Chocolate Gingerbread Fudge

Gingerbread men (make that boys) with their red candy buttons and innocent smiles are cute treats for kids.  When they grow up, gingerbread boys become smooth, dark chocolate gingerbread fudge. They are a bit less sugary sweet, but they still win you over with the allure of their ginger, cinnamon and clove cologne. They're not softies on the outside, but when you go in for the kiss, they melt in your mouth. 

This weekend I'll be attending a girls-only solstice-themed birthday party with a fudge contest.  Not that it matters who wins (umm, whatever), but I hope the ladies agree that chocolate gingerbread fudge is where it's at.

Fudge Brownie Cupcakes

Fudge brownie cupcakes are typically cupcakes that are made to taste fudgy due to a high chocolate content. My fudge brownie cupcakes are actually made with fudge. Fudge is the secret ingredient in both the cupcakes and the frosting. In fact, the fudge brownie cupcake frosting is simply fudge that has been melted and spread on top of the cupcake! If you have extra fudge of any sort sitting around, I would highly recommend giving fudge brownie cupcakes a go. They were a huge hit!

Fudge Brownie Cupcake Recipe

I based this recipe on the chocolate cake recipe from the now-defunct Chockylit's cupcake blog that I used for my Better Than Sex Chocolate Cupcakes.

Makes 16 regular cupcakes.

• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 C sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 C flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 C fudge, room temperature
  
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoons vanilla

1. Beat butter until softened.
   
2. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
   
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Mix in fudge.
   
5. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
   
6. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
7. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine.
   
8. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
   
9. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 1/2 full. Note that these cupcakes will not dome. Do not overfill them.
10. Bake at 350 F for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Fudge Frosting Recipe

This fudge frosting recipe barely qualifies as a recipe.

1. Take some fudge (I used 7 oz) and melt it in the microwave for about 30 seconds or however long it takes to be spreadable.
2. Spread the fudge on the cupcake.
3. Let the fudge sit until it cools.

Decorating Cupcakes with Cookie Cutters

I knew that I wanted a snowflake in the middle of this cupcake, but I wasn't sure how to do it. The easiest way would have been if I had some cupcake stencils. Alas, I did not.

Baking Bites had a informative post on making your own cupcake stencils. However, snowflakes were apparently too tough for me. I spent a lot of time trying to cut a snowflake out of a piece of paper that was the size of my cupcake - no luck!

Then, it struck me! I had recently purchased some awesome snowflake cookie cutters. I simply covered the cookie cutter with foil to keep the powdered sugar from landing on any spot in the cookie cutter shape and then sifted powdered sugar down onto the cupcake. I loved the effect and if you already have cookie cutters sitting around, it's something that you might be able to try.

Two of My Awesome Commenters

Who doesn't love it when people leave comments on their blog? Even though I see the numbers and I know you are out there, hearing from people in the comments always makes me so happy. Whenever possible, I like to acknowledge people who have made me smile and today I have good reason.

• Louise is an awesome regular commentor on this blog, but the reason you should know about her is because her blog, Months of Edible Celebrations, is fascinating. I love food history and her blog takes you in depth into all kinds of surprising food history facts. Did you know that the Sun-Maid raisin girl was a real person? Most relevant to today's post, Louise has a post on the history of cookie cutters that is definitely worth a read.

• Happy Cook is another commenter that I love! Not only does she comment on this blog, but she is very active in the food blog community. If you head to her blog, My Kitchen Treasures, you'll see that she participates in a ton of food blog events. This month, though, she is hosting an event for the first time called Homemade Christmas Gifts. I don't give Christmas gifts, but I'll go with the Homemade Holiday Gift concept and enter!
  
  Since cupcakes are hard to mail, fudge would make a great gift for someone far away. For those to whom you can personally deliver a gift to, bring them some of these cupcakes.

Homemade Fudge Recipe with Balsamic

Fudge! Fudge! Fudge!

When I asked my Twitter friends if I should make a homemade fudge recipe the other night, everyone said, "Yes," and almost every one of them used exclamation points. For example, Twitter user Loverazor said, "fudge! fudge! fudge!" and Twitter user FNCrazy said, "FUDGE!!!!!" Yes, I counted the 6 exclamation points.

My Facebook friends got in on the act, too. There was only one person who dared to talk down to the mighty fudge. Bill from STLBites said, "I hate fudge. It's on the list." It should be noted that he didn't try mine.

Me and Fudge

When I think of fudge, I think of the fudge show at St. Louis Union Station.



Jonathan thinks of the fudge show, too. He thought he was going to come home to a nightmare of a mess in our kitchen. However, it turns out that making fudge is really easy! It took all of 10 minutes to prepare! You then need to have some patience and wait for 3 hours or so for it to harden before eating it up.

The Fudge Recipe

I got the fudge recipe from Joy of Baking. The main change that I made to the recipe was to add balsamic vinegar. I love the combination of balsamic and chocolate. I just recently had a fantastic chocolate balsamic truffle at the Vosges store in Chicago. Should you not want to add the balsamic, feel free to leave it off and replace with 2 t of vanilla extract.

• 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 lb bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 1/4 C balsamic vinegar plus 2 T for brushing on top of the fudge (I used saba, which is a very expensive traditional aged balsamic. However, the best balsamic that you care to spend your money on will do. I will tell you though that saba is amazing and would make a superb gift for any balsamic lover.)
  

1. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 x 8 x 2 inch pan (20 x 20 x 5 cm) with aluminum foil. Make sure you go up the sides. You can then easily lift the sides to take the fudge out of the pan when it's done.
   
2. Combine the condensed milk, chopped chocolate, and butter in a stainless steel bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water.
3. Melt the chocolate mixture, stirring frequently. Make sure the mixture doesn't get too hot or the fudge may be grainy.
   
4. Stir until smooth (it will be very thick).
   
5. Remove from heat and stir in the balsamic.
6. Spread the fudge into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
   
7. Let stand at room temperature for a couple of hours.
   
8. Using a pastry brush, brush some balsamic on top of the fudge and let sit for another hour or so until the balsamic is a bit less liquidy and simply sticky.
9. Carefully remove the fudge from the pan by lifting the edges of the foil. With a long, sharp knife, cut the fudge into pieces.
   
10. Store in the refrigerator for several days, or freeze, well wrapped, for several months. Let thaw at room temperature, unwrapped, for a few hours before eating.
    

What Cupcake is Coming Up?

Why, fudge brownie cupcakes with fudge frosting, of course!