Chocolate & Earl Gray Cupcakes with Kumquat Italian Meringue Buttercream

*These Chocolate & Earl Gray Cupcakes with Kumquat Italian Meringue Buttercream are NOT free of dairy, gluten, or eggs. Because though I often post those types of recipes you sometimes just need a serious, real-deal chocolate cake in all it’s reckless glory. Or in this cake, cupcake. **We’re still going with whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and unrefined  cane sugar, have no fear. I still have no intention of making you anything with refined ingredients.

I know that kumquats are technically a winter/late winter citrus but in my neck of the woods they’re an “anytime of the year” citrus. Since they don’t grow locally we never get any that are truly in season. They’re simply stocked year round in our local markets. So if you’re rolling your eyes at my claim that kumquats are totally seasonally appropriate for these cupcakes, I’ll have you know that it sometimes snows in June here. Basically, it’s still late winter and I might be barraged with a foot of snow tomorrow morning for all I know, so I’m going to eat these cupcakes like they’re going out of style as an ode to winter….er, June?

Fine. A little honesty: it may or may not have been 90 degrees here today, but I still wore a long sleeve shirt. You know. Just in case. Plus, there’s a saying in Utah that goes “if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes”. It’s no joke, folks. Plan for all four seasons, any given day of the year.

This post is picture heavy, so I won’t bombard you with words as well. Let me just touch on the finer points of these cupcakes:

If you are going to make cupcakes with which you are hoping to impress someone, these will do just fine. The addition of very strong hot earl gray tea in the chocolate cake batter adds a level of refinement that chocolate cake on it’s own will never achieve. The Earl sophisticatedly infuses notes of black tea and bergamot into the most tender, moist-crumbed chocolate cake you’ll ever bake.

I don’t believe in eating standard American buttercream. Sorry powdered sugar lovers! It’s all just too sweet and thick for me. I scrape it off of my cupcakes every time I happen upon one. But Italian Meringue Buttercream is right up my alley. It’s incredibly smooth and creamy, without the grain found in the standard American buttercream (at least I think it’s American….but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!). Italian Meringue buttercream is made by dissolving sugar into egg whites and then whipping them to stiff peaks which cools the meringue down. Once cool, room temperature butter is whipped in and I added the zest of a handful of Kumquats and a little vanilla to compliment the tea-infused cupcakes.

A few tips to ensure your cupcakes turn out beautifully:

*Make sure your buttermilk and eggs are room temperature before making your batter. If they are cold, the coconut oil in the batter will harden and you’ll have chunks of oil in your batter…ain’t no one got time for that.

*Fill your cupcake wrappers exactly half-full. Any fuller and your cupcakes may overflow and stick to the pan.

*These cupcakes are good both room temperature or cold. I like to store mine in the fridge because I love the firm texture the buttercream takes on when cold.

*Make sure that your sugar in your egg white mixture for the frosting is completely dissolved. There should be no grain felt when you rub your fingers together in the mixture. If there is grain left, your meringue will not whip firmly and the texture won’t be perfectly smooth.

Make sure that your meringue is completely cool before you add the butter to it or the butter will melt and you will have buttercream soup. Which might be quite a lovely thing but this is not the time to test that theory out. Cupcakes need their frosting, don’t let them down!

More cake (there’s no such thing as too much cake):

Strawberry Vanilla Almond layer Cake

Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Ricotta & Honey

Blueberry Lavender Pound Cake with Lemon Mascarpone

Rhubarb Magic Custard Cake

Whole Grain Shortcakes with Honey Thyme Strawberries

Chocolate & Earl Gray Cupcakes with Kumquat Italian Meringue Buttercream

 

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Makes 14 jumbo cupcakes or about 22-24 standard sized cupcakes.

Serves: 14 jumbo cupcakes

Ingredients

• Earl Gray Chocolate Cupcakes:
• 4 Earl Gray Tea Bags
• 1½ cups Water
• 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder
• 2 cups Unrefined Cane Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 2 Eggs (XL), room temperature
• 1⅓ cups Buttermilk, room temperature
• ⅔ cup Coconut Oil, melted
• Kumquat Italian Meringue Buttercream:
• 6 Egg Whites, room temperature
• 2 cups Unrefined Cane Sugar
• 3 cups Butter, room temperature
• Zest of 10 kumquats
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste

Instructions

1. Earl Gray Chocolate Cupcakes:
2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a jumbo baking tin (6 wells) with large cupcake liners (or a standard sized muffin tin with standard liners).
3. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. remove from heat and add the tea bags. Let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags from the pan, squeezing the bags out into the saucepan before discarding.
4. Place the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
5. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, and buttermilk. Add mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Bring the tea to a boil and add 1 cup of it to the cake batter. Whisk until smooth and combined.
7. Divide the mixture between the prepared baking tins, filling the liners halfway full. Do not fill more than halfway or cups will overflow when baking!
8. Bake cupcakes in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes (for jumbo cupcakes, 12-13 minutes for standard) or until tops are firm to the touch.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack. Store cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to frost.
10. Kumquat Italian Meringue Buttercream:
11. Fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer over medium/high heat. Place a metal or glass bowl on top of the pan. Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl and whisk constantly for several minutes, until the mixture is hot to the touch and sugar has completely dissolved. When you rub the mixture between your fingers it should be smooth, not grainy.
12. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk on medium speed for several minutes. Once the mixture has cooled down completely, whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form.
13. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, until all the butter has been added and mixture is thick and creamy. Add the kumquat zest and vanilla and mix in until evenly distributed.
14. Frost cold cupcakes with buttercream. Top with a kumquat, greenery, blackberries, and sliced almonds, if desired.

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