Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

February 24, 2018

Servings: 2 dozen

Prep: 30 min

Cook: 20 min

Total: 50 min

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Hot cocoa in cupcake form... what could possibly be better for a cold snowy day? This will definitely make you think twice about wishing for spring.

By: A Wholesome New World

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups cake flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups sour cream
• 2 dozen marshmallows, plus additional for toppers
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup hot cocoa mix

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sure your oven is set to fit two cupcake pans. Line two 12-cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners.
• Step 2 In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt with a whisk. Set aside.
• Step 3 In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the softened butter on medium-high speed with a paddle attachment until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually add the sugar and beat at high speed until light, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the vanilla extract.
• Step 4 Reduce the speed to low and begin adding the sour cream and dry ingredients, alternating between the two and mixing between additions. Mix until just until blended.
• Step 5 Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake cups. Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean. Place a large metal bowl and whisk in freezer now for about 15 minutes so they are good and cold for the whipped frosting. Cool cupcakes for at least 5 minutes.
• Step 6 Using a teaspoon, scoop a small well out of each cupcake. Place a marshmallow into each well and return to the oven to bake until the marshmallow puffs, about 5 more minutes. Remove the cupcakes and let them cool to room temperature.
• Step 7 Remove the mixing bowl from the freezer and pour heavy whipping cream into bowl. Beat on high for 2 minutes until fluffy, then add hot cocoa mix and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Keep refrigerated.
• Step 8 Use a piping bag to frost cupcakes. (In a pinch you can use a plastic baggie with a small hole cut in the corner, but it’s not quite as effective!) Top with marshmallows if desired. I even used our mini kitchen blow torch to lightly toast the marshmallows.

So this recipe is a bit mismatched for this week’s weather (80 degrees in February?!) but my heart is definitely in the right place! I’ve become a hot cocoa fanatic of late – yes, I’m a kid at heart – and while I could easily drink a cup of it a day, I decided to go out on a limb and experiment with hot cocoa in other forms.

To be honest, I don’t know what inspired me to go with a sour cream base. I just had this hunch that it would add a deeper flavor than milk. Depth of flavor is arguably the most important element to me in a good cup of hot cocoa. I also felt like the sour cream would lend itself to a lighter, fluffier cupcake (you can also credit the cake flour for this) and that theory proved correct. Look how silky the batter is:

Since we were headed to a dinner party this past Sunday night and I was in charge of dessert, I figured that was a good time to give these a whirl. I have really been trying to up my baking game lately, but I will be the first to admit that I’m still not 100% confident in this domain. (Note to self – don’t test out brand new baking recipes for the first go around on your friends!) Thankfully, the cupcakes came out great, the only thing I kind of botched was the frosting. The flavor was there but they were definitely lacking aesthetically.  Case in point (Version 1 on the left, Version 2 on the right):

Luckily, our friends were great sports about it and even suggested some tweaks I could make when I revisited the recipe. So the second time around, I upped the sour cream to make the cupcakes more fluffy, added the gooey marshmallow filling and delicious hot cocoa frosting. My piping technique needs work, but going the whipped cream frosting route was such a great compliment to the rich dark chocolate cake. You just whip heavy cream until it’s light and fluffy and stir in your favorite hot cocoa mix:

I also whipped out the blow torch and topped it with that picture-perfect toasted marshmallow, which was a last minute call, but so clutch!

This is such a fun way to transform your average chocolate cupcake into something pretty spectacular!  You can bet on the next snowy winter day, I’ll be “whipping” up another batch of these, no question.