I find myself, whenever I am bored or hungry, flipping through foodgawker or using my stumbleupon (which is only set to bring up new recipes). I love the food porn available and the fascinating things people can do with food. In case you hadn't noticed, I love food blogs especially. I like cooks with a voice, bakers who have other lives, chefs with secret passions they only wish to share through pretty pictures over the internet. Now I am no photographer--I lack both the camera and the skills--but if these cupcakes are anything to judge by, I just might be a (not-so-)secret fantastic baker. Upon biting into one of these, more than one of my friends asked me if I hadn't actually considered going into business with the things. They were THAT good.In my internet wanderings I discovered this idea for frosting a cupcake with minimum time and effort, while still creating a pretty and charming effect. After trying this I found the same idea featured in Real Simple magazine and I got upset--it's MY idea!! Or at least the food blogger's idea, and my stolen idea! Geez. No one else is supposed to be this smart!
I used the Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe I found here originally (a fantastic recipe, by the way, I have tried it out and it worked beautifully) with a few changes.
Adapted Chocolate Cake Recipe:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee
Pre-heat oven to 350°F
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be VERY thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
Now the key is to bake these beauties to for only 15 minutes. Pull them out at that time, and ignore the fact that they are not done yet; that's the point. On top of each cupcake place a marshmallow (or peep). Balancing carefully, replace the cupcakes into the oven for another 4-5 minutes (4 was perfect for me). When you pull them out, push down the marshmallows to gently create cute little snowcaps.
With the peeps you will see that they expanded a bit, but as they cool they will return to peep size. These can and should be enjoyed warm, when they are at their absolute best, but even after a few days the marshmallow still remains gooey and the cake moist as well as they are wrapped up tight or kept in an airtight container. Enjoy!!!
