Week 1 - Malted Milk Ball Cupcake

Let me preface this post by confessing that this picture was not taken in my kitchen. It did not occur to me to take a picture of these cupcakes before they were gone, so I had to search for one. I will say, the cupcakes I made looked very, very similar to this. I solemnly swear to take pictures of every cupcake produced in my home from this point on.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, on to the recipe. These cupcakes were good. Very good. The cake is a basic vanilla cake jazzed up with a hint of malt and pieces of malted milk ball, topped with whipped chocolate ganache and a whole malted milk ball. About the time you swallow the first bite, the malt flavor jumps up and says, "Hello!" They're a cake version of the Whoppers candy I loved as a kid!

Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C cake flour*

1 1/2 C sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 C malted milk powder
3 large eggs
1/2 C unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 C chopped malted milk ball candies (tossed in 1 teaspoon of flour)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, malted milk powder and salt. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Add the vanilla and stir. Adding eggs one at a time, beat on low until combined. Slowly add milk, then mix on medium speed for two minutes.

Stir 1 tsp of flour into the candy crumbles, then stir into batter. The flour helps the candy to not sink to the bottom of the cake. I chopped the candy by pulsing it in the food processor a few times.

Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full. Be careful not to overfill them... I overfilled a few of them, and they overflowed the cups.  Bake 15 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then remove and move to cooling racks.

*If you do not have cake flour, you can use regular all-purpose flour. The texture is lighter and fluffier with cake flour, but all-purpose would work. You can make flour with this conversion:  For 3 cups of cake flour, add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and sift together.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
1 pint heavy cream
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (the better the quality, the better the ganache!)

You can start the ganache before you start the cupcake batter, because it needs to cool quite a bit before you whip it. Pour the chocolate pieces in a glass bowl. Heat the cream until it starts to simmer, then pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the ganache is well mixed and glossy. Cool completely.

When you are ready to frost your cooled cupcakes, whip the ganache. I like to put my mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I whip the frosting. If it's cold, it will set and whip faster. Pour the cooled and slightly thickened ganache into the bowl and beat at high speed until the frosting lightens in color and takes on a more fluffy consistency. 

Spread or pipe the frosting on cupcakes that are completely cool, then top with a malted milk ball. If the cupcake is warm, it will melt the frosting and create a very, very big mess.

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If this recipe seems like way too much work, you have a couple of options. You could stir the malt powder  and candies into a prepared cake mix. You can smear on a can of chocolate frosting. You'll still have a delicious cupcake, but the effort to make the homemade cake and frosting is worth it. I promise.

Anyone who has ever loved Whopper candies will adore these cakes!