Eggless Cauldron Cakes

          Happy New Year ! let's all hope that the year 2013 will be better than the previous one and also, that we'll hear and see relatively better things in the coming years. It's once again the time to reveal the challenge for the Eggless Baking Group, I am a little late with my post, since I was down with fever for the past few days. I would have gladly skipped it, if not for the challenge chosen, 'Eggless Cauldron Cakes'. Guess who was even more excited than me, my daughter, she and I are one among those millions of Harry Potter fans out there. The eggless baking part was easier, the real challenge for me was shaping those handles. Somehow, the chocolate chips that I got here didn't work, it wouldn't melt properly. The original recipe is from Pastry Affair, I replaced the marshmallow frosting with cream cheese one and this time I used buttermilk as the replacement for egg. It was great fun baking it, I think the next time I'll make the handles with melted dark chocolate (local Indian make, that doesn't melt in Indian room temperature), anyways, with or without handles the cakes tasted great..

Need To Have
For The Chocolate Cupcakes

• All Purpose Flour - 1 cup 
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup
• Caster Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Butter - 1/4 cup
• Buttermilk - 1 cup
• Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
• Baking Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon

For The Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream Cheese - 5 tablespoons
• Icing Sugar - 4 tablespoons

For The Chocolate Glaze

• Dark Chocolate Bar - 100 gms

For The Golden Glitter

• Caramel Or Butter Toffees - coarsely pounded

Method
          Sift the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Melt the butter, add the caster sugar and buttermilk, mix it well, add the vanilla extraact. Now slowly add the sifted flour and mix it without lumps.

          That's it, the cake batter is ready, pour it in a greased cupcake pan and bake it at 180C for 15 to 18 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, remove and let it cool completely.

          Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar and keep. Melt the dark chocolate pieces in a double boiler. Also make small handles ( make sure you measure the width of the handle) on a wax paper and let it cool. Once it cools we can peel out the handles.

          Take the cup cake, invert it, core out a small portion in the center. Now dip the top side of the cup cake or apply the melted dark chocolate, let it set in the refrigerator. When the frosting on the cupcakes is set, invert it so the cored side is on the top, apply some more chocolate glaze around the core, fill it with the cream cheese frosting and top it with the caramel candy pieces. Finally stick the handles very carefully.

Note
The cream cheese that I got had salt in it, use more or less icing sugar according to your preference.
Break any caramel or butter candies into small pieces and use it for the glitter.
The handles were very shaky, I am going to try it out later, after checking out some more on the web.
I used the convection mode in a microwave oven, so the baking time can vary a little.