Literary Palate: Thornton Cupcakes

I know I haven't written a lot of actual book reviews lately, but there are so many other things going on right now! One thing I've been working on is cupcakes. My friend, MaryAnn, and I are creating a bunch of cupcakes based on book and TV characters of which we're fans. The cupcakes we made this week were especially delightful, so I wanted to share them with you! So, without further ado:

Our Inspiration

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

(picture taken from Goodreads)

I know many of you are familiar with the book and will appreciate that there should always be delicious cupcakes dedicated to the brilliance of this piece of literature.

Our Creation

Thornton Cupcakes

The Thornton cupcake is, of course, based on my favorite character from North and South: John Thornton. It is a dark chocolate cupcake with an assam tea buttercream filling and a semi-sweet chocolate glaze on top. Because we all know he has a little soft and sweet deliciousness under all that darkness and glowering! It was quite fun coming up with this one!

The Recipe

 Cake

1 cup unsalted butter                                             1 1/3 cups 1% milk

2 cups sugar                                                           1 teaspoon baking soda

4 large eggs                                                           2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour                     2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt                                                    1 cup Dutch process cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream butter and sugar in large bowl until well-blended. Add 1 egg and beat until blended. Repeat with remaining 3 eggs. Add 1 cup of flour and the salt and blend. Add 1/2 of milk and blend. Add remaining cup of flour and the baking soda and baking powder and blend. Add second 1/2 of milk and the vanilla extract and blend. Add cocoa and blend until consistency of batter is uniform and smooth. If not using cupcake papers, grease or butter cupcake pan. Fill each cup 1/2-2/3 full and bake for roughly 20 minutes. Cool baked cupcakes before filling.

Filling

1/4 cup water

1 assam tea bag

3 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter

Boil water and pour over tea bag. Brew for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, cream 2 cups of sugar and all of butter. Consistency will seem dry or inconsistent; blend as well as possible. When tea is brewed, take out tea bag and pour over sugar and butter mixture. Stir in but not completely. Add last cup of sugar and blend well. After cupcakes are cool, make a hollow in the center of each with a melon baller/spoon/whatever works for you. Mine were probably an inch deep or less. Spoon filling into cupcake and smooth top for easier glazing.

Glaze

3/4 cup butter

2+ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt butter on stovetop or in microwave. Remove from heat and immediately mix in chocolate chips until smooth. Add more chocolate chips as desired for stronger flavor.

I have included the type of ingredients that I specifically used (certain flours or milk, for instance), but you are welcome to substitute with what you can or prefer to eat. I almost always tweak recipes that I use anyway. Just make sure you're aware that altered fat content/dry-wet ingredient ratio/etc. will alter the consistency of the cupcake and adjust other ingrdients accordingly. This recipe will be much easier to make in a mixer if you have one. If you don't or yours is currently broken (like mine), be prepared for some serious mixing! Keep in mind that I personally think the filling needs some work so the tea flavor will be stronger and the texture more consistent. I'll update this recipe when I find the solutions.

 

For Your Comparison

Richard Armitage as John Thornton

(picture taken from Google Images)

Let me know if you all like this post! The cupcakes and other treats will be an ongoing project of MaryAnn's and mine, so we'll have others to post if you guys are interested. Also, if there's anything else you'd like to know about our processes or inspirations, please comment and I'll do my best to answer. And I'd love to hear how yours turn out if you make some!