Double Chocolate Malt Shop Cupcakes W Cherry-Vanilla Buttercream

Submitted by krazynthekitchen

"Saw this on the a show for the Foodnetwork. It won, so I wanted to post this here. I have not made this yet. I wil be making them for my coworkers for Valentine's Day."

 

• Ready In: 42mins
• Ingredients: 20
• Serves: 18

ingredients

• For Cupcakes

• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2⁄3 cup whole milk
• 2⁄3 cup instant malted milk powder (recommended ( Caration brand)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon espresso powder
• 2⁄3 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2⁄3 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 cup miniature chocolate chip

• For buttercream Icing

• 4 1⁄2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1⁄2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 -4 tablespoons whipping cream
• 2⁄3 cup tart cherry preserves
• malted milk balls or maraschino cherry, for garnish

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. line 2 regular 12- cuo tins with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until well blended.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, malted milk powder, and espresso powder. Add the canola oil and eggs; whisk to blend. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixature and beat until smooth. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in the minature chocolate chips.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared cupcake tins, filling only halfway full. Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 17 minutes, until they spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean.
5. While the cupcakes bake, prepare the buttercream. In the bowl of an electris mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugar and the butter on medium-low speed until well blended. Add the vanilla and whipping cream and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light, spreadable and fluffy. Beat in the cherry preserves until well incorporated.
6. When the cupcakes have finished baking, let sit in the pans for 2 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to the wire racks to cool for 10 minutes more.
7. While the cupcakes cool, transfer the buttercream to a patry bag fitted with a large star tip. Alternatively, you can frost the cupcakes with a knife or offset spatula. When th ecupcakes have cooled, pipe the buttercream on decorativve swirls on top of the cupcake ( or swirl with a spatula ). Garnish on top of each cupcake with a malted milk ball or cherry and serve.

Reviews

[Muffin Goddess]

Fabulous cupcakes! I almost passed these by for a recipe with a shorter ingredient list, but I'm glad I didn't. The cake part wasn't super-sweet, but it didn't need to be with the frosting. The cherry vanilla buttercream was lovely in both taste and texture, and piped perfectly. Not only were these delicious, they were pretty too. I liked that I didn't need my mixer for the cake batter, so I was able to make the buttercream without having to wash my mixing bowl first. My only complaint was that I ran out of the buttercream with 3 cupcakes to go, so I dug out some canned cherry frosting that I had (a terrible substitute, but all I had). In the future, I would probably make a 1.5 batch of the buttercream and just pipe a thicker frosting layer across the board. A definite winner in my book, thanks for posting! Made for PAC Spring 2013

 

[BogeysMom]

I probably received more compliments on these than on anything I have ever taken to work. People were just amazed. I took more than twice as many as I needed to take, and there wasn't a cupcake left.

 

[Larawithoutau]

I have made a million cupcakes over the years and none were better than these, ever. These are rich, moist and delicious. I went with the Ovaltine classic malt and if they can get any better than this using a higher end malt, I'd be floored. I added a little vinegar to the milk and allowed it to sit before adding to the mix. I read somewhere that it softens the gluten/protein in the flour yielding a moister crumb (it really works); alternately you could use buttermilk. I couldn't find the tart cherry preserves, although I really wanted to, the buttercream was fluffy & delicious. I made the full recipe of frosting and it was more than I needed (but also gave me an excuse to make more when these are gone). Topped them with a maraschino cherry (allow to drain to dry before topping) for a beautiful presentation. Thanks for posting this recipe, someone is really going to be pleased with their birthday cupcakes this year!

 

[susan_ways]

This was a very good recipe. I added 2/3 cup of sugar per the other reviews and 2/3 cup of malted milk powder. The cupcakes had a great flavor and were just sweet enough. I also increased the recipe for the icing and found I had way too much. I guess this is all in a personal preference on how much icing you like on your cupcakes. If you are piping it on so it stacks up, you will need more. The recipe, as is, is perfect for regular icing. I did add a little more cherry preserves as I wanted more cherry flavor. Also, the icing is very sweet so a less sweet cupcake is perfect. I sprinkled the top with red crystals and topped with a malted milk ball.

 

[supercrafty]

The cupcake base needed to be sweeter, and it didn't have enough malt flavor.