Delicious Deception

My favorite cupcake memory comes from my school days, when it was customary to bring in treats for your classmates on your birthday. You remember them ... those cute little cakes with the foil wrappers. Perhaps your favorite was yellow cake with chocolate frosting, or maybe it was chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. If you were really wild, it might have been funfetti! And if you were a real cupcake connoisseur like me, you may have even liked them baked in ice cream cones.

Every year for my birthday, my mom (who rarely baked) would break out her best ... box mix. That's right. One box of cake and one tub of frosting later, and I had 24 little cupcakes to share with the kids in my class. If we were really lucky, there may have been sprinkles involved. Luckily, we weren't very picky at that age.

As I thought long and hard about this final Blogger Challenge from America's Test Kitchen, I eventually said "Why mess with a good thing?" So I decided to bring it back to the old school. One box of cake mix and one tub of frosting later, and I had ... just kidding!

Having won the last Blogger Challenge, you know I felt just a bit more pressure to make this submission good. So I took my birthday cupcake of choice from childhood to the next level. Instead of just a simple cupcake in a cone, I decided on chocolate dipped cones!

My recipe combines a number of favorites: the cake cones traditional to chocolate dipped cones, the best-ever chocolate cupcake recipe from America's Test Kitchen (which I made just a few weeks ago), Martha Stewart's "seven-minute-frosting-that-takes-twelve-minutes-to-make," and a simple chocolate coating to bring it all together. Sounds like a lot of work? It's guaranteed to be harder than the box mix mom made. But they're so cute, it's all worth it!

Chocolate Dipped Cone Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For Cupcakes
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
18 flat-bottomed (cake) ice cream cones

For Frosting
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 egg whites
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For Coating
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Wrap a 1-inch thick band of foil around the base of each cake cone and stand cones up in muffin tins. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk boiling water, cocoa, and chocolate chips until smooth. Add sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated. Divide batter evenly among cones, filling each about halfway. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean, about 22  minutes. Cool cupcakes in tin on wire rack. When completely cool, discard foil.

To prepare frosting, combine sugar, egg whites, water, and cream of tartar in a glass bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on high speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Place bowl over a pot of barely simmering water and continue beating on high until stiff peaks form, about 12 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and stir in vanilla.

Spoon frosting into large zip-top bag. Snip a corner of the bag and pipe frosting onto cupcakes, swirling into an ice cream shape. (Martha claims your frosting should be 2 inches high. Good luck with that.) Carefully stand cupcakes back up in muffin tins and transfer to refrigerator. Chill 15 to 20 minutes, or until frosting appears set.

While cupcakes are chilling, prepare coating. Combine chips and oil in a small, deep, microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high, approximately 20 seconds at a time, whisking well between nukes, until completely smooth. Allow coating to cool for several minutes.

Remove cupcakes from fridge. Holding cupcakes by the cone, dip each one into the coating to completely cover frosting, allowing excess to drip off. Let cupcakes stand at room temperature for 15 minutes, then transfer back to fridge. Allow to set at least 2 hours. Serve cold (of course!).

Hostess with the Most-est!

You know 'em. You love 'em. Those delicious chocolate-y, creamy cupcakes with the cute little curlicues piped across the top. That's right, the famous Hostess cupcake!

I have memories of these things in my lunchbox as a kid ... the way to chocolate glaze stretched and the filling spilled over the moist crumbs when you pulled them apart. Yum! But who would have thought that you could create these little treasures at home? Well, America's Test Kitchen, of course! When I found this recipe on The Feed, I couldn't resist (just like I couldn't resist tearing into the plastic wrapper as a kid!). But I never imagined how much BETTER these cupcakes would be homemade!

No joke, these were abolsutely the most delicious chocolate cupcakes I've ever made (and ever eaten!) in my entire life. The cake itself was super moist and produced the perfect crumb, the filling was sweet and smooth, and the glaze was thick, chocolate-y goodness!

Note that I made one minor modification from the Test Kitchen's recipe ... they called for marshmallow fluff in the filling, but something about that didn't sound great to me. I remembered that I have a pumpkin cupcake recipe that has an amazing cream filling, so I decided to use that instead! The result? Perfect filling without the mystery marshmallow mix!

These cupcakes leave those plastic-wrapped cakes in the dust! Pack these in your lunchbox and I guarantee you'll thank me :)

Chocolate Cream-Filled Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For Cupcakes
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

For Filling
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar

For Glaze
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with foil or paper liners.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk water, cocoa, and chocolate chips until smooth. Add sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla and mix until combined. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Cool cupcakes in tin 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack and cool completely.

To prepare filling, combine cornstarch and milk in a small saucepan until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter, and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add cornstarch mixture and beat until smooth.

Using a sharp knife, cut a 1-inch circle about 1-inch deep in the center of each cupcake. Carefully remove tops and set aside. Spoon or pipe filling into cupcakes. Replace tops.

To prepare chocolate glaze, microwave chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons butter in a small bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 30 seconds. Cool glaze to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Frost each cupcake with 2 teaspoons cooled glaze.

To prepare white glaze, microwave white chips and remaining tablespoon butter in a small bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 30 seconds. Cool glaze to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Spoon cool filling into small zip top bag, snip a small point from the end, and pipe curlicues on the top of each cupcake.