Beyond Our Sky

Toblerone Cupcakes

These cupcakes start with a gluten-free chocolate base, filled with a Toblerone ganache and finished with a toasted swiss meringue buttercream. They’re wonderfully chocolatey without being overly rich.

These cupcakes with inspired by this post on Instagram by Bakes by Brea. I’m not usually a big chocolate person – I’ll almost always choose vanilla instead. But I do enjoy chocolate when it’s paired with fruit, or when it’s not too rich or fudgy. And if I’m going to reach for chocolate on its own, Toblerone is definitely my go-to. In this case, the cupcakes are extremely light and airy, and is well-balanced with the swiss meringue buttercream.

These cupcakes are butter-based rather than oil-based, which is a little different from most recipes online that involve on simply mixing the wet and dry ingredients together. I think we’re naturally drawn to what we grew up with, and for me, that was always a butter-based cake. Oil-based cakes have a bit of a different texture and flavour.

As usual, here are some baking notes for the cupcakes which I’ve mentioned in previous posts:

  • This is a butter-based cake recipe involving the creaming method. To incorporate air and yield a light cake, it is important to cream the butter and sugar for at least five minutes on high speed. Do not rush this step. And I like to add a small amount oil to keep the cake tender.
  • Since the butter is at room temperature, the eggs should also be at room temperature. If you forget to take your eggs out of the fridge, it is not a big deal – the cake will turn out just as well – but it simply allows the butter and eggs to properly emulsify and avoids curdling.
  • This specific blend and ratio of flours is pivotal in achieving that light yet moist texture. It is very important for the white rice flour to be super fine. Some of the products in Australia supermarkets are not finely ground but course and gritty, so just be careful. I prefer to develop recipes with the individual flours rather than using a store-bought GF flour blend, because each brand has a different mix of flours and may not necessarily work. Please don’t be intimidated by the amount of ingredients.
  • The xanthan gum is also important for providing structure, which is lacking without gluten.
  • Be careful not to overfill the cupcake liners—too much batter can create excess moisture, which may cause the wrappers to peel away from the cases. Also, make sure to bake them long enough and transfer them immediately to a wire rack to cool.

For the Toblerone ganache, I’ve scaled the quantities down because I originally made far too much. I chilled the ganache in the fridge, but it became too thick and had to microwave it. I recommend letting the ganache cool at room temperature, and it should become pipeable consistency.

To fill the cupcakes, I simply used a knife to create a small well since I don’t have an apple corer. The Toblerone flavour is fairly subtle because the ganache absorbs into the cake, but feel free to add a little extra if you prefer a richer, more pronounced flavour.

The toasted swiss meringue buttercream is inspired by Kassie from ibakemistakes. It’s made just like a traditional Swiss meringue buttercream, except you use a blowtorch to toast the meringue as it whips. I torched it about six times, but feel free to do it even more if you want a deeper, richer flavour.

These cupcakes should be fine at room temperature for a few days if the weather is cool, as the ganache is fairly stable. If it’s warm though, I recommend refrigerating them.

Toblerone Cupcakes

Makes 18 small cupcakes.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 115g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 115g caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 35g almond meal
  • 50g white rice flour
  • 15g potato starch
  • 5g tapioca starch
  • 20g cocoa powder
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 2 tbsp water, room temperature

Toblerone Ganache

  • 120g Toblerone, roughly chopped
  • 60g heavy cream

Toasted Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  • 73g egg whites (about 2 large eggs)
  • 145g caster sugar
  • 200g unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 2cm cubes
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Chocolate Cupcakes

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla on high speed until light and pale in colour, about 5 minutes. With a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl about halfway through mixing to ensure all the butter is creamed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition and scraping down the bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the almond meal, rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking powder and xanthan gum. Add this to the butter and sugar mixture, and mix on low speed until just combined. Add the water, and mix on medium-low speed until fluffy and a smooth batter has formed, about 20 seconds.
  4. Divide the batter evenly between cupcake liners, filling the liners until 3/4 full. Bake for 13-16 minutes. Remove from the oven, and immediately transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Toblerone Ganache

  1. Place the chopped toblerone in a heatproof bowl.
  2. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium-low heat.
  3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for one minute. Stir until a smooth ganache forms.
  4. Let the ganache cool at room temperature for about an hour, until thick and pipeable.

Toasted Swiss Meringue Buttercream

  1. In a standmixer bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, ensuring the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers and you should feel no granules of sugar. It should heated to around 71-74°C.
  2. Remove from the heat. Place the bowl onto your stand mixture fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed, and when a meringue starts to form, use a blow torch to toast the meringue in the bowl and around the whisk attachment. Begin to whip again, and repeat this toasting process around 5-6 times. Continue beating until stiff peaks form a bowl feels cool to the touch.
  3. On low speed, add the butter a few cubes at a time. The butter should be completely incorporated before adding the next lot of butter. To do this, beat on medium speed in between each addition.
  4. When all of the butter has been added, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed for 5-8 minutes.
  5. Switch the whisk to a paddle attachment, then add the vanilla extract. Finally, beat on low speed for 5 minutes.

Assembly

  1. Transfer the Toblerone ganache to a piping bag and snip off the end to form a small round tip.
  2. Using an apple corer to sharp knife, create a well in the centre of the cupcakes and fill with the ganache. Place the cored cake back on top.
  3. Top with the swiss meringue buttercream, and finish with more ganache and shaved Toblerone.