Old School Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
When I was a kid, we had a bread man that would drive around the countryside in an old truck peddling baked goods and various packaged treats to farm and country folk that were too busy or had no means of transportation to venture into town. Every Saturday morning, my friend Kelly and I would anxiously wait down the road for Tom's light blue truck to crest the hill as we clutched our weekly allowance in our hands, chatting about what treat we would buy ourselves that day. Our eyes would widen as Tom would use his hook to slide forward the shelves revealing loaves of bread, buns, pies or whatever else he packed that day to deliver to the rural families. My favourite treat from Tom's pantry on wheels were the "Hostess" cream filled cupcakes...back then, you would get two cupcakes for the price of one and in my 9 year old mind, that was a pretty good bang for your grass-cutting buck!
Not that long ago, I bought some of those prepackaged cupcakes thinking that they would bring back fond memories of my childhood but sadly, the cake was like chocolate saw dust and the icing was like a wax slick AND for an extra kick in the butt, you only get one cupcake per package...come to think of it, perhaps one of those cupcakes is enough! Since I loved those cupcakes years ago, I decided to make my own and take a trip back to the good ole days of Saturdays with Kelly and Tom the Bread Man!
Before I start with the ingredients run down, I must to tell you that I have made 14 versions of chocolate cupcakes trying to come up with the perfect recipe! I just can't make it simple for myself, I needed "the" cupcake...one that is moist, yet sturdy enough to stuff with the fluffy filling and dip into the satiny chocolate topping! Let me tell you that after many trips to the baking section of the store, fiddling with different ingredient combinations and mixing methods, I am happy to say that this is the one...AND I am a little sick of chocolate cupcakes!!
First, you will need: all purpose flour, granulated and brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, cocoa powder, vanilla, vegetable oil, full fat sour cream and 2 whole eggs.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees then, in a medium sized bowl, combine 1 cup of all purpose flour, a 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder...
... 1 tsp. of baking powder, 3/4 tsp. of baking soda and 1/8 tsp. of salt. Mix together until fully combined then set aside.
Next, in the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl using electric hand held beaters), add a 1/2 cup of full fat sour cream,
...a 1/2 cup of granulated sugar plus a 1/2 cup of lightly packed brown sugar,
...and a 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp's of vegetable oil.
Next, add in 2 tsp's of vanilla and 2 eggs (beating just until each egg is combined after each addition).
Next, pour in the dry ingredients...
...and mix on medium speed until the batter is smooth (scraping down the sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary)...don't over mix as the cupcakes will turn out dry...and ain't no one got time for dry cupcakes!!
Divide batter evenly into 12 paper lined muffin cups, filling cups only half full (the batter will be fairly thick).
Bake in your preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Set on wire racks until cool while you make the filling.
To make the creamy filling, in a small saucepan whisk together 3 tbsp's of water, 1 cup of icing sugar...
...and a 1/2 tbsp. of corn syrup...set over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble then boil for 1 minute without stirring...remove from heat and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer with the whip attachment (or in a large bowl using electric beaters), beat a pinch of salt and 1 room temperature egg white until soft peaks form...
With the mixer still running, slowly pour the hot syrup into the beaten egg white...
...add 1 tsp. of vanilla extract then whip the mixture for about 3-4 minutes or until glossy and light (this filling is just asking to be eaten off of the whisk!!)
Scrape the filling into a piping bag with a round tip. Insert the tip into the top of cupcake (almost to the bottom of cupcake) and squeeze the piping bag, filling the centre...keep squeezing until the filling starts to come out of the top. You want lots of filling in these babies! You may have some filling left over...feel free to pipe the rest into your mouth!
(If you don't have a piping bag and tip, you can cut the centre core out of each cupcake with a sharp knife, then put the filling into a large Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off...use that to fill the centre of cupcake.)
To make the chocolate glaze for the top of cupcakes, combine 3 tbsp.'s of butter, 1 tbsp. of water and 3 tbsp's of corn syrup in a small saucepan. Set over medium heat until the butter melts and mixture begins to bubble.
Turn heat down to low and add 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips...
...remove saucepan from heat and stir mixture until the chocolate chips have melted and glaze is smooth.
Dip the tops of each cupcake in glaze allowing the excess to drip off...resist the urge to lick the cupcake at this point!
Repeat steps until each cupcake has been dipped.
Next, pipe a little vanilla icing swirl across the top of each cupcake...for this step, feel free to crack open a can of icing and use that or you can follow my simple recipe below...I promise I won't judge about the canned icing because I have some in my cupboard as we speak! It's an emergency item for sudden cravings...there is also boxed cake mix for the same emergency!!
To make a quick and simple vanilla frosting, you will need a 1/4 cup of softened butter, 2 cups of icing sugar, a couple tbsp's of milk and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.
Beat the softened butter until smooth, add the icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract...
...then, beat until smooth and creamy. Put icing into a piping bag with a small round tip (or use a medium Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off)...
...and pipe a looped line across the top of each cupcake!
Voila...there ya have it!!
Old school cream filled cupcakes!! It looks like a lot of steps but totally worth every one...and if you take the boxed mix, canned icing route, that is okay too...still waaayy better than the "others" that we won't mention! Enjoy!!
Old School Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
Cupcakes:
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. of baking soda
1/8 tsp. of salt
1/2 cup of full fat sour cream
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of lightly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp's of vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp's of vanilla extract
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients and set aside.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with electric beaters), add the sour cream, sugars and vegetable oil...mix at medium speed until smooth then add in the vanilla and the eggs one at a time, beating just until combined after each egg addition.
4. Next, fold the dry ingredients into the sour cream mixture, just until all is incorporated...you don't want to over mix the batter.
5. Divide the batter evenly into the lined muffin cups, filling only half full (batter will be fairly thick). Bake in your preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean.
6. Remove from oven and place on wire racks to cool...set aside.
Oven temperatures and baking times may vary.
Cream Filling
3 tbsp's of water
1/2 of a tbsp. of corn syrup
1 cup of icing sugar
1 room temperature egg white
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the water, corn syrup and icing sugar...whisk to combine.
2. Let mixture start to bubble then allow syrup to boil for 1 minute without stirring...remove saucepan from the heat and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the whip attachment (or in a medium bowl using electric beaters), beat the room temperature egg white with the pinch of salt until soft peaks form.
4. With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly pour the hot syrup into the whipped egg white.
5. Add 1 tsp. of vanilla and whip for about 3-4 minutes or until light and glossy.
6. Put the filling into a piping bag with a round tip...insert the tip into the top of cupcakes (almost to the bottom) and squeeze the piping bag, filling the centre...keep squeezing until the filling starts to come out of the top. You want lots of filling in these puppies!
Chocolate Glaze
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp's of butter
3 tbsp's of corn syrup
1 tbsp of butter
1. In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, combine the butter, water and corn syrup...bring mixture to a boil then remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips.
2. Stir until smooth and glossy.
3. Dip each filled cupcake top into the glaze letting the excess drip off...repeat steps until all cupcakes are glazed.
Vanilla Icing (for the top looped line)
1/4 cup of butter, softened
2 cups of icing sugar
2 tbsp's of milk
1 tsp. of vanilla
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or in a medium bowl using electric beaters) beat softened butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add the icing sugar, milk and vanilla then continue to beat until smooth and creamy.
3. Scrape icing into a piping bag with a small round tip (or in a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off) and pipe a swirly line across the top of each cupcake.
* makes 12 cupcakes
* cupcakes are best eaten the same day (1 more day won't hurt though!)
* store leftovers in the fridge
* oven temperatures may vary, so keep an eye on your cupcakes
* In traditional 7 minute frosting, the egg whites are brought to a temperature of 160 degrees in a double boiler...this recipe does not...if you are concerned about using raw egg whites for your frosting, below is a link to a recipe for 7 Minute Frosting that calls for the use of a double boiler.