Difficutly: very easy
Time: 5 Min
Portion: 1 serving
Ingredients:
Makes about 24 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
1 box white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
For pastry cream
1 cup whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cups sugar
1/6 cup cornstarch, sifted
3/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-3/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature
For ganache
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy cream
Directions:
Make cupcake per box instructions.
To make pastry cream—
Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk– this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (making sure to get the edges of the pot), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are full incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly–as I always do–put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water, and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.
To make ganache––
Place chocolate in bowl.
In saucepan bring whipping cream to boil over high heat. Pour hot whipping cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate melted. Spread ganache over cupcake.
To assemble cupcake—
After cupcake cools, cut in 1/2 with a serrated knife. Spread pastry cream between the 2 halves. Frost cupcake with ganache.
Variation: Pipe the pastry cream into the cupcake. I used a 2A piping tip.