Ina's Really Dense Chocolate Cupcakes

Chilled ganache frosting above. Warm dipped ganache below.

I asked my co-worker on Thursday...what should I bake? Her answer was simple. Chocolate.

I found this recipe on the Food Network site: Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes.

I just love Ina's show. I think life would be so much more enjoyable if we all had jazzy background music following us around town. And good lighting.

This recipe is very unique - it calls for a whole can of Hershey's chocolate syrup in the batter!

I made the cupcakes last night and the frosting early this morning (note the time on my little clock). The cupcakes didn't rise very much even though I filled the cups very full (at least 3/4). I made more than the "serving size" of 12 because I had so much batter left. Only later did I discover by reading the "reviews/user comments" that these cupcakes don't rise much. Note to self: Read the comments.

You are supposed to dip the cupcakes in the ganache. But since the cupcakes didn't rise much, there wasn't much of a cupcake top to dip. So I dipped half of them and then chilled the frosting. I did a quick ice bath and then let it sit in the fridge to harden up a bit. The cupcake itself is very dense. No baking soda or powder is in the mix. It is more like a half-brownie, half-cake little guy.