I was trying to come up with a unique chocolate recipe in preparation for my guest appearance on the Conversational Chaos podcast. The Rage Monster (one of the podcast’s hosts) requested something chocolate. I warned him that I was making something experimental, and if it didn’t turn out, at least it would be a fun culinary disaster story.
They actually turned out really well, except I was not able to fill them with marshmallow fluff as I originally intended. Apparently marshmallow fluff and piping bags are an extremely difficult situation. The stickiness made it almost impossible. I’m sure I could have made it work, but I got impatient, so there went that.
I was also a little short on time when I was making these, so I didn’t make my own chocolate frosting. Next time I’ll probably try to do the frosting completely homemade.
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 stick butter at room temperature
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup hot chocolate mix (Ghirardelli recommended)
- 2 eggs
- 1¼ cups milk
Frosting
- 1 container chocolate frosting (16 oz. container)
- 1 cup marshmallow fluff
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Line two cupcake pans with baking cups.
- Sift together the flour, hot chocolate mix, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar using a hand mixer or stand mixer, until it's light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. (Tip: I always crack my eggs into a small bowl or cup, just in case some shell drops. It's much easier to fish shell out of a cup with just egg than it is to fish it out of a cake mixture.)
- Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture ¼ cup at a time, adding a little bit of milk after each addition of flour. Alternate adding the flour and mixture until all of both are incorporated. Continue to mix on a low speed until everything is well-incorporated.
- Scoop the batter into the cupcake pan with each cup being about ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Make the frosting by combining the chocolate frosting and marshmallow fluff.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
- Use a piping bag with the tip of your choice to frost the cupcakes (I used Wilton #32).