Brownie cupcakes are small, baked cakes that resemble brownies in flavor. There are a wide variety of recipes available both on the Internet and in cookbooks to create this type of dessert. Each recipe uses a unique blend of ingredients and blending techniques designed to capture the essence of a brownie in flavor and somewhat in texture. Depending on the recipe used, the cupcakes will more than likely vary in taste, firmness, and baking time. Chefs may prefer to experiment with several different recipes and determine how closely they wish their cupcakes to resemble actual brownies before determining their favorite.
One popular technique often used to create this dessert involves melting several ounces of chocolate morsels in butter prior to mixing with the additional recipe ingredients. Semi-sweet or dark chocolate morsels tend to work best with this type of recipe because of their natural bitter flavoring. When this bitterness is combined with the large amount of sugar called for when baking brownie cupcakes, the result is a combination of both sweet and bitter that is delicious, yet not overpowering. Unsweetened cocoa may also be used to enhance the flavor of this batter.
Baking time for brownie cupcakes typically ranges between 20 and 30 minutes. They may be baked in regular muffin tins or mini-muffin tins, though cupcake baking liners should be used in either situation to prevent the small cakes from sticking to the pan. These cupcakes, unlike traditional cake batter, should form a somewhat hard crust around the top edges of the cakes. The cook may insert a toothpick in the center of the brownies to determine whether they are done, but the toothpick should come out slightly moist and not completely clean.
The finished cupcakes, once they have been allowed to sufficiently cool, can be iced or served plain. Chocolate and fudge frosting are popular flavor choices for use with this type of desert. To create a slightly different variation on the traditional recipes, chocolate chunks, chopped nuts, or peppermint morsels may be stirred into the brownie batter prior to baking.
Chefs who have access to a circular stove-top pastry puff pan can use these recipes to create fruit filled brownie cupcakes. The brownie batter is first poured into each pastry-puff opening of the hot pan. Any type of fruit filling may then be spooned over the batter, but should not reach the edges of the puffs. After approximately 30 seconds of cook time, the puffs should be flipped and allowed to cook on the other side. This method will produce perfectly round brownie flavored cupcakes that are filled with fruit or any food item the chef wishes, and may be dipped liberally in icing.
