Cleo Coyle Recipes.com: Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes from SHOT IN THE DARK by Cleo Coyle

Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes from SHOT IN THE DARK by Cleo Coyle

These elegant, melt-in-your-mouth Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes are a chocoholic’s dream. Light in texture yet rich and bold in dark chocolate flavor, they pair beautifully with coffee and espresso (or a tall, cold glass of milk).

Our readers may recognize these babies from our bestselling Coffeehouse Mystery: Shot in the Dark. To see more recipes from our latest culinary mystery, click on the image below...

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To download my Chocolate Souffle Cupcake recipe now as a free PDF, click here.

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Eat with (chocolate) joy!

~ Cleo

☕

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A Note from Cleo

These are easy cupcakes to make, just melt the chocolate, whip in the eggs and other ingredients, scoop the batter into your cupcake tin and bake. While we did not invent the idea of souffle cupcakes, this is our version of the recipe for our fictional Village Blend coffeehouse.

Our readers might remember our barista Esther noshing on these beauties, drenched with chocolate flavor. They were light enough for her to add a rustic wedge of our buttery Espresso Shortbread to her coffee break plate (and, yes, our recipe for that delectable shortbread is also included in the book).

Cleo Coyle's
Chocolate Soufflé

Cupcakes

from Shot in the Dark

A Coffeehouse Mystery

by Cleo Coyle

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

8 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (60 - 64% cacao)*
*Use bar chocolate, not chips, learn more at the end of this recipe.

8 Tablespoons salted butter, cut into pieces

1-1/4 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cornstarch

4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten with fork

Directions:

Step 1—Make the batter: Break or chop the bar chocolate into pieces and place them in a large, heat-proof mixing bowl, along with the butter (be sure to cut the butter into pieces, as well).

Place the bowl (of chocolate and butter) over a pan of simmering water, creating a double boiler. Stir with a rubber spatula until the two ingredients have melted together.

If you've never created a double boiler, fear not, it's very easy to do. See my photo above. Be sure to use a heat-proof bowl. The water in the pot below should be simmering (not boiling) and should *not* touch the bottom of the bowl.

After the chocolate is melted, set the bowl aside for one full hour. Be patient, the chocolate must cool and thicken a bit. When the hour is up, add the lightly beaten eggs. Sift together the confectioners’ sugar, flour, and cornstarch and whisk them in by hand (a little at a time) for a good 60 seconds, until the batter is smoothly blended. The batter will be thick.

Step 2—Prep oven and pan and bake: Preheat your oven to 325° F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. If your liners are uncoated, spray the papers lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Measure 1/4 cup of batter into each of the paper-lined cups. Divide any extra batter evenly among the 12 cups.

Bake for no more than 30 minutes. The cupcake tops should be set (you can touch them lightly to test this). Do not over-bake. They should still be moist inside when they come out of the oven.

Just like a soufflé, these light cupcakes will puff up during baking and fall slightly as they cool. Serve with coffee, espresso, or a cold glass of milk and…eat with joy!

👇

Cleo's Chocolate Note

You can use bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate for this recipe or a combination of the two, as long as it adds up to 8 ounces. I like to use a 4-ounce bar of bittersweet chocolate and a 4-ounce bar of semi-sweet chocolate. Just be sure to use good quality bar chocolate and *not* chocolate chips for this recipe. Chocolate chips often contain stabilizers, which help them keep their shape but compromise their flavor and make them more difficult to melt than bar chocolate.