Evelyn's Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes
A delightful treat for celebrating a birthday or anniversary of any kind, and of course for giving birth. This recipe also works for creating a traditional chocolate cake with a twist.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 1/3 cup All purpose flour
- 1/3 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (melted)
- 1 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Eggs
- 2/3 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup Milk
Marshmallow Cream "Frosting"
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 12 oz Bag of Marshmallows
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder and set aside
- 2. Cream the butter with a mixer. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until smooth. On the lowest speed, alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two
- 3. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans filling each about two-thirds full. Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are puffed and spring back when lightly pressed. Cool the cakes in the muffin tins for about 5 minutes and then remove them to a rack and let cool completely.
- 4. To make the marshmallow sauce topping, in a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat until it starts to foam, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until the bubbling stops and the little specks of milk solids begin to turn golden, another 2 to 3 minutes. Watch carefully at this stage; you want the milk solids to go from golden to a medium-dark brown, but not black.
- 5 . Immediately turn off the heat and add the marshmallows and salt to the pot to stop the butter from cooking any further. Stir to coat all the marshmallows in the hot, browned butter until they’re well coated and begin to soften, about 1 minute.
- 6. Return heat to low and stir until the marshmallows are almost smooth (some small lumps are OK), 1 to 2 minutes more. Don't let the sauce boil. Turn off the heat. Stir in vanilla.
- 7. Spoon sauce as a topping onto the cupcakes (or cake if you created the cake version). Add any further 'surprise' decorations you like. Evelyn recommends Skittles - you can be creative!