Truffle-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

When the news is relentless, focus on the melting chocolate centers of these cocoa-rich tender cupcakes.

I am trying very hard to focus on the extraordinarily delicious and delightful Valentine’s Day recipe I have for you this week: chocolate-orange truffle-filled chocolate cupcakes. I made them in honor of my very own valentine, my husband, whose birthday is this week and, like Paddington, whose favorite food is orange marmalade.

I am trying very hard to focus on the melting chocolate centers of these cocoa-rich tender cupcakes.

I am trying very hard to think about all the different options for flavoring the truffles if you aren’t an orange marmalade fan; other fruit jams would work, as would hazelnut spread, peanut butter, or just a dash of vanilla extract, if you’re a purist.

I am trying very hard to think of all the silly trappings of Valentine’s Day that bring my simple-minded self happiness: flowers, sweets, pink and red things, maybe with a few paper heart doilies thrown in for old time’s sake.

I am trying very hard to think of all these things because the week’s news has overwhelmed me with anger and sadness, often at the same time. I won’t detail what went on this week. You all read The Contrarian, so you know. We cannot hide from the news and must be active in scrabbling back our democracy. I’d never recommend ignoring the calculated onslaught of information, disinformation, and misinformation. Instead, make sure you give yourself a break. Protect yourself. Be your own best valentine, and reinvigorate yourself, because we are all needed in this fight.

Now, let’s not just think about the best, most chocolatiest cupcakes. Let’s bake and eat them.

Notes:

• Bring joy to every recipe writer out there and read the recipe through first. Especially in the case of this recipe, which, though easy, requires a combined two hours of freezing time for the truffle filling before you even think of making the cupcake batter.

• That said, you can make the truffle filling up to 3 days in advance and keep in the freezer.

• The recipe calls for butter, melted and cooled. If your kitchen is anything like mine (near-Arctic in temperature), make sure the butter is still liquid after cooling. I’ve been known to leave my butter chilling on the (faux) marble counter and come back to find it re-solidified because I left it too long.

• Don’t like the orange-chocolate combo? Try an equal amount of good-quality raspberry jam, hazelnut spread, peanut butter, or a ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.

• Normally I just say to whisk dry ingredients together, but in the case of these cupcakes, I ask you to sift them together. Cocoa is notoriously lumpy, and sifting is the best way to create a uniform mixture.

• I’ve been known to make these with fat-free Greek- or Icelandic-style yogurt instead of sour cream, and they still turn out delicious and moist.

Adapted from Chocolatier magazine, 2002.

P.S.: Over on my own Substack, I reprinted a message from a local man who went to visit people at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. What he saw was very upsetting—from the inhumane conditions of detainees to the visible hardships endured by families visiting their loved ones. He is part of a group trying to help, and has a list of needs that can help. If you live near a detention center and want to help, do an online search for organizations, such as Cosecha or local religious groups, that may be collecting donations so detainees can buy food from the commissary or so their families can afford to visit them.

Marissa Rothkopf Bates writes about food for the New York Times, Newsweek (RIP) and Publishers’ Weekly among others. Her newest book, “The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies,” is available wherever fine books are sold. Find her on Substack here.

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