Hot Chocolate Cupcakes; rich chocolate cupcakes swirled with fluffy vanilla marshmallow frosting and dusted with cocoa.
It’s that time of year again.
You might still be clinging to your iced coffee but babes, it’s time to move on. Dust off those old tubs of Cadbury instant hot chocolate from the back of your cupboard and throw yourself into hot chocolate season (due to finish sometime around March just as we’re preparing to get jacked up on Easter chocolate again instead).
Hot chocolate is one of the few things that is equally as enjoyable in the most expensive or trashy varieties. It is wonderful when drunk from a posh mug piled with lashings of flavoured cream and gourmet marshmallows, just as it is when sipped from a polystyrene cup at a football ground.
It also boasts appropriateness at any hour of the day. Need warming up on the way to work on a Tuesday morning? Hot Chocolate. Need something sweet after dinner? Hot Chocolate. Need something to lower your heart rate during pre-Christmas planning stress? Hot Chocolate.
These Hot Chocolate Cupcakes are a tribute to just that. Moist, cocoa-rich chocolate cake swirled generously with impossibly fluffy vanilla marshmallow frosting and topped with cocoa and squishy marshmallows. They encapsulate the eternal pull of the flavour and comfort of warm molten chocolate. Understandably, they are also very fitting considering the sudden change in weather we’ve seen in Scotland this month.
Having made and eaten these cupcakes, I can honestly suggest that you use the cheapest ingredients you can find for this recipe. This isn’t the occasion for your poshest cocoa and your most expensive marshmallows, using affordable and familiar ingredients is what will make these Hot Chocolate Cupcakes taste just like the real thing!
To make these Hot Chocolate Cupcakes, simply follow the recipe below!
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: why not fill these cupcakes with your favourite chocolate spread?
Ingredients
For the hot chocolate cupcakes:
- 200g soft unsalted butter or margarine
- 200g soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 150g self-raising flour
- 50g cocoa powder (the cheaper the better in this recipe!) mixed with 5 tbsp hot water
- Pinch of salt
For the vanilla marshmallow frosting:
- 200g soft unsalted butter
- 225g icing sugar
- 150g Marshmallow Fluff
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder (for decoration)
- Marshmallows (for decoration)
Instructions
For the hot chocolate cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven – 180 C / 160 C fan / 350 F / gas mark 4.
- Line a 12-hole cupcake or muffin tin with paper or foil cases.
- In a large bowl, weigh out all of the cupcake ingredients (not those for the frosting or decoration though!).
- Beat together with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until just combined into a smooth chocolate cake batter.
- Use an ice-cream scoop or a couple of spoons to evenly divide the cake batter between the 12 cases.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until risen and firm to the touch.
- Remove the tin of baked cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool completely.
- Meanwhile prepare your frosting!
For the vanilla marshmallow frosting:
- Place the butter, sugar, Fluff and vanilla into a large bowl.
- Beat together vigorously until you have a pale, fluffy frosting.
- Use a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle, or just a trusty butter knife, to pipe or spread the vanilla marshmallow frosting onto your cooled cupcakes.
- Dust the tops of the frosted cakes with a little cocoa powder and gently adorn them with some decorative marshmallows.
- Enjoy!
