Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Fluff

I have so many cookery books now that I tend to only buy ones or ask for them as a gift if there is a specific reason - either a brand or chef I like, such as the Hummingbird Bakery, the Great British Bake Off or Nigella - or because they are focused on a specific type of cooking, e.g. vegan desserts as I have a vegan friend I like to bake for. So the fact that I bought a random cupcake book in The Works was quite unusual, but I just couldn't resist.

The Works has very competitive prices - often better than Amazon, and there are plenty of books I want there at the moment that cost just three or four pounds. This one - called Make, Bake, Cupcake - was £5.99, reduced from £14, and it was just such a pretty book with some very inventive recipes. I'm sure I will be baking more of them at a later date!

When I first flicked through, I mentally bookmarked one for hot chocolate cupcakes, because I have a set of cupcake moulds that look like cup and saucers, and I thought this would work perfectly for that recipe. It had slipped my mind until I saw my Alphabakes co-host Ros, aka The More Than Occasional Baker, had made some hot chocolate cupcakes from a different recipe as her entry for Alphabakes, as the letter this month is H. So I decided to dig out the recipe I had been planning to use and make them today; they are a quick and easy bake for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

At least, they were easy because I didn't follow the whole recipe; the book explains how to use white chocolate to use an edible case for the cake which is a brilliant idea, but I wanted to use my cup and saucer moulds. Also, the cakes in the book are topped with chocolate ganache, but I wanted to use my marshmallow fluff (thanks to Ros for reminding me) that I received in my latest Degustabox.

Here's what I did.

To make six large cupcakes, you need:
60g self-raising flour
40g cocoa powder
pinch of salt
60g softened butter or margarine
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
1 egg
4 tbsp. Carnation Cooking Crème (also in my last Degustabox) or 4 tbsp. milk
to decorate:
6 tbsp. marshmallow fluff
mini marshmallows (optional)



Preheat oven to 175C.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until light and fluffy.

Add half the flour and the cocoa powder and the Cooking Crème or milk, and fold in. Then fold in the rest of the flour.

Spoon the mixture into six cupcake cups. I only had three of the cup and saucer moulds - there were four in a box but I think one got thrown away after a party as someone thought it was rubbish. I also bought these cute baking cases at the Cake and Bake Show; they look like little cups or pots.









Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool. When cool, top with marshmallow fluff and a marshmallow.

 

 

 

 These cupcakes are really chocolately and light and fluffy, and definitely remind me of drinking a cup of hot chocolate!

 

 I'm sending these to Alphabakes, which this month is hosted by Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker.