How to protect yourself against vampires...garlic cupcakes!

It's no secret that I'm a big lover of garlic. Pretty much all of my favourite foods have got garlic in them, when I go to restaurants the first thing on the menu that will catch my eye is the word garlic and when I cook at home I always usually use garlic too, even if the recipe doesn't call for it. 

I'm quite sure that I inherited this garlic love from my father. If you thought I was bad, he's even worse. He's been known to even enjoy a 'garlic sandwich'. 

Last week my dad came home for a visit (he works away for months at a time) and today while I was browsing through some of my favourite baking blogs I came across a recipe for garlic cupcakes from The Cupcake Project which I thought would be absolutely perfect to make for him! 

Sure, I know, it sounds like a weird combination but think of all the other great weird food combinations that have worked....: Bacon and maple syrup, chocolate and beer, chocolate and chilli...the list is endless! 

Oh, and sorry, but as usual I was being my forgetful self and only remembered way after I'd finished the baking part that I had forgotten to document the making of it. I'm really sorry about that and promise that next time I'll do a picture tutorial. 

Here's the ingredients you'll need for the chocolate garlic sponge: 

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup of butter (unsalted)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 4 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 2/3 cup brewed coffee
• 8 cloves of roasted garlic (you can see the tutorial here of how to roast garlic)

and here is the method on how to make them: 

1) Whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl

2) Beat butter and sugar in a bowl for 1 minute until light and fluffy.

3)Beat in eggs and sour cream.

4)Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave.

5)Mix the chocolate into the wet ingredients.

6)Alternately fold in the flour mixture and coffee into the batter.

7)Mash garlic cloves and mix into batter.

8)Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.

9)Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

And here's what you'll need for the cream cheese frosting: 

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature

3 C powdered sugar, sifted

2 t garlic powder

1 t ground coffee 

Here's the method on how to make the frosting:

1)Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.

2)Slowly mix in the powdered sugar.

3)Mix in the garlic powder and ground coffee until integrated.

Enjoy! But more importantly, remember to stock up on breathe mints! :P 

Thank you to The Cupcake Project for this great recipe!