03/26/2023
Topped with Violet Infused Buttercream and Violet Sugar Sprinkles, these dark chocolate cupcakes began as a tribute to the classic “violet cream” a beloved chocolate confection of both Queen Victoria and the late Queen Elizabeth. But then I discovered the story of the French Empress Josephine, her grand love Napoleon Bonaparte, and their mutual passion for violets and hot chocolate.
On the night they first met she is said to have worn a garland of violets as a crown and a posy of violets on her shoulder, they fell in love, and he showered her in violets on every special occasion. When he was exiled to Elba he promised to return when the violets bloomed once again. Along with their ardor for violets, the Bonapartes loved to partake in the culinary rage of the French and European nobility at the time, the drinking of hot chocolate. In the French style, dark chocolate was shaved from bars, melted, and stirred into hot milk and cream, served with a little dollop of sugar in a special chocolate cup. The royal couple commissioned royal chocolate cups upon which they had their pictures emblazoned.
I infused fresh violets (viola odorata) into ingredients such as cream & butter, which went directly into the dark “hot chocolate” cake batter and buttercream frosting. I finished the little beauties with a sprinkle of violet sugar, which requires no crystallizing. Just eating. So consider these dark french-inspired cupcakes a tribute to the grand love of a royal couple, our enduring love for hot chocolate, and violet creams! Recipe at Gather Victoria Patreon.
