Just when you think things couldn't get any better, you take a bite, and bam! Creamy filling. Oh, the joy!
The Mechanics of Filling
To make the cupcakes look like the commercial snack cakes, use a pastry bag to inject the filling. They are available in most cookware, cake supply, craft stores, and even some supermarkets. Tips for the pastry bags come in a number of shapes and sizes, but a plain round tip is all that is needed here. Snip off the point of your bag, slide the tip inside, and push it down to the point.
Using a Pastry Bag
When filling a pastry bag, always start by folding down a large cuff at the top. This keeps it clean, and makes re-loading much neater. Try not to fill the bag more than half-full. If you do, the heat of your hands will melt the icing, and it is likely to ooze out the wrong end as you pipe.
If you don't have a pastry bag, a plastic zipper bag works just as well. Fill it half full and snip off the corner.
Classic Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
- 5 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
- [1/2] cup honey
- [1/2] cup milk
- 4 egg yolks, divided
- [1/2] cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- [3/4] cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 3 egg whites
- 1 recipe Vanilla Frosting, divided (see below)
- 2 cups whipped topping
- 1 recipe Chocolate Ganache, warm (see below)
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat muffin tins with pan spray and insert paper cups. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine chocolate, honey, milk, and stir until melted. Remove from heat, stir in 2 egg yolks, and set aside to cool slightly.
- Beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add remaining egg yolks one by one, then stir in cooled chocolate mixture. Combine cream and vanilla extract, and set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and add to batter alternately with cream. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into batter. Fill muffin cups [3/4] full with batter, and bake for 20-30 minutes, until firm to the touch. Cool completely.
- Use a chopstick to make a hole in the top of each cake. Combine [1/2] recipe of White Frosting with whipped topping. Using a small plain pastry tip, fill a pastry bag with frosting mixture. Insert the pastry tip into the center of each cake and inject a generous amount of cream.
- Dip tops into Ganache, and chill to set. Decorate with squiggles of remaining White Frosting, piped through a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip.
Makes 2 cups
- 8 oz.(8 squares or 1 [1/2] cup chips) bittersweet chocolate
- 1 cup heavy cream
- In a small saucepan over high heat, bring cream to a boil. Place chocolate in a medium sized bowl. At the boil, pour cream over chocolate, let stand 3-5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Use immediately.
Makes about 5 cups
- 12 oz. (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 2 TB. vanilla extract
- 3[1/2] cups powdered sugar, sifted
- [1/4] cup heavy whipping cream
- Cream butter in a large bowl with a sturdy spoon or electric mixer until smooth and lump free. Add vanilla. Slowly add half the powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add half the cream, and mix well. Add the remaining sugar and beat until fluffy.
Leslie Bilderback - Leslie Bilderback, CMB Author of seven books in the The Complete Idiot's Guide and Everything series, a regular column in the Los ...
