#28 Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

Aidan's Spiderman themed 5th birthday was Dec. 16th. I asked him before hand what flavor cake he wanted and he tells me mint. Really? Most kids would say chocolate or vanilla but I get the challenge of making a mint flavored cake. So I decided to go with a red velvet cake that had white chocolate peppermint filling and a very blue peppermint frosting. Since I didn't want to overload everyone on mint I thought I would try out a different chocolate malt recipe which wasn't as malty as I would have liked but much better than my first attempt. So here are a few pictures of Aidan's birthday and of course the cupcake recipe I tested out.

The very red batter

Slightly brown but not burned. The bottom cupcake had a insert so you didn't have to dig out the middle for the filling.

All finished! My biggest cupcake yet.

Add a couple trick candles ;)

Was a little thick for Aidan to cut.

Happy Birthday Aidan!

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes(courtesy of Martha Stewart)

The Goods
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 lg eggs, at room temp.
1 cup sour cream, at room temp.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The How To
Preheat oven to 350F.  Whisk together flour, cocoa, both sugars, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together milk and malted milk powder until powder is dissolved.

The milk looks a little chunky... Give it a chance it will dissolve.

The whisked dry ingredients

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat flour mixture, milk mixture and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add sour cream and vanilla, and beat just until combined.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each halfway. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

I used some spiderman cupcake liners but the chocolate was a dark so I doubled the liners up afterwards.

Fluffy White Frosting

This is the same frosting I used when I made my strawberry confetti birthday cupcakes. The best part about this buttercream is that it can take on any color. So to go along with the spiderman theme I decided with blue frosting.

This color can also double for baby shower cupcakes!! lol

Taking on more of a spiderman feel with the chocolate webs

I made all the cupcake toppers too.



This was taken right after Aidan was picked up from daycare and saw the kitchen decorated for the first time.



Up Next...

Double Chocolate Snowman Cupcakes

#7 Chocolate Malt Cupcakes with Cherry Filling

My mom and I were testing out cookies a few weekends ago for my up coming bridal shower and we  made these amazing chocolate malt cookies. So with the thought of malt dancing in my head, I of course would want to give malt a try in cupcakes. Unfortunately the cupcakes were a disaster!!! The cupcakes didn't rise, the cherries that I originally picked out had no flavor, you couldn't taste the malt whats so ever, and the original cherry buttercream frosting was a nightmare. But after taking a deep breath I went back to the store and bought cherry preserves to fill around the black pitted cherries (they were seriously disappointing!!) and I found a very tasty chocolate frosting (thanks Rachel Ray!!) that saved the day. So here's the recipe and maybe you'll have a better outcome.

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes(courtesy of Sweetly Adventures)

This was probley the best batter I've ever had!

The Goods
1cup butter room temp
2 1/2 cups sugar
4large eggs room temp
1 1/2cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Then I added 1cup malt (I used chocolate)

My little side kick

The How To

Preheat oven to 375degrees. Beat the butter until it's softened in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy-about 2mins. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well combined. Measure out the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cocoa powder and malt and sift together.

This is all the dry ingredients sifted together

Measure out the milk and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup and stir to combine.

Aidan mixing the milk and vanilla

On low speed add about one third of the dry ingredients to the butter and vanilla and beat until barely mixed in. Keep doing this until your wet and dry ingredients are gone. The process should only take about 30 seconds. Unfortunately with my love hate relationship that I have with the mixer, some of the dry ingredients went flying everywhere and this process of wet and dry took much longer than 30seconds.

Finish by using a spatula to gently fold the batter to make sure everything is well mixed and the bottom isn't un-mixed. Scoop the batter into cupcake tins lined with cups about 2/3's full.



Bake cupcakes for about 25mins, until the cake tester comes out clean. I started checking after 15mins.

Not bad but you can tell they don't have the usual dome top too them.

After the cupcakes have cooled down I cut the center of the cupcakes out to make room for the cherries and preserves.

Then I added the cherries- this is when I realized the cherries sucked and I added the preserves the next morning before I had a chance to frost them.

with the preserves added.

Next the frosting (attempt one)...

Cherry-Vanilla Buttercream(courtesy of recipe.com)
So everything was going fine with the frosting until I added the black pitted cherries and realized that the frosting really didn't have a distinct cherry taste so I added cherry preserves the next morning. After adding the preserves the frosting took on this shiny texture and the frosting looked like it separated (almost lumpy). Not sure what happened but here is the frosting and I will have to give this a try another day.

The Goods
4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2cups unsalted butter room temp.
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2/3cups cherry preserves (I used the pitted cherries then later added the preserves...)


The How To
Beat confectioners sugar and butter on medium-low speed until well blended. Add vanilla and heavy cream beat for 2mins until light and fluffy. Beat in cherry preserves until well combined.


This was before I added the preserves the next morning. Unfortunately I was in a hurry that morning and I didn't get a chance to get a picture of what it looked like afterwards.

Frosting attempt two....

Chocolate Buttercream(courtesy of Rachel Ray)
Now the outcome of this frosting was much better than the first and really easy to make.

The Goods
4oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2pound unsalted butter room temp
4cups confectioners sugar
4tablespoons milk
3teaspoons vanilla

The How To

Melt chocolate in microwave, checking after each 30 second interval to make sure you don't burn the chocolate. Stir and let cool. Next beat the butter and chocolate together until smooth. Add 2cups of sugar and 2tablespoons of the milk. Cream these ingredients until well blended. Add the rest of the sugar and milk and combine. Add the vanilla and mix in.

You would never know that this had been a total disaster!!!

Then add the optional sprinkles....

I was also trying out my new frosting tip but I think that's still a work in progress.

And of course it's approved by Taste Tester Aidan!

Up Next.....
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting