Favorite Fudge Birthday Cupcakes with 7-Minute Icing
These moist, deep-dark chocolate cupcakes are topped with a thick swirl of classic 7-minute frosting, made in a non-traditional way: no 7 minutes of beating in a double boiler on the stovetop required.
Note: The USFDA advises against consumption of raw eggs in any form. If you're worried about possible egg contamination and health issues, please be sure to use pasteurized egg whites in the frosting for these cupcakes.
Read our blog about these cupcakes, with additional photos, at Bakers' Banter.
Cake
- Batter for Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake*
- *Want to use your ingredients more efficiently? Reduce the vegetable oil from 3/4 cup to 2/3 cup; and add 2 egg yolks to the batter along with the 4 whole eggs, reserving the 2 whites for the frosting.
Frosting
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
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1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cupcake or muffin pans with papers, and spray the papers with non-stick vegetable oil spray, if desired. |
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2) Prepare the cake batter from our Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake recipe. |
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3) Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake cups; you'll pour a scant 1/4 cup batter (about 58g) into each cup. A muffin scoop works well here. |
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4) Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes in the middle of the pan comes out clean. |
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5) Remove the cupcakes from the oven. In about 5 minutes, or as soon as you can handle them, remove them from the pan, and place them on a rack to cool. |
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9) Once all the syrup is added, stir in the vanilla, and continue to beat till the frosting is thick and will hold a peak. |
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12) Yield: 2 dozen iced cupcakes. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 25 mins. to 35 mins.
- Baking time:
- 25 mins. to 25 mins.
- Total time:
- 1 hrs 50 mins. to 2 hrs
- Yield:
- 2 dozen cupcakes
- Recipe comments (13) »
Reviews
07/12/2009
I've had this bookmarked since the Baker's Banter post came out. We're dairy free in our home right now and boy do these ever fit the bill! Having a recipe for both cake and icing that doesn't have to be altered is wonderful!! My preschooler loved the icing and even took a nibble of the cake. I'm sure those around wee ones know what a feat that can be! The texture and flavor of the cake is out of this world! The frosting is a lot of fun to make and put on. I loved the way it set up and my daughter really enjoyed getting to help out making the cupcakes and frosting them! She's requested these for her 3rd birthday next week! We used the KAF chocolate sprinkles to top with, perfectly matched!
07/03/2009
This is my all-time favorite cake combo--dense chocolate cake with meringue icing. My mother made this for me nearly every year for my birthday as a child. Her meringue icing added 1 cup of quartered marshmallows to the hot syrup, stirred quickly to dissolve, and then poured into the egg whites. The addition of marshmallows gives the "non-7 minute" icing much more stability. I use this frosting on coconut cakes as well.
07/01/2009
Incredibly easy and tasy icing. Having never made meringue icing I was really pleased when it did actually fluff up for more than enough to decorate a cake. However don't do what I did and think that what it needs is oreo crumbs mixed in. Apparently they act like sandpaper and distroy all those little bubbles. In 2 minutes I went from a voluminus bowful of icing to about a cup and a half of liquid. Ah well. Thank goodness I had more sugar eggs and another 7 minutes
Sorry your creativity didn't work as planned. Think meringue here.... Incorporating air by whipping - the sugar, or in this case the sugar syrup, is added gradually to keep the volume of the whipped egg whites. Other additions like oreo crumbs may deflate all the work! Glad you had enough time and ingredients to be successful on take 2. Irene at KAF
06/10/2009
The fudge cupcakes were delicious! I wanted to try this recipe but only had Hershey's cocoa on hand, so I substituted it for the dutched cocoa and omitted the baking powder, using 1 tsp of baking soda for a half recipe. Turned out perfectly, and very moist, although maybe not as dark and rich as if I had used dutched cocoa. I plan to make this again, as soon as I replenish my cocoa stock. Thanks for the recipe!
06/05/2009
I took the plunge and purchased the espresso powder for this recipe...the cupcakes tasted good on their own but the frosting made these super! I am not a big fan of heavy, thick frosting and this has now become my favorite...it's light and sweet and adds such an elegant touch to these cupcakes. The frosting comes out glossy and swirls on well with a nice peak. I would recommend you give these a try...I could see tinting the frosting too for special occassions.
05/31/2009
I've made this icing using corn syrup. The recipe call for 11/4 cups light corn syrup 2-egg white,dash of salt and 1-tsp, of vanilla. Bring the corn syrup to a boil.( most of the time I use my mico-wave oven). Combine egg white( at room temperature) and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat egg whites at high speed of electric mixer wntil soft peaks form; continue to beat,slowly adding corn syrup. Add vanilla;beat until stiff peaks form and frosing is thick enough to spread.Yield; enough for one 9-in. layer cake. This recipe is called th Snow Peak Frosting.
05/31/2009
As I was measuring things out I discovered I had no vegetable oil, so took a chance and used gently melted butter which I then cooled. I didn't add the coffee either. It came out like a dream. It's moist, fudgy..a wonderful texture. Frosted it with the 7-minute icing. It was also extremely easy and quick to make. One could whip this combo up really quickly if you found you needed a dessert for something. Doesn't take a lot of ingredients, the cake goes together almost like a mix...except it's so much better. It's a definite winning combination
05/30/2009
I believe this is called an Italian meringue and is not a new technique. And if you don't want to stand over a hot stove stirring for 7 minutes, are you looking forward to pouring incredibly hot syrup from a hot pan into a mixer? Just be aware that faster isn't necessarily safer or easier. (I like Italian meringue, myself. But you should know what you are getting into.)
05/29/2009
Good recipe & the icing was easy to make.
Thanks for asking about storing these cupcakes if made the night before. If you make and assemble the cupcakes with icing ahead of time, the icing will begin to firm up, forming a little bit of a crust on the outside and will become harder as time goes by. If you want the softest, fluffiest icing, prepare the cupcakes the night before and make the icing in the morning of your event. To ice many cupcake quickly, hold them firmly by the bottom and "dunk" them top down into the icing. Happy Baking! MJR @ KAF
05/29/2009
Thank you so very much for this recipe! I can't wait to try it! When I was a young girl, my mother made a big dark chocolate cake with 7 minute frosting for my birthdays. How I loved that cake! I haven't tasted that wonderful combination in at least 50 years...since I know I have never made it in the 48 years I've been married! Oh what joy! I think I will treat myself and make this recipe as a big cake to celebrate that 48 years on our anniversary the 16th of June! What a way to celebrate. In the past year I was fortunate to be able to purchase from a estate sale an older model Kitchen Aid Mixer, so I could probably now make the original recipe...but since it also needs long cooking of the syrup...why if this turns out as good as I hope that it will! Thanks so much!
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