Lindt Truffle Cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes filled with Lindt Truffles baked into them, frosted with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Chocolate ganache is poured over the frosting, and then, we top the cupcake with a Lindt truffle to make things even better.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword chocolate, cupcakes, lindt
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
0 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour5 minutesminutes
Servings 14cupcakes
Calories 450kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Lindt Truffle Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2cupsall-purpose flour190 grams, 6.75 oz
1/4cupunsweetened cocoa powder31 grams, 1.125 oz
1tspbaking soda
3/4tspbaking powder
1/2tspespresso powderoptional
1/4tspfine sea salt
1/2cupcanola oil107 grams, 3.8 oz
1cupbrewed coffee(or hot water)
1tbspwhite vinegar(or apple cider)
2tspvanilla extract
1cupgranulated sugar200 grams, 7 oz.
14Lindt truffles
Lindt Chocolate Ganache
3/4cupchopped chocolate of choiceI used Lindt 78% cocoa (170 grams, 6 oz)
3/4cupheavy cream180 ml
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
170gramsLindt Chocolate Ganache(recipe above) about 3/4 cup, 6 oz
3egg whites
3/4cupgranulated sugar150 grams, 5.3 oz
18tbspunsalted butter 255 grams, 9 oz
2tspvanilla extract
To assemble
113gramsLindt Chocolate Ganache(recipe above) about 1/2 cup, 4 oz
14Lindt Truffles
Instructions
Lindt Truffle Chocolate Cupcakes
Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners or grease it with butter and flour. This recipe makes 14 cupcakes.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In another bowl, mix the oil, coffee, vinegar, vanilla, and sugar. Pour the dry sifted ingredients over wet ingredients. Whisk briefly, until incorporated. Be careful not to overmix. As soon as you see no more streaks of dry mixture, stop whisking.
Distribute batter evenly in cupcake pan.
Bake the cupcakes for about 10 minutes, until they are puffy but not fully baked. Open the oven and quickly place one Lindt truffle in the middle of each cupcake, the truffle will sink in naturally, or you can press it down gently.
Continue to bake for another 8-10 minutes until completely baked.
Remove and let it cool.
Lindt Chocolate Ganache
Chop the chocolate finely.
Heat the heavy cream in the microwave or in a small saucepan, until very hot.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate.
Whisk until combine. Make sure all chocolate melts. If you see little pieces of chocolate that aren’t melting, microwave for about 10 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until all little specs of chocolate have melted.
Set the ganache aside to cool. You want the chocolate to cool completely.
3/4 cups of the ganache will be used in the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and the rest will be used to drip on top of the cupcakes.
You want the consistency of the ganache to be just perfect. You don’t want the ganache to be even slightly warm when you add it to the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, because that will melt the butter in the frosting.
Make sure the ganache is 100% at room temperature, not warm at all, but also not cold, because then it will form lumps in the buttercream.
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Very important before starting to make the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is to make sure that the butter is at room temperature. Not too soft to the point that it's losing shape, and not cold. If the butter is too soft, it will make the buttercream soupy, and if it's cold, the buttercream will have tiny lumps of butter in it that won't incorporate.
So before you begin, make sure both the butter and the ganache are at room temperature!
Place the egg whites and sugar in a heat-proof bowl or in a double boiler pan with barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water, so that the whites won't get cooked.
Whisk constantly until the egg whites and sugar reach 140ºF temperature. This ensures that the egg whites will have reached a safe temperature to be consumed.
As soon as the egg whites and sugar reach temperature, remove the syrup from the double boiler and immediately start whisking with an electric mixer at medium speed.
Beat the meringue until stiff peaks form. Now, this might take a while. Usually takes me about 10 to 15 minutes. The reason for that is that the egg whites have to cool down first and then they will be able to reach stiff peak. Make absolute sure that the meringue has reached stiff peaks.
Once your meringue has reached stiff peaks, start adding butter, with the mixer on medium-high speed.
Add one slab of butter at a time. Waiting a few seconds before adding the next one, to give the butter a chance to incorporate.
At times, you will question yourself if your meringue will ever form, the answer is mostly likely: yes it will form. Just be patient. Keep whisking it.
After adding all the butter, you may have to keep whisking for another few minutes, until the buttercream firms up and becomes fluffy and creamy.
Once that happens add the vanilla extract.
Now, pour the cooled 3/4 cup of ganache over the Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and whisk briefly until completely incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well incorporated.
To assemble
Frost each cupcake with the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Then, pour a little bit of ganache over cupcakes. Top with a Lindt truffle.
To pour the ganache, you can use a spoon or a piping bag.
If the ganache is too thick, and not pouring, then insert it in the microwave for 3 to 5 seconds at a time, mixing in between, checking for consistency.
If the ganache becomes too thin, then either wait for it to cool down a bit, or insert it in the fridge for a few minutes, mixing in between and inserting back in the fridge if necessary.
Storage
Cupcakes will keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days, in a covered container.
Notes
Canola oil: feel free to use any oil you prefer such as avocado, grape seed, or another vegetable oil.Coffee: feel free to use hot water if you don't want to use coffee.Espresso: totally optional. The coffee and the espresso powder give a depth of flavor to the chocolate cupcakes.Truffles: be very quick when adding the truffles to the middle of the cupcakes, because you don't want the oven loosing too much heat.Chocolate for the ganache: feel free to use chocolate chips instead. Some readers have reported they have used milk Lindt chocolate, and it compliments the Lindt truffle theme really well.Ganache: make sure the ganache is at room temperature (not warm, not cold) before adding to the buttercream and dripping it on top of the cupcakes.Soupy buttercream: if the buttercream is too soupy and not coming together, it can be because the butter was too soft, or your kitchen is too hot. In this case, insert the frosting bowl in the fridge for about 10 minutes, and then try whipping again to see if it comes together. If it doesn't come together, it can be because you didn't whip the meringue to stiff peaks. In this case, not much can be done. So make sure to whip the meringue into stiff peaks before adding the butter.Butter: make sure the butter is at room temperature, not warm and melty, and not cold.Frosting: I used an Ateco 828 tip to frost the cupcakes.