and beat to combine.
5. On high, beat frosting until light and fluffy
6. Add cream cheese to taste.

Note: I found the original frosting a bit overly sweet.  I personally really hate sweet frostings though, so I would recommend making it first and cutting it to taste.  In the end I may have added a bit too much cream cheese, but it was still light fluffy and marshmallow-y.

Finally: sprinkle some graham cracker or gingersnap crumble  over the top of the cupcakes for garnishing and to give it a slight s’more taste.

Reviews

These went over quite well.  There were a number of “excellent” comments although I will admit they weren’t a personal favorite of mine.  On the plus side, these actually tasted better when colder – they tasted best just an hour or so after coming out of the fridge, which makes them a great make-ahead recipe.

Green Tea Cupcakes (Makes 48 mini cupcakes)

• 3/4 cups self-rising flour
• 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cups sugar
• 2large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons matcha powder

Directions

1. Line cupcake pan with cupcake papers.
2. In a small bowl, add the flours and matcha powder; stir to combine; set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
4. Add the sugar gradually and beat for 3 minutes or until fluffy.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla.
7. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix.
8. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 3/4 full.
9. Bake in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes.
10. Cool the cupcakes in the tin for 2 minutes.
11. Remove cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack before icing.
12. Ice with Matcha Frosting.

Note: for this batch I added about half a cup of pomegranate seeds to the batter, I wasn’t overly fond of the texture element that added and wouldn’t do it next time.  I liked the pomegranate-green tea flavor pairing, but the pomegranates in the cupcake weren’t great.

Frosting

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1.5 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup pomegranate juice

1. Mix cream cheese and butter until creamy and light.
2. Add pomegranate juice
3. Mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time. You can add more or less to get your desired consistency.
4. Add more cream cheese if necessary to get desired consistency.

Notes:  This frosting turned out pretty soupy on me.  I also added real pomegranate seeds to the frosting, but they got stuck in my pipping tip (a 1M round) so I really don’t recommend that.  Next time I would probably try reducing the juice like chockylit did for the foam, and add fresh pomegranates to the top.  The positive news was even with the soupy consistency it held well once refrigerated, so it might be prudent to refrigerate first before pipping if you find it very soupy as well.

Reviews

These came out really well.  Everyone loved the cupcakes, and were pleasantly surprised by the flavor combination.  It’s definitely non-traditional, and more than a few people were a bit skeptical at first, but everyone liked them once they tasted them.  A few people commented that the pomegranate was a tiny bit overwhelming and hid the green tea taste, but personally I found that the pomegranate taste came through first and finished with a nice green tea aftertaste.

Ingredients

• 1.25 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2.25 sticks (1 cup, 2 tablespoons) butter
• 1 3/4 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup cocoa

Cheesecake swirl
9oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup superfine sugar
2 eggs

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2.  Place chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat, and stir until melted and smooth.  Cool slightly
3.  Place melted chocolate mixture in a bowl with the brown sugar and eggs.  Whisk to combine.
4.  Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa and whisk until smooth.
5.  Pour into a lightly greased 8x8in pan lined with non-stick paper.  Set aside.
6.  For the cheesecake swirl: place the cream cheese, caster sugar and eggs into the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.  Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and, using a butter knife, swirl to partially combine.
7.  Bake for 50 minutes or until set.  Cool in the tin before slicing.

Reviews

I doubled this recipe (made 32) which was sort of a mistake.  These were super rich and eating more than one tiny square was a bit of a challenge.  Everyone enjoyed them but there were a lot.  Honestly I found them too be a bit too dark for my tastes – I might try semisweet chocolate next time.  If you like a rich deep chocolate though they’ll be perfect.

So I wanted to make something with caramel in it because after the last chocolate-chocolate extravaganza I was craving something a little different.  So I decided to do dulce de leche since a) I’d been wanting to try making it and b) caramel-y things are yummy ^^

Unfortunately I couldn’t find just one recipe that worked – so I used one for the base and one for the frosting.  I also made the dulce de leche from scratch as well as buying some from Whole Foods, just in case.

Cupcake (makes ~48 mini cupcakes)

• 1/2 c boiling water
• 3/8 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 c milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
• 5/8 c dark brown sugar
• 3/8 c granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 5/8 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/3 c chocolate dulce de leche sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, whisk the boiling water into cocoa until smooth and whisk in milk and vanilla extract.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes
4. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Into another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to egg mixture in batches alternately with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and beating well after each addition.
6. Stir in the dulce de leche.
7. Fill each wrapper slightly less than 3/4 of the way. They rise a bit more than most batters.
8. Bake in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
9. Cool on a wire rack.

I got the recipe from Cupcake Project and halved it since 30 big cupcakes would make way too many mini cupcakes.  I bought a chocolate dulce de leche sauce from Whole Foods since I hadn’t started making the sauce yet and I was worried that it wouldn’t come out well/soon enough.  Turns out that was a good idea because dulce de leche takes a while to make.

Dulce de Leche Buttercream

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar (more to taste)
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup dulce de leche (more to taste – recipe here)
• 1.5 oz cream cheese (more to taste)

Directions:

1. Cream together softened butter and powdered sugar on low using an electric mixer.
2. Add cream, salt, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth and no lumps appear.
3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the cream cheese and the prepared dulce de leche and beat to incorporate.
4. Frost cooled cupcakes using a knife or a pastry bag and tip.

As always – frosting is the one place in baking that you can be completely inexact.  I’ve never been a huge fan of buttercream frosting, so I always cut it with some cream cheese in order to cut out some of the sweetness.  I also tend to make too much frosting – and this recipe will probably frost 1.5x/2x the amount of cupcakes than the 48 you make – but I always prefer to have more than less.

Notes:

I made the dulce de leche from scratch the milk-stove top way since I was a bit hesitant about the whole exploding can thing.  Unfortunately I didn’t do so well – I think I didn’t whisk it quite enough at the start or bring it to a full enough boil – the foam from whisking masked the boiling state and so it took a lot longer to make and didn’t really start until after I brought it to a full boil.  I also left it a bit too long – it had mostly come together and I left it for a bit too long and it started to boil and then it clumped together a bit.  Still tasted really good though and worked well in the frosting.

Reaction/Thoughts

These are definitely one of my favorite cupcakes yet.  The cake itself was incredibly moist.  It was chocolaty without being overwhelming and the hint of caramel in the cake was really nice.  The frosting could have been a bit more caramel-y but it balanced nicely with the cake and made a nice light snack for something that was so rich.

These were very well received.  One recipe request and most people ate more than one – they’re very pop-able that way – one makes you sort of want a second.  Overall definitely a favorite and one I’ll definitely be making again – with perhaps a try at the condensed milk version of dulce de leche since the other took so long .

I decided it was time for a nice decadent chocolate cupcake – plus I wanted to make my favorite chocolate mousse again and I thought turning it into a filled cupcake would be really delicious.  My biggest concern was whether or not the chocolate cupcake itself would be moist and delicious enough to pair with the mousse.

Chocolate Cupcakes : Yield 48 mini cupcakes

From Baking Bites

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 48 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
4. Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. (this is critical – I would say it’s possible that if the cupcakes are a bit gooey looking it would be fine as I baked the cupcakes for 13/14 minutes and they were a bit dry).
6. Place cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Mousse : Yield 6 individual servings

This is a recipe I adapted from Christy Freeman’s Heavenly Chocolate Mousse at allrecipes.  I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate, so while the original recipe called for all semi sweet chocolate, I used half and half.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter (no substitutes!)
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped (I usually use a heavy whipping cream that contains vanilla, and if I can’t buy one than I add a tablespoon of vanilla to the whipping cream)

This recipe makes a bit more mousse than is necessary in the cupcakes, but I’d rather have a bit more than too little, and you probably need at least roughly 2/3 of this recipe in order to fill and frost all the cupcakes.

Chocolate Ganache : Covers ~96 cupcakes

This recipe is from Joy of Baking, and I definitely had a ton of extra ganache – you could probably halve it and still be fine.

• 1 cup (8 ounces) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons  unsalted butter

Finishing Directions:

1. Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly and the core out the center (I use a manual juicer and a chopstick – the chopstick pops the bit of cake that gets stuck in the juicer center out and also serves as a packer to push down any excess cake in the center hole)
2. Fill the center hole with mousse using a table knife.
3. Frost the top of the cupcake with a small amount of mousse.
4. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache.  Hold the cupcakes by the base and dip the top into the ganache until just above the wrapper line.
5. Drizzle white or milk chocolate onto the tops of the cupcake for decoration using a spoon.

Reviews

Everyone really liked these cupcakes – although everyone commented on the decadence.  A ton of people came back for seconds.  Personally I really liked them but I didn’t feel like the cake was good enough to stand up to the mousse and ganache.  Both were excellent, but the cake was only so-so.  It really needs a stronger chocolate flavor and moistness in order to really compliment the rest of the cupcake.  Definitely a to-make-again recipe in general though.