#29 Double Chocolate Snowman Cupcakes

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

This was taken last year :)

With the weather hanging around 20 degrees, I thinks it's a perfect day to blog about Snowmen!! These were made for another birthday party a few weeks ago for a co-worker. I had the challenge of making snowmen out of chocolate cupcakes. Nobody wants dirty snowmen so I baked these little suckers in silver cups so the chocolate color wouldn't bleed though the wrapper. I used a vanilla buttercream  and lots of shredded coconut to cover up the chocolate tops. It worked out pretty well.

Now those are some good looking snowmen!!

 

So lets get down to the nitty gritty! I used my two favorite recipes-Martha's chocolate cupcake recipe and her vanilla butter cream.

So after the cupcakes are cooled and the frosting is prepared don't forget about the filling!!!

Chocolate Ganache

No birthday cupcake is complete without surprise in the middle. The Chocolate Ganache filling is the finishing touch to the double chocolate part.

The Goods
8oz semisweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
1tablespoon butter room temp

The How To

Chop chocolate and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream on the stove until simmering and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for one min and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and stir until combined. Depending on how thick you want this place the ganache in the fridge for a few minutes if your going to dip something in it or a few hours if your going to use it as filling.

all cooled and filled.

Now that the cupcakes are filled go ahead and get frosted!!!!

I started with the snowman's heads.

I found it easier to work with a couple of cupcakes at a time. If you wait too long the frosting starts to get hard and coconut doesn't want to stick. For the face I wanted a finer texture so I ran the shredded coconut through the food processor. I then mixed white and silver sanding sugar to the coconut to give it a little sparkle. The nose is made of orange slice candy that I cut down and the nose and mouth are mini chocolate chips.

After the faces are finished I moved on to frosting the large cupcakes which made up the body of the snowman. Now to get the snowman to stay together, take a toothpick and put it through the head connecting it to the body.

All the decorations are edible. The scarfs, mittens, ear muff bands, and ties are made out of laffy taffy which my husband rolled and cut out. The arms are pretzels sticks and the hats are large and small Oreo cookies. With the left over marshmallows that I had from my flower cupcakes I cut these in half and they are part of the ear muffs.

A perfect project for a snowy day!!

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