Hi-Hat Chocolate Cupcakes

I have been eyeing these Hi-hat cupcakes on Pinterest for so long now, that I had to make them sooner than later. They are essentially choclate cupcakes with a frosting and dipped in melted chcolate, like your Mc Swirl in Mc Donalds.They looked daunting. What if the fluffy white meringue on top which gets dipped in the chocolate just melts away? What if the chocolate doesnt hold and starts dripping? What if the entire frosting collapses and settles in a puddle on the cupcake? It would be an epic bake-fail, but curiousity got the better of me and I made these. And beleive it or not, they are super easy! I watched a couple videos about making the frosting and then adapted a Martha Stewart recipe to make mine.

Hi-Hat Cupcakes!

What you will need :

For the cupcakes

•  2 cups maida
•  ¾ cup cocoa powder
•  1 tablespoon baking powder
•  ½ teaspoon baking soda
•  a pinch of salt
•  1 and ½ cup castor sugar
•  2 eggs
•  8 tablespoon melted butter (I use Amul)
•  1 cup plain yoghurt
•  ½ cup warm milk
•  1 tablespoon vanilla extract
•  1 and ½ cup chocolate chips

1.  Mix the flour + baking powder + baking soda + cocoa powder + salt. Sift it so that it gets aerated and there are no chunks of baking powder or soda.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk butter till pale and add sugar. Mix well.
3. Then add the eggs, one at a time and whisk into the butter.
4. Mix in the yoghurt and vanilla.
5. Now with a rubber spatula fold in the dry ingredients and the milk in two additions. Always start and end with the dry ingredients.
6. Pre-heat oven to 180C for 5 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, line a muffin pan with paper liners. Drop the batter into the pan and bake for 20 minutes till a skewer inserted in the centre comes clean.
8. Let it cool in the pan and then on a wire grill completely before frosting.

For the meringue frosting

• 3 large egg whites
• 1 and ¾ cup castor sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large heatproof bowl, mix all the ingredients and whisk with a manual whisk or a hand held blender till it forms soft peaks.
2. In another vessel, heat water till it simmers.
3. Put this bowl with egg whites on the vessel over the stove/ gas. Whisk continuously till it forms stiff peaks and the temperature of the egg whites goes upto 70 degrees C on a candy thermometer. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, keep it whisking on the simmering water for 10 minutes, it reaches about that temperature and then egg whites are safe to be consumed.
4. Then remove from heat and keep whisking till it cools down considerably and frosting thickens.
5. Do not stop whisking in the entire process or egg whites will curdle.
6. Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a big round nozzle.

For the chocolate coating

• 2 cups chopped chocolate
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil

How to proceed:

1. Combine chopped chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl and heat it in bursts of 20 seconds, whisking in between, till all chocolate is melted. Alternately, you can heat it over double boiler.
2. Let it cool to room temperature.
3. If the chocolate hardens by the time you are ready to dip, heat it in microwave for 30 seconds and it will be liquid.

ASSEMBLY

1. Now the cupcakes are ready to be frosted and dipped.
2. Frost a high pile of the meringue frosting on each of the cupcakes. Refrigerate for a couple of minutes before dipping in chocolate.
3. Keep the melted chocolate in a high wide glass. I used a measuring cup for it.
4. Now grab each cupcake by its bottom and carefully dip it into the melted chocolate and remove it. Don’t worry, it will stay put. The meringue will not melt, you have my word.
5. Put it in the fridge and let it sit for half hour before cutting.
6. You high-hat cupcakes are ready!

Notes :

• Some recipes call for cream of tartar in the meringue, but I havent used it. It stays well and holds shape even without the cream of tartar.
• Ensure that the instructions int he recipe are followed well, let the cupcakes cool down before frosting. lt the meringue sit in the fridge for a few minutes before dripping in the chocolate and let the chocolate be at room temperature but still  liquid.
• In the Mumbai humidity, the chocolate ont he frosting starts to sweat as soon as you take it out of the refrigerator. There is hardly anything that can be done about it though.
• If you want an eggless chocolate cupcake recipe, see here.
• If you want an eggless chocolate buttercream frosting see here. Meringue frosting looks prettier because of the black and white combination, but you can use any other stable buttercream too.