Cherry Lime Cupcakes with Cocoa Fudge Frosting

This months cupcake hero theme is cocoa powder and two days away from the deadline I submit, for your approval cherry lime cupcakes with cocoa fudge frosting. The frosting is actually a dessert sauce recipe from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert and is super easy. So easy and quick in fact that last night while the boyfriend and I were watching Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and I was struck by the desire to make it, I jumped up paused the film, grabbed the book, ran into the kitchen, made it, put it into a container, then into the refrigerator and before the boyfriend was even done deciding on what snack to get I was back on the couch ready to resume the wayward jailbirds’ journey. Seriously, it happened in like five minutes. The flavor of whatever cocoa powder you use in this recipe is pretty much what you taste and that’s it. Really, a neat recipe for hot fudge sauce or cool frosting. The star of this cupcake sits atop a little sponge cake filled with bing cherries and lime zest.

Cocoa Fudge Sauce
*From Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (she prefers natural, I used Dagoba organic, natural)
½ cup sugar
a pinch of salt
½ heavy cream
3 tbs unsalted butter, cut into bits
½ tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)

Place the cocoa, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir in just enough of the cream to make a smooth, thick paste, then stir in the rest of the cream and add the butter pieces. Stir over low heat until butter is melted and sauce is smooth and hot, but not simmering. Taste and add vanilla, is desired. Spoon the warm sauce over ice cream. Or, for frosting, cool until spreadable.

The sauce keeps in a covered container in the refrigerator for a week, or it can be frozen for up to 3 months and thawed in the microwave or at room temperature. To reheat, put the sauce in a heatproof bowl set in a wide skillet of barely simmering water, and stir occasionally until the sauce is the desired consistency. Or microwave on medium power, using short bursts and stirring frequently. Do not allow the sauce to simmer or boil.

*Note: Cocoas vary. Taste and adjust with sugar if the sauce tastes too harsh or bitter, or tone down the intensity with a little extra butter or cream.

The recipe for the cake is from Joy of Baking and can be found here. The recipe is for a cake and instructs you stir some cherries in and place some on top. I filled my cupcake tins with the batter and then poked 5 cherry halves into each one. I think next time I would just stir them all into the batter before filling, my cherries didn’t sink at all. I used lime zest in mine and I think it was pretty perfect with the cherries.

*One last note: I halved both the recipes and I got 6 perfect cupcakes with the perfect amount of frosting.