After surviving a fanatical 36 hours of cooking for our housewarming last Saturday (which was wonderful and I’m SO glad I have amazing friends who attended … and even those who couldn’t make it!), I was feeling a little uninspired about baking this week. I’ve also been commissioned for a major baking project that has me feeling a little overwhelmed, but at the same time I’m also excited. So, yes, my mind has been elsewhere.
I went with a cupcake that has been on my list for a while, the malted milk ball (or whoppers, as most of you know them to be). I kicked things up a bit with a malted milk ball truffle filling, and essentially put malted milk powder in everything: cake, filling and frosting.
Ray says these cupcakes will blow chocolate lovers away … whereas I’m just not a fan of these cupcakes (that’s terrible of me to say, right?) Perhaps it’s because it’s Friday morning and I discovered that the malted milk balls I had cut in half for a top garnish had their centers semi-liquified by the buttercream. That’ll make anyone cranky. Lucky for me–and my taste testers–I had extra malted milk balls. So I packed them in my bag and as soon as I got to work I surgically removed the original garnish and replaced with a full malted milk ball.
I’m glad I did this because I tried one of the semi-liquified-but-not-really malted milk balls and it was just weird. Not mushy, not crunchy, just … no thank you.
That said, I’m definitely interested in what taste testers have to say about this little chocolate bomb. But for now, I’m going to stick to coffee.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line cupcake pans with papers.
Work on the Malted Milk Ball Truffle Filling first so it has time to chill (at least 30 minutes). Measure the chocolate into a heat-safe bowl. Bring the heavy cream and butter to a boil. Take off the heat and pour over the chocolate, letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. Stir to combine, add the malted milk ball chunks, then chill.
For the cupcakes, combine flour, baking soda, salt and sugar, whisking to blend; set aside.
In a heavy-bottomed, medium pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat. Once melted, add the coffee and whisk together. Add the cocoa and malted milk powder--gradually--whisking to combine. The mixture should come to a simmer, but not a boil. You want it to thicken.
Once thickened, cool the cocoa mixture for about 10-15 minutes (the freezer is handy here, or set the pot in a bowl with ice in it).
In your stand mixer, whip together the eggs and buttermilk.
Once the cocoa mixture has cooled, slowly add a little bit of it to temper the eggs, whisking constantly. Continue to slowly add the remaining mixture, whisking to combine (this might best be done by taking the bowl off the stand mixer and whisking by hand, then putting it back on to the mixer for the dry ingredients).
Add the dry ingredients in 3-4 stages, mixing well to combine. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full. Bake for about 18-20 minutes. When done, transfer tins to wire racks to cool 5 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.
Once cooled, core the cupcakes, and spoon truffle filling into each cupcake.
For the frosting, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Once the chocolate has cooled a bit, spoon it in and mix until its integrated. Add 1 cup of confectioners sugar and beat to combine. Add the malted milk powder and vanilla extract. Add the remaining sugar gradually and whip until light and fluffy.
Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes, aiming to cover the filling hole (left uncovered). Frosting does not need to go out to the edges. Garnish with malted milk balls bits.
https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2012/06/malted-milk-ball-cupcakes/
June 29, 2012 at 8:00 am
These look amazing. I LOVE Malted Milk Balls!
June 29, 2012 at 8:05 am
Thank you! I think I’d make them again with some tweaks to the frosting. According to my husband Ray, they’re a chocolate lover’s dream
June 29, 2012 at 8:04 am
Ummmm soooo, this was a really good cupcake. So much so that I didn’t stop to savor it for even a moment. It was in my belly before I registered it was gone. I also got a bunch of chocolate all over an insertion order, good luck with that accounting.
Anyhow, the reason I ate it so fast was because it was amazingly delicious. I am very tempted to eat the 2nd one I purchased for my wife and tell her there were no cupcakes this week! Mwwwhahahaha. A+
June 29, 2012 at 8:06 am
Haha…Accounting is gonna be all “whaaaaaat? where’s the chocolate?!”
I do have an extra packed if you feel the need for more chocolate. Glad you enjoyed
June 29, 2012 at 12:28 pm
mmmmm that is tied with the Root Beer Cupcakes as one of my fav’s. But I do love chocolate!
June 30, 2012 at 2:48 pm
THIS. WAS. AWESOME. And Kevin said it’s his favorite so far!!
July 31, 2012 at 2:53 pm
So I made these and as I was coring them to add the truffle I noticed that my scraps were going missing as quickly as I was making them. My 3 yr old was sneaking into the room and swiping them when I wasn’t looking! He was so mad when he ran out and I wouldn’t give him a cupcake. He, my picky child, LOVED these!!!
To top it off, with your directions, they were so easy to make! Thanks for sharing!!!
July 31, 2012 at 2:56 pm
So glad the cupcakes turned out well! Don’t tell your little one, BUT a great treat (Ray LOVES THIS) is to take the cake scraps and top with leftover filling in a bowl. It works for any cake and filling, and is a great way to use up leftovers.