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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Chow I Baked a Mini Cherry Pie Into a Dark Chocolate Cupcake

Posted by Megan Seling on Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 1:26 PM

I was thinking of making the Cherpumple for a friend's birthday, but it looks, well, disgusting (plus all the ingredients would've cost well over $50). So I decided to find out if I could successfully shrink it down to a handheld size by putting a mini cherry pie into a dark chocolate cupcake and topping with vanilla bean butter cream.

Not only can it be done, but it's delicious... and pretty!

For my next trick, I'd like to bake a half dozen of these into a 10" cheesecake. For the ultimate Turducken experience. Then I'd like to vomit.

Happy Saturday!

Update: The how-to is after the jump!

Recipe/how to (I totally cheated and used mostly pre-made ingredients (save for the frosting). More than anything, I just wanted to see if it'd work):

I used Pilsbury pie dough and cherry filling to make the mini pies. Cut 24 circles of dough. Pressed 12 into the bottom of mini cupcake tins, fill with cherry pie filling, and then top with the other 12 circles. (I used my finger to spread a drop of water along the edges of the dough to help ensure the two pieces stuck together and sealed well.)

Cut a small X into the top of each pie, to allow the steam to escape. Bake for about 20 minutes (until the dough is cooked but just barely starts to brown) at 375 degrees. Mine overflowed like crazy, but since they'll be covered with batter, they don't have to be pretty.

Let them cool for about 20 minutes or so, then mix up the cake!

I used dark chocolate cake mix and mixed that according to instructions. Pour about a half inch of batter into each paper-lined cupcake tin, then plop the mini pies into that (don't press all the way to the bottom, though, they'll kind of settle in on their own). Top each mini pie with just enough batter to cover the top and all edges of the pie. (It'll be close to the top, but try not to fill ALL the way to the top of the cupcake tin—I had a couple like that and they overflowed all over while baking. Tasted good, but looked ugly.)

Bake for about 25ish minutes at 350 degrees (or until the cake is firm to the touch).

Let cool!

For the frosting whip 2 sticks of room temperature butter (unsalted or salted, your choice—I prefer unsalted) with 2 cups powdered sugar and the seeds from one vanilla bean. Then frost when cool! I sprinkled some chunky sugar on the top for a little bit of crunch.

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Comments (48) RSS

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you should have baked some electrolytes in there

Posted by Joe Kikass on August 28, 2010 at 1:34 PM

recipe/ingredients?

Posted by Annag on August 28, 2010 at 1:38 PM

That's pretty awesome and I'd love to try baking it.

Posted by Telsa on August 28, 2010 at 1:47 PM

Marry me.

Posted by Cracker Jack on August 28, 2010 at 1:51 PM

I ask you, Megan: when are you going to open up your own shop? I'm starting to see a plethora of new food carts & trucks across the city & would love to see you make the leap and bring us inventive baked goods for us to buy. Do it!!

Posted by loganlorelai on August 28, 2010 at 2:05 PM

Yeah, Megan. I'm pretty impressed, sister girl.

Only caveat I see at serving this is to give a bit of warning about the semi-liquid center so that the lucky person enjoying it doesn't have to wear it.

I loves me some dark chocolate, and I really loves me some cherry pie, but my favorite part of this cupcake might very well be the vanilla bean butter cream. Can I get an amen?

Posted by Bauhaus I on August 28, 2010 at 2:07 PM

Winner.

Posted by tournant on August 28, 2010 at 2:17 PM

Did you buy the tiny cherry pies, or make them? I would like to make this, and then to eat this.

Posted by Luckier on August 28, 2010 at 2:19 PM

That looks amazing.

Posted by STJA on August 28, 2010 at 2:24 PM

Looks like the vagina of a Rancor.

Posted by wtftit on August 28, 2010 at 2:51 PM

Post the recipe!

Posted by Ratatoskr on August 28, 2010 at 2:58 PM

I once baked mini pumpkin pies into chocolate cupcakes and topped them with nutmeg cream cheese frosting. They were fucking good.

Yea for mixing and matching!

Posted by Aurophobia on August 28, 2010 at 3:14 PM

omg, you solved the cake/pie problem!

Posted by icouldliveinhope on August 28, 2010 at 4:01 PM

Must. Have. recipe.

(I love you Megan Seling)

Posted by mike in oly

on August 28, 2010 at 4:08 PM

I think I'm gaining weight just staring a this picture.

No, wait, I'm losing weight - in the form of drool.

Posted by COMTE

on August 28, 2010 at 4:09 PM

I would have expected that keeping the pie crust in tact would be problematic, but bravo Megan!

Posted by Phoebe on NE 79th on August 28, 2010 at 4:15 PM

Where the hell does one buy cherry pies that small? That's not a sliced up McDonald's cherry pie, is it? I can't imagine it's Hostess... blechhh.

Posted by Judith on August 28, 2010 at 5:00 PM

Dark chocolate is terrible.

Discuss.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on August 28, 2010 at 5:16 PM

@18 Completely agree! Dark chocolate in bar form is just wrong. Dark chocolate baked into something really decadent is okay, as long as it is accompanied by plenty of sugar and cream. Do you guys get those Ritter chocolates in the States? The "praline" one is awesome: http://mommosttraveled.com/wp-content/up…

Posted by Canuck on August 28, 2010 at 5:22 PM

@18 PS: What do you think about white chocolate? I think it's like a little orgasm in your mouth, but that's just me...

Posted by Canuck on August 28, 2010 at 5:23 PM

@20,
I love white "chocolate" as well.

I put chocolate in quotes because I know some people hate white chocolate and like to point out that it's not even really chocolate at all, since all the cocoa's been removed. But I don't care, I still love it.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on August 28, 2010 at 5:42 PM

@19, 18: BUH?!! GASP! Oh sacre bleu! Say it isn't so! Salted dark chocolate like this specific item comes without words to describe the utter, unspeakable awesomeness of the oral-induced self-orgasm it causes every time you bite into one. This may be the best chocolate ever, whether milk, dark, or white (even better than the heart-suspending Dolfin dark chocolate with Earl Grey tea, which I think is still sold at Metropolitan Market around Seattle).

@20: "White chocolate", though OK, isn't to my taste buds a "chocolate", per se, but just a butter in which chocolate likes to bathe itself. Like Velveeta isn't a cheese, but as a "Pasteurized process cheese food", it's the food that cheese eats (to give "American cheese" its orange colour, maybe). By itself, I'll pass. Done up in a recipe, I'm always game. White chocolate in a Cupcake Royale? Always, especially if it's a broken one they just throw in with the other cupcake(s) you buy. :)

Posted by Telsa on August 28, 2010 at 5:42 PM

@21: Oh, touché! :D

Posted by Telsa on August 28, 2010 at 5:46 PM

Those are really cute.

You can also put a chocolate covered cherry inside your chocolate cupcakes. Do the same thing you did for your Cadbury Easter cupcakes. It's delicious.

Posted by despicable me on August 28, 2010 at 6:36 PM

I went to Godiva Chocolates at Southcenter today to get a few chocolates for desert after eating at my favorite teriyaki place.

7 dollars for two pieces! Man, that chocolate good tho!

(Note to androsexuals....you might find what you're looking for there. )

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on August 28, 2010 at 6:51 PM

Okay, Telsa, I will try anything chocolate, and salted chocolate, if it's anything like salted caramel or salted licorice, must be pretty amazing. We have a candy shop in our tiny little town west of Calgary and they have 4 levels of salted licorice, so perhaps I will find salted chocolate there...still waiting to find chocolate crullers, and convincing myself that they aren't a cruel urban myth!!!

Posted by Canuck on August 28, 2010 at 7:46 PM

@26: No, no. Not just any salted chocolate. I mean, you can get Lindt's sea salt chocolate at Shoplifters/Pharmapricks (and probably London Drugs and Rexall), but it cannot hold a candle to this stuff from Minneapolis.

You will thank the cosmos for mail ordering a bar or two from them (they have other great varieties, too). You won't need to thank me — seeing the puddle formerly known as Canuck will be all the thanks a girl could ask for. :)

As for chocolate crullers, I'll backtrack to the place and find out if they can do it again. It requires a trip out to the other side of town, and a special order request. I wish I were making it up, but it was real. And really good in a really bad way.

Posted by Telsa on August 28, 2010 at 8:49 PM

I am ordering the chocolate, Telsa, but when my children wonder why the puddle that used to be me isn't making dinner, I will direct them to this thread.... :)
Thanking you for the chocolate nirvana in advance.....

Posted by Canuck on August 28, 2010 at 9:35 PM

Yargh!!! They only ship to the States! Will order when I am visiting for Thanksgiving...............to be continued.

Posted by Canuck on August 28, 2010 at 9:39 PM

recipe please please please! we're having our own cake vs. pie contest & i must make these

Posted by gnarly on August 28, 2010 at 9:39 PM

Lean your head to the right while you look at that picture and it looks like pussy lips.

Posted by ragged on August 28, 2010 at 10:06 PM

@29: Oh my god, Minneapolis. Don't be such a bastard to us in Canada! THAT IS NOT FAIR.

Posted by Telsa on August 28, 2010 at 11:44 PM

canadians - just the chocolate shipped to a friend in the states, and then have the friend airmail it to you. i do that for my friends in ottawa occasionally.

Posted by AmyC on August 29, 2010 at 8:03 AM

*have* the chocolate shipped. oopsie. :)

Posted by AmyC on August 29, 2010 at 8:04 AM

It looks like Don King.

Posted by Roma on August 29, 2010 at 10:06 AM

@30 I just posted it after the jump. Good luck! Go team piecake!

Posted by Megan Seling on August 29, 2010 at 12:05 PM

brilliant

Posted by tacomagirl on August 29, 2010 at 12:32 PM

I think you are a mad genius, but really all you are doing is assemblying packages baking products in a unique way - so this is chock full of preservatives and transfats. I am inspired to do this "for real," with actual chocolate cake batter and pie dough made from scratch.

Posted by J-Haxx

on August 29, 2010 at 6:11 PM

@38 You're right. I want to make them from scratch as well, but before I dedicated extra time and effort (and money) I first wanted to see if it would even work. Now that I know it does, the possibilities are endless!

Posted by Megan Seling on August 29, 2010 at 6:22 PM

(@38 Oh, and FWIW, I got pie crust and cake mix that is trans fat and HFC free--still plenty of preservatives, though, I'm sure.)

Posted by Megan Seling on August 29, 2010 at 6:25 PM

I'm pretty sure if you're eating a cherry pie surrounded by a brownie topped by buttercream frosting, the product's relative "healthiness" or unhealthiness" is a moot point.
Looks delicious in either case, though.

Posted by Canuck on August 29, 2010 at 7:26 PM