I made these cupcakes to take in on my last day at the VA before I switched hospitals. My attending brought in some milky ways to share one day and I remembered how much I liked them…and it made me want to use them in a cupcake! You may remember that I made a Snickers Cupcake that look very similar to these. They have the same chocolate cupcake base (my favorite–that I’ve posted about ad nauseum–but if you still haven’t tried it, you should!), but instead of freezing miniature milky way bars and baking them inside the cupcake, I mixed chopped milky ways and homemade caramel sauce…need I say more? =). I used an apple corer to make a hole for the filling, but you could easily use a small knife. Be very careful not to burn the caramel sauce. Don’t start loading the dishwasher while it’s cooking, because it will quickly go from perfect to burnt and you will have to start over. Not that this happened to me or anything ;). I also just happened to have some caramel extract that I bought at wal-mart for some cookies I was wanting to make so I added some to the frosting, but if you can’t find caramel extract you can leave it out. You probably won’t even miss it. I thought it tasted almost like butterscotch anyway. Be careful not to garnish with too many candy pieces and caramel–the frosting and filling are very sweet already. I think next time I might use milky way midnights or maybe a mix of both. Enjoy!
Milky Way Cupcakes
for the cupcakes:
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup hot coffee
3/4 cup bread flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line muffin tins with paper liners (15-18).
3. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes in refrigerator. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside. Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups.
5. Bake for 13-17 minutes, or until edges are springy to touch and center is almost set.
6. Cool cupcakes thoroughly on wire rack<
for the filling
Gently mix 1 1/2 cups chopped milky way candy bars and 1/3-1/2 cup caramel sauce.
caramel sauce:
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to foam a bit. It will look and smell like it’s on the verge of burning.
2. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Stir until the sauce is smooth (you may need to return it to the heat to smooth it out), then mix in the vanilla and salt. Let cool. (This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.)
for the frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp caramel extract (optional)
3-4 tbsp caramel sauce
1. Beat butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and beat until fully combine.
3. Add in extracts and caramel sauce, one tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
to assemble:
Using an apple corer or small paring knife, take a small portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each cupcake with a spoonful of the filling mixture. Replace cake tops. Top with frosting. Drizzle with caramel sauce and chopped milky way, if desired.
*cupcakes adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, caramel sauce adapted from David Lebovitz
Bread flour? Are you sure you don't mean something like all purpose or cake flour?
I suppose you could use all-purpose, but the original recipe calls for bread flour. The recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated and they say, "Substituting bread flour for all-purpose flour made our cupcake sturdy, but not tough, and it allowed us to add more chocolate". Hope this helps! =)