This weekend I made superbowl cupcakes. For the saints I wanted to use a chocolate cake w/ caramel-chocolate mousseline. Everyone has been raving about the Chocolate Passion cake, which is the same recipe as the baby grand cupcakes, so I decided to test that one out.

I used G&B cocoa and valrhona chocolate for the syrup. I was so excited to taste this cake. When I did I thought it was good but not great. The syrup was fantastic, but the cake was lacking in flavor—too mild and not enough of that melt in your mouth chocolate flavor. I also didn’t like the spongy texture, preferring the light fluffy texture of a butter cake.  So for the actuall saints cupcakes I went with the RHC chocolate butter cupcakes.  Now this was a smash (no left overs). It literally melted in your mouth.

Does anyone else prefer the chocolate butter cake to the chocolate passion. Since the syrup is so fantastic I’m wondering if I could use it to syrup the butter cake for a super chocolate cake.

my cupcakes below.

PS I posted in the show and tell that the chocolate cakes all pulled away from the wrapper. I know this item was discussed a long time back. How can I prevent this from happening. I guarantee they were not over cooked (and I even weighed 50g of batter in each cup).

you may want to try the recipe Double Chocolate Valentine.  it is a butter cake with ganache syrup.

i am afraid if you add the wrong proportions of syrup to a butter cake, it will just fall apart.

hectorwong - 08 February 2010 01:34 PM

you may want to try the recipe Double Chocolate Valentine.  it is a butter cake with ganache syrup.

i am afraid if you add the wrong proportions of syrup to a butter cake, it will just fall apart.

I will try that.  Thanks.

I too prefer the butter cake.  Not that I dislike the chocolate passion…but I do perfer both the taste and texture of butter cake.  My favorite is the chocolate fudge cake from the cake bible.

Stubborn I am, but need to report that EVERYONE loved the taste, texture, complexity, and showmanship when I made the deep passion chocolate cake.  Note the designer bb grands uses cream instead of milk for the milk ganache, and it doesn’t use a dark ganache frosting.

Most chocolate butter cakes are dry when not baked right or stored.  The deep passion remains moist.  I hear people describe this as dark deeply chocolate moist rich cake, they don’t describe it as a sponge cake.  What else isn’t addressed?  Oh, the lacquer glaze is the finishing touch, very inviting, ppl like shiny chocolate.

YES, if you eat the cake without the ganache syrup, the ganache frosting, and the glaze, then it is a plain sponge cake.  Bu after all the cocoa butter from the milk ganache syrup plus the fat in the milk changes this cake no longer in the sponge category.

Happy baking.

Hector, thanks for the “stubborn” reply. I agree that the chocolate passion cake is moist, delicious and has a dark deep chocolate taste. It’s just when I compare it to the chocolate butter cakes, it doesn’t have that melt in your mouth feel which I love about those cakes. I did syrup my baby grands and made the syrup w/ cream. I think that made the cakes decadent and yummy. But like Bill, I agree the Passion cake is yummy, but I still prefer the butter cakes.

BTW, my butter cakes NEVER come out dry and my superbowl butter cupcakes were still SUPER moist 3 days after I made them (I saved some for my own secret stash). And I only loosely wrapped them (I know shame on me) so logically they should have lost some moisture, but they didn’t. They were indeed super cakes!

Belasuna: cute cupcakes.  What a fun superbowl treat!