Thanks to the reader who recommended Gale Gand's brown sugar chocolate cake! After reading the recommendation I felt sure I had tried it at some point, but since I couldn't remember I made it again. It's a chocolate cake made with brown sugar and sour cream frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. This is my version of the recipe as chocolate cupcakes.
I would have loved to make the whole brown sugar chocolate cake, but for practical reasons I had to halve the recipe and make it as cupcakes. Not all chocolate cake recipes work well as cupcakes, but this one sure did. Here's what the inside looks like. The cakes are moist, but sturdy.
Dark Brown Sugar in Chocolate Cake
Chocolate is the predominant flavor, but with the brown sugar and sour cream, you get other flavors so the cake has "that little something" that makes it different. Another interesting thing about this recipe is the chocolate frosting, which has cream cheese for a little zing and gives the icing a smooth texture. It also curbs the sweetness somewhat, as this chocolate icing was definitely not too sweet.
Cupcake Wrapper Sizes
By the way, if you're in the market for some new cupcake cups/wrappers, I recommend hunting down the kind with a 2 inch base and 1 ¾ inch high sides. The 2 x 1 ¾ inch size cupcake cups are great because the base fits snugly into a standard size cupcake tin, but the sides are a little higher so your cupcakes come out tall and stately like a bakery cupcake. I found this size Webstaurant. If you want to buy your cupcake wrappers somewhere else, just be careful when searching because a lot of the glassine cupcake cups have 2 inch bases, but their sides are only 1 ¼ inch high.
Gale Gand's Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake
I've made this recipe as cupcakes for so many years, but you can also make it as a regular chocolate cake. Just double the recipe and make three 9-inch layers. The bake time should be between 30 and 35 minutes. If you have some six inch cake pans and want to make it as a small layer cake, just keep the recipe the same size as in the card.
Recipe
Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (120 grams)
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar packed (300 grams)
- 2 large eggs (100 grams)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups sifted cake flour (about 1 ¼ cup before sifting) 150 grams, measure after sifting or weigh
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder I used natural** (30 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup sour cream
- ¾ cup hot coffee
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted and just slightly warm (not hot)
- ¼ cup cooled coffee
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line about 18 cupcake cups with paper liners. You may need more or fewer liners depending on how deep your cupcake cups are.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat well, then add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy, scraping bowl often, about 3 minutes.
- Sift together the already sifted cake flour, cocoa and baking soda, then whisk in the salt.
- Add ½ of the sifted flour mixture, then ½ of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream. Drizzle in the hot coffee and mix until smooth. The batter will be thin.
- Pour batter into cupcake cups coming a little over halfway full (almost ⅔, but not quite). Bake on center rack for 22-25 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when touched. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for just 3 minutes, then carefully remove them from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- With an electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the room temperature cream cheese and softened butter together until creamy.
- Drizzle in the melted chocolate, beating until smooth. Add the coffee and vanilla, then begin gradually adding the confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, beat until frosting is smooth and creamy.
beth says
This looks great! i cant wait to try it.