“Blustery cold days should be spent propped up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a pile of comic books.” — Bill Watterson
Happy National Hot Chocolate Day! It is seriously a perfect day for hot chocolate as many of us in the Midwest are experiencing the bitter cold of the polar vortex . My husband and I were in disbelief when we woke up this morning to find it was -17°! It has been almost a year to the date when we first moved to Michigan and I have to say the weather in a Michigan is always a constant surprise.
One of my favorite cookie recipes on my blog is “Hot Chocolate Cookies with Mini Marshmallows” – it actually uses two packets of hot chocolate in the cookie dough. I have made this recipe so many times and it will always be one of my favorites. I even submitted the recipe for a cookie contest at Barnes & Noble and now a published version is sitting in a cookbook on my bookshelf!
This year I felt inspired to try something new. Hot chocolate is my go-to drink in the winter so I thought it would be fun to try a new recipe that incorporated hot chocolate mix. I also knew I had to incorporate marshmallows because you can’t have hot chocolate without marshmallows. Thus, the idea of making a hot chocolate cupcake filled with marshmallow cream was formed!
I wanted to make the marshmallow cream from scratch because the store-bought “fluff” didn’t seem as fun to me. I have to admit if I needed to make these cupcakes in a pinch I probably would buy the store bought kind as a time-saver but if you want to have a little fun in the kitchen the homemade kind is your best bet! Plus, with fresh ingredients you know it will have a better taste than anything you could find on the shelf.
I was a little intimidated at the idea of making homemade marshmallow “fluff” but as always I viewed it as an opportunity to learn something new in the kitchen and not only was it fun to make but it tasted amazing – pure vanilla flavor in every spoonful.
I found an easy and detailed recipe from @kitchn and my marshmallow fluff came out perfectly. It only takes 20 minutes and the result truly is magic. The only downside (if you can call it that) is that the recipe makes a lot of marshmallow fluff, so just be ready to have other recipes on hand to use it up.
I used a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake and then filled each core with some marshmallow cream.
The marshmallow cream really takes these cupcakes to the next level!
And to top them off – I decorated the cupcakes with a homemade chocolate buttercream – simply delicious.
Happy National Hot Chocolate Day!!!
- Yield: 9 Cupcakes
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Cream Filling
Ingredients
- FOR THE CUPCAKES:
- All-Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
- Hot Chocolate Mix - 1/3 cup (approx 2 oz)
- Granulated Sugar - 1/2 cup
- Baking Soda - 1/4 teaspoon
- Baking Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
- Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
- Egg - 1
- Vegetable Oil - 1/4 cup
- Vanilla Extract - 1/2 teaspoon
- Milk - 1/4 cup
- Hot water - 2 tablespoons
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE FROSTING:
- Semisweet Chocolate Bar - 2 oz, melted and cooled
- Confectioners' sugar - 1 & 1/2 cups
- Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
- Half & Half or whole milk - 2 tablespoons
- Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Since this recipe makes 9 cupcakes, line one cupcake pan with 9 liners.
- Mix the flour, hot chocolate mix, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl using a whisk.
- In a separate bowl, mix the egg, oil, vanilla and milk until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then mix in the hot water to thin out the cupcake batter.
- Pour batter into prepared cupcake tins, fill each liner about 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
For the Marshmallow Fluff:
- See @kitchn link posted above.
For the Frosting:
- With a hand mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until fluffy (for about three minutes). Add in the powdered sugar and mix for another two minutes. Pour in the melted chocolate, milk and vanilla and beat until desired consistency is reached.
To Assemble:
- Remove the core from each cupcake and fill with marshmallow cream.
- Place frosting in a decorator bag fitting with a decorating tip (I used 1M swirl). Swirl frosting onto each cupcake.
- Decorate with additional mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.
