chocolate ganache filled red velvet cupcakes

I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of the red velvet mostly because the first time I tried a chocolate ganache filled red velvet cupcake (phew, that's a mouthful!) at Starbucks, I found it gross and then was severely disappointed in spending $3.00 for that cupcake. And then when I found out how much red food dye goes in those puppies, it was a done deal for me.

When I found out that my bestie's favorite flavor was Red Velvet, I wasn't super jazzed (for me) but I was super excited for the challenge (for her!). I was determined to keep with the 'filled' theme since the lemon cupcakes (see post below) were filled with lemon curd so I scoured the internet for ideas. Soon enough I was inspired to fill the cupcakes with some sort of chocolate goodness and thought about ganache. I found a couple recipes for ganache but most needed to be cooked inside the cupcake but I didn't want to lose out on the feel of a gooey filling. So...here is what I put together! And boy is it gooooooood!

Again - these are quite easy but perhaps a tad harder than the lemon filled cupcakes below because you have to make the ganache from scratch.

Chocolate Ganache Filled Red Velvet Cupcakes
(the easy version)

Ingredients:

• Red Velvet cake mix
• Whipped cream cheese frosting - pre-made
• Heavy cream
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Strawberries
  

Ganache - Method:

• Boil water in a pot and keep at a simmering boil
• Hoist a bowl over the pot and let it sit on top
• Add about a cup of heavy cream
• Add semi-sweet chocolate chips - about half a cup
• Keep stirring so that as the chocolate gently melts, you're stirring it in
• Taste - add more chocolate if you wish
• When completely melted and mixed in, remove from heat and let cool
• When the bowl is cool to the touch, refrigerate until it thickens - this could be anywhere between 1-2 hours

Cupcakes - Method:

• Follow the directions on the cake mix box but make cupcakes instead
• When out of the oven and cooled, take a metal decorating tip that you would use for decorating the frosting and use it to make a hole in the center of each cupcake
  
• Tips: 1 - do not make a hole all the way to the bottom of the cupcake and 2 - depending on the size of the tip, you may need to turn it upside down to use
  
• Using a piping pastry bag, fill each cupcake hole with the chocolate ganache
• Tip: within 2-3 minutes, my ganache would usually sink in to the cupcake and then I would make a second round of filling to top it up
  
• Decorate with whipped cream cheese frosting - I used a decorative tip to make it look fancy shmancy
• Cut a strawberry in to half, then thirds - use one third per cupcake for maximum prettiness

And....although I'm not a fun of red velvet, these are pretty darn good! These were very popular at the baby shower and were in high demand! The ganache is gooey and melts in your mouth. I love the semi-sweet taste because it doesn't over power your buds with sweetness.

Enjoy!

ps - did you know that red velvet is basically chocolate cake with red food dye? Ya. I learned that while researching.