Raspberry Cups

Raspberry Cups

I came across this little cuppies from the book of Mia Ohrn, an expert baker who lives in Sweden. I wanted to make something unique, opposite the well-scattered cake pops and  French macarons on the internet. Flipping through the pages, I came across the Lingonberry Cups. 

Now, I google what Lingonberry is, and apparently, a distant cousin of cranberry. They are found in Scandinavian forest, and known to be tart, much smaller and juicier than cranberries. I didn't use cranberry in place of Lingonberry simply for a fact that raspberry works beautifully with white chocolate. (For a birthday party not long ago, I made a  dessert with white chocolate & raspberry, and everybody was raving about it!) So, I found it out from experience as well how raspberry and white chocolate are a match made in heaven.

But be warned, the reason they used lingonberry/cranberry in the original recipe is to balance the sweetness of chocolate. As white chocolate can be too sweet, rich and decadent. But, the stubborness in me remains, I used my own discretion of using raspberry. And if you have a sweet tooth like mine, I guess you won't mind. All is well that ends well. :)

This Raspberry Cups are easy to make since the recipe only calls for four ingredients. Yes, you read it right. Four. 

Now, let's get started.

I don't have proper measurements, I just go little by little as this is a test recipe from the book "Cupcakes, Macarons and Cake Pops" by Mia Ohrn. But you will need:

Merckens Candy melts
1 pint raspberries
35% cream
1 Tbsp confectioner's sugar (optional)

       

Start by chopping candy melt blocks into small pieces to speed up the melting process over double boiler. Prepare the cupcake paper liners. Take a brush and swipe a good amount of melted chocolate into paper liners, then chill in the fridge.

Once hardened, peel back the paper liner from the chocolate carefully, as the chocolate can really get stuck into the liner and causing to break. Mash the raspberries into a bowl. Beat the 35% cream into medium-high setting of your mixer with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form.

Fold in the mashed raspberries into whipped cream. Spoon the raspberry mixture to a piping bag, and start piping it at the prepared chocolate cups one by one. If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a ziplock bag or make one from a parchment paper and snip off one corner and pipe away! Finish off by topping each cups with a raspberry.

If you plan ahead about the materials you will need on what your finished Raspberry Cups will look like, no matter how simple the recipe is, it will certainly look polished and done professionally in the comfort of your own kitchen.  Now, who wouldn't say a real Pastry Chef has done it, right? :)
Don't forget to take lotsa pictures!

I hope you enjoy it!

xoxo
Mademoiselle Vanilla



More information about Lingon berries:
http://scandinavianfood.about.com/