The Devil's Roses

These cups of delicious awesomeness are one of my absolute favorite creations. Inspired by a good friend of mine while I was in a pinch and didn't know what to get her for her birthday. Rich chocolaty brownie cups filled with a savory cream center, garnished with strategically placed slices of strawberries to resemble a rose, and then dusted with powdered sugar.

Tools:

•  Two Mixing Bowls
• Cutting Board
• Cupcake Tin
• Cupcake Corer (optional)
• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Whisk
• Mixer (optional, I prefer to use my KitchenAid but mixing by hand is fine)
• Spoon

Ingredients and Preparation:

Brownie Cups

• Brownie Mix (Boxed is fine or you can make a batch from scratch)

Preheat the oven and prepare the mix as the box or recipe indicates! Most box mixes require corn/canola oil as well as eggs and water. If you are using a recipe (either your own or online) make sure to purchase/acquire ingredients that you need as I cannot list them for you due to the fact that I don't necessarily know which recipe you are using. 

Grease the cupcake tin liberally, do not line them with cupcake papers! They are not needed. 

Pour the batter into the tins until they are all half way filled or until you run out of batter.

Bake for the amount of time indicated on box or recipe.

When baked thoroughly let brownies sit in the tin for five minutes  and then remove from tin. Be careful as they will still be hot. After removing the brownies set them  aside and allow them to cool completely. 

While they cool you can prepare the filling, unless you did that already while the brownies cooked. 

Filling

• 2 cups of Heavy Cream
• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup softened cream cheese
• 1tsp of vanilla extract
• 4 tbs of Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur (optional) 

Whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy. Then fold in the brown sugar, liqueur, and cream cheese into the whipped mixture and continue to fold until combined. The mixture should resemble custard! Again, the booze is completely optional and can be left out if desired. Put in fridge while you prepare the roses. 

Strawberry Roses

• Carton of strawberries
• Powdered Sugar

Slice the top (green leafy part) off of the berry and throw away. Slice berries into thin slices. NOT paper thin, thin enough to be folded but thick enough to not break. Approximately 1 cm thick. The slices should be all different sizes. Take each slice (try to select the most circular slices) and cut them down the middle so you have two semi circles. Set halved slices to the side. 

Assembly

• Spoon out (use a cupcake corer if you have one)  and hollow each brownie cup. Be gentle! It can get messy! But you can feel free to eat the middle. Treat yo' self, honey ;) 
• After the center of the brownie is hollow spoon the filling into the void. Do not over flow! leave just a smidgen of space on the top for to arrange your flowers. 
• Working your way outward from the center place your "rose petals" (strawberry slices) in a layered spiral. Start with the smaller strawberries and use bigger ones as you work toward the edges. You can get crafty and play with this step, make it your own. 
• After your roses are places sprinkle powdered sugar over the top

Notes

These are very heavy! I really like how indulgent they are but if you are looking for a lighter treat go ahead and use hollowed out cupcakes instead of brownies and if you want a fluffier filling you can feel free to leave out the cream cheese. 

Voila!