Monday, December 6, 2010

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

I can't believe it's been months since I last updated! Life has gotten the best of me lately with getting settled into our new home, finding and starting a new job, and planning and preparing for the holidays. Life has been full of numerous blessings and they're keeping me busy. With homeowner duties and a new job fighting for my time, I haven't been baking as much as I used to. With the holidays in full swing I've set my mind to baking at least one new treat each week. The hubby and I have friends over every Sunday night to watch Dexter and The Walking Dead and I've been baking various treats for our guests. Last week I made Gingerbread Cupcakes. Yesterday I made Ham and Smoked Cheddar Thumbprints and these Chocolate Malt Cupcakes, both of which I thought were delicious.

I really loved the flavor and texture of the cupcakes and found they baked up beautifully! I'm curious to try adapting the recipe, removing the malt powder, for a plain chocolate cupcake. The buttercream was light, not overly sweet, and was dream to pipe. Decorated with a single malted milk ball and a paper straw, I thought these were darling to look at.

The recipe and my decorating inspiration came from The Culinary Chronicles. When I saw these cupcakes, I knew I had to make them myself!

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes
adapted from The Culinary Chronicles
makes approximately 30 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1½ cups malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the buttercream:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
½ cup malted milk powder
4 tablespoons unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
5 cups confectioner sugar, sifted

Chocolate Covered Malt Balls and Straws to garnish (Optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, both sugars, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together milk and malted milk powder until powder is dissolved.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat flour mixture, milk mixture and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add sour cream and vanilla, and beat just until combined.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each halfway. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare frosting. In a large mixer bowl, whip the butter and shorting for several minutes until very light and fluffy. Sprinkle in malted milk powder and cocoa powder. Whip for 1 minute. Slowly add the powdered sugar a few spoonful at a time, letting it incorporate until the frosting becomes thick and stiff.

Fill bag with the frosting and pipe* large swirls on top of cupcakes. Top with candies and straw garnish. Enjoy!

*I used the Ateco 829 large star tip to frost these cupcakes.

38 comments:

  1. Those are so cute! they look reallyy good(:

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  2. I LOVE chocolate malt! These cupcakes are so adorable! I love the way you styled them, too. Nice post. :)

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  3. OMG!! These look just.. PERFECTT!! I love it!! ;))

    Greets from BFC !!!

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  4. omgoodness how perfect do they look? your piping skills are amazing girl! im looking forward to give this a go soon.
    also, im also trying to bake a new treat each week! :D

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  5. I love this idea! And I have a sudden urge to drop everything and bake cupcakes. Gorgeous pictures!

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  6. Oh how cute! Love your pictures!

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  7. Super cute! What brand of malt powder did you use?

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  8. These are absolutely gorgeous!!!! Love them!

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  9. Thank you for all the kind compliments!

    @Anonymous, I used Nestle Carnation Malted Milk powder.

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  10. these are so perfectly cute! and i adore your props!!

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  11. That frosting looks so freakin good.

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  12. Wondered why the wonderful recipes had stopped! Good luck with the job hunting; Hope that something fun and perfect fell into your lap! And these cupcakes look scrumptious! :)

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  13. I just made these (found your site via Must Have Cute) and they're pretty good! I've never made cupcakes with sour cream before, but I've seen recipes with it and kept meaning to give one a try. This is a keeper, thanks for sharing!

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  14. Oooh these look delicious! I've been wanting to make Choc Malt Cuppies for ages now. I must try this recipe! On a side note - I'm so glad to see you back to blogging again! I was beginning to think you weren't coming back

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  15. Hi, Kelly, im from Valencia, Spain.
    I wanna wish you a Happy New Year, and say I love your blog!!! Its great and beautifull and imaginative and ispired!!


    I never comment in your blog, because my english is terrific!!!


    Love From the Paella´sCity!!!

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  16. These are just about the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen...your jewelry is beautiful, too...I design clothing, and I really appreciate the beauty of your work.
    Kristina J.

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  17. i'm a friend of Pat & Nancy's. just wanted to say i love your blog and your beautiful jewelry! i don't get much time to craft, but when i do, i love to look your blog over for inspiration :)
    -andrea s.

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  18. You have the cutest sweetest blog ever and these cupcakes are amazing!! <3<3<3

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  19. I love the paper straws! I need to make these, they are so cute... already planning my shopping trip :)

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  20. could anybody tell me how many cupcakes come from one batch? i'm making them for a wedding. they look amazing!!

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  21. Anonymous,

    As I stated above in the recipe itself, you'll get about 30 regular size cupcakes from one batch.

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  22. Wow, I just made these yesterday and they turned out really good! My batter was pretty runny and made about seven extra, but they were so yummy and fudgy. Recommended!

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  23. These are the best cupcakes ever! Not only is the cake lovely and moist but the icing looks AND tastes amazing! Can't wait to make more things that you have created, especially if they all taste this amazing!

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  24. These are some stunning cupcakes! I love chocolate malts and will definitely be trying these, though I don't think my piping skills are quite like yours!

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  25. The buttercream comes out perfect EVERYTIME I make it...amounts of ingredients are spot on! I made the cupcake batter using buttermilk instead of the sour cream...still fabulous! I even went the extra mile to place a maraschino cherry into the center of the cupcake AFTER they were baked (kids love this idea)!And as for the piping....seems you need to tell everyone how you did such a spectacular job! Thanx, Bren

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  26. I know it's June, but I'm making these this weekend; I'll let you know how I did!

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  27. I made these cupcakes and they were amazing. The cake was moist and the frosting delicious. Thank you for sharing!

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  28. Hey hon - I thought you should be aware (if you aren't already) that your images for these cupcakes were used in an "anti trans fat" campaign news article. I recognized them from your blog instantly. The article is here. http://thecontributor.com/us-hearts-rejoice-fda-ban-trans-fats Perhaps there is a way to make them remove your image from the article?

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  29. I'm thinking of making these for my mom's 60th bday party we'll be hosting outside. Do you think the icing will hold up to heat and humidity?

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    1. Kristie, as long as it's not SUPER hot and you're not planning to display the cupcakes in the heat for long, I'd say they'd be fine. Since the frosting uses half butter and half shortening, it is a bit more stable in heat than an all butter frosting would be. One thing I like to do if I know I'm going to have cupcakes that are going to be out in the heat is to refrigerate them for a few hours first so the frosting becomes completely firm. You won't want to serve them ice cold, so do let them warm up a bit straight out of the fridge, but this helps to create a stable structure that, in my experience, keeps the frosting from melting longer. You might also try increasing the shortening to butter ratio (1 1/2 cups shortening to 1/2 cup butter, for example) as shortening has a higher melting point. However, that will affect the flavor of the frosting a bit, but since this frosting is pretty flavorful to begin with, I don't think it will be too noticeable.

      My biggest recommendation, if time allows, is to do a trial run of the cupcakes and test out how the frosting holds up in similar conditions that you expect for the party.

      I hope that helps!

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  30. These are THE BEST. This is my go-to recipe for cupcakes as they never fail and always receive rave reviews. I have toyed around with the idea of omitting the cocoa powder to create a vanilla cupcake that is equally impressive. Thank you!

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