Malt Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Savvy Eats
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Malted Milk Powder (I’ve linked you to King Arthur Flour, where I got mine)

1 cup cold Coffee (I used Green Mountain Coffee Donut House)
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup Unsweetened Scharffen Berger Cocoa Powder
2 oz Unsweetened Scharffen Berger Baking Chocolate

3 Egg Yolks
1/2 cup Half & Half
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F. In a small bowl, combine Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, and Malted Milk Powder. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine Coffee, Oil, Butter, Cocoa Powder, and Baking Chocolate squares. Heat slowly and steadily until both the butter and baking chocolate are melted. Watch carefully, because if this overheats, it will expand and spill over quickly. Allow to cool while you combine the next ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine Egg Yolks, Half & Half, and Vanilla Extract. Mix until well combined and frothy. Slowly pour in the chocolate mixture from the saucepan with the mixer on low. This will allow the eggs to temper. If you pour a semi-hot liquid in all at once, it will cook and scramble the eggs, which is not what you want in a chocolate cake!

Once chocolate mixture has been added, add the flour mix in increments, mixing well and scraping the sides after each addition.

Line 2 12 cup or 1 24 cup muffin tin(s) with cupcake liners. (You’ll notice I used cute little Scharffen Berger ones – a little swag I picked up 2 years ago at BlogHer Food!) Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop batter into each cup. By using the 1/4 cup measurement, you should end up with uniform and perfectly cooked cupcakes.

Bake for approximately 22-26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the center-most cupcake comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before filling or frosting.

Maple Marshmallow Filling

Ingredients
1 7 oz. tub of Marshmallow Cream (Found near the Peanut Butters & Jellies)
2 tablespoons Grade B Maple Syrup

Directions

Empty Marshmallow Cream into a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of real maple syrup (not imitation!) and whisk to combine. It will take a few minutes to whisk and combine fully, so don’t give up!

Pour bowl contents into a pastry piping bag equipped with a Wilton 230 Tip, then poke the tip into each cupcake, squeezing the pastry bag to fill the cupcake until you see just a tiny bit of the marshmallow cream poking out of the top. Do not do this until cupcakes are COMPLETELY cool, or mashmallow filling will melt into the cupcake.

Malt Chocolate Frosting

Adapted from SavvyEats

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened
2 1/3 cups Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Malted Milk powder
1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1-3 tablespoons Half & Half

Directions

Whip butter in a stand mixer or by hand on high until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar in increments until fully combined, then malted milk powder and cocoa powder as well. Whip for a solid 7-10 minutes, until all sugar, malted milk powder and cocoa powder are fully incorporated. Add half and half, one tablespoon at a time, until frosting is your desired consistency.

Frost cupcakes and refrigerate. When frosting has hardened somewhat, insert a malted milk ball into each cupcake for garnish. I also used some sparkling sugar for garnish, but both are completely optional.