Nothing pains me more than a birthday without cupcakes... so this year, I asked Jordan what he wanted me to make for his birthday party/100th unique beer at Pony Bar celebration... I got a lot of vague, 'um, i dont know...'s so I just went ahead and picked something.
(ladies, if you are ever dealing with an indecisive man, just make a decision... He'll immediately tell you what he really wants when you tell him what he's about to get if he doesnt say otherwise...)
That something that i picked never got made but what did eventually get made is the cake and frosting components that will now be my official standards... Jordan's final request was raspberry chocolate cake... and then somewhere along the way, he decided it needed marshmallow frosting... So we set out. I was hell-bent on keeping it as simple as possible so i decided i wanted to start with a boxed cake mix and just doctor it up a bit... In googling, i stumbled upon "Too Much Chocolate Cake" and decided that, with a few slight modifications, that was going to be the base...
I knew that adding a raspberry jam filling would be simple (and i wasnt making my own jam or anything crazy like that), so next up was frosting. We knew that the chocolate and raspberries were going to create a really sweet cake, so we wanted a frosting that was a little less-so... In searching, we found Smitten Kitchen's post on making homemade devil dogs which included a recipe for Marshmallow/Seven Minute frosting... seemed easy enough and like it might be a bit less sweet than the versions made with fluff, so we figured why not?
In the end, it all came together like one huge pile of YUM. The sum much greater than the parts and the cupcakes a HUGE hit among friends, bartenders and other patrons alike...
Chocolate-Raspberry-Marshmallow Cupcakes
courtesy of me, with component parts from Denise on Allrecipes.com and Smitten Kitchen
Click here to import recipe directly into Pepperplate
For the cake:
1 package devil's food cake mix
5.9 oz instant chocolate pudding mix (this is one large package or about 1 1/2 small packages)
1 c sour cream
3/4 c vegetable oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 c warm water
2 c mini chocolate chips
For the filling:
1 jar of your favorite raspberry jam
2 large egg whites
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c light corn syrup
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
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For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350°
Line muffin tray with foil liners
In a large bowl, mix the first 6 ingredients together.
Once they are all well-combined, stir in the mini chips.
Pour into cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 full.
Bake 20 - 24 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean.
To add the filling:
Once the cake is done baking and cooled, use a butter knife to cut a little divot out of the top of each. (Each divot should be about 3/4 of an inch circle with about the same depth.)
Pop out the divot, plop in a teaspoon or so of jam and then pop the divot back in.
For the frosting:
Set a saucepan on the stove and bring a couple of cups of water to a simmer.
Combine all ingredients in a metal bowl and set the bowl over the simmering water.
Beat at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove bowl from heat, place on a heat-proof surface, and continue to beat until frosting has slightly cooled.
Final Assembly:
Once frosting has cooled down, frost cupcakes, taking care to not knock the filling divot out.
If you have any mini-chips left over, sprinkle on top for decoration.
NOTE: Frosting will harden slightly as time goes on, so it is best to do any decorating while the frosting is still 'fresh'.
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