Christmas Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

These hot chocolate cupcakes were so 'hot' they were flying off the stall faster than I could keep track of them.  I'm not sure whether it was because everyone liked the look of that chocolate covered wafer peeping out the top, or because it was a rather chilly day here in Wales and maybe it was just what people needed to warm up! 

Either way people 'oohed' and 'aahed' over them and one lady told me my cupcakes looked so perfect she didn't think they were real at first! 

What makes these hot chocolate cupcakes special is that they have a mug of real hot chocolate blended into the batter, and paired with swiss meringue buttercream they are a delightfully decadent festive treat! 

I know many people are terrified of making swiss meringue buttercream but I'm here to tell you that it is not scary at all.  As long as you follow all the steps carefully and keep going beyond the stage where it looks like it's going to curdle, you will end up with some of the silkiest frosting ever that is my favourite kind of piping to frost with because it just looks so glossy and awesome once you're done! 

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes:

Makes 12 Regular and 12 Mini's

From Half Baked: The Cake Blog

310g plain flour

450g caster sugar

115g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 eggs

2 heaped tsp hot chocolate powder mixed with 180ml warm milk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

In a free standing mixer, combine all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients: eggs, hot chocolate/milk mixture, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.

Beat on medium speed until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Fill cupcake cases 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 16 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

Makes enough to frost the above

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

5 large egg whites

250g caster sugar

pinch of salt

450g unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water.

Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved.

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Starting on low, gradually increase to medium-high and whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.  Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) about 10 minutes.

Add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla.

Switch to the paddle attachment and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes.

Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. 

To assemble:

Pipe Swiss Meringue Buttercream onto the cupcakes using a narrow opening star nozzle to ensure that you get lovely ruffles to create the whipped cream effect.

Add 3 mini white marshmallows to the top of the frosting.

Lightly sprinkle some cocoa powder over the top using a sieve.

Stick your pre prepared wafer into the frosting at a diagonal angle.  (The night before I melted some milk chocolate and dipped the ends of all the wafers in the chocolate and left them to dry on a sheet of parchment paper, and then transferred them into an airtight container.)

A Christmas Cupcake Stall at Bangor's Christmas Market

Yesterday was Bangor Uni's Christmas Market, which was run by the students.  We got an email a while back asking if anyone was interested in running a stall so I jumped at the chance, not realising the market was the day after I had an essay due in! In hindsight, it wasn't the best timing! but it turned out pretty well in the end considering how little sleep I got (please excuse the bad pictures - the lighting in the hall was terrible!) Also, I am not claiming responsibility for the purple tablecloth or the tinsel - that was all down to the University setting up! but I must thank my mom for sending me the awesome gold and starry tablecloth and serviettes to make my stall a little bit prettier! Most people didn't worry with their stalls but I like things to look fancy! 

Here's a little run down of everything I made, recipes will be following later in the week...

First up, I made some red velvet cupcakes with peppermint frosting.  I made the frosting two tone to co-ordinate with the candy cane toppers.  

The most popular of the day had to be these hot chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream.  If you've never had swiss meringue buttercream before (no one seemed to know what it was who visited my stall!) it's a very silky light frosting made from a combination of heated egg whites, butter and sugar.  It's less sweet then regular buttercream and was the perfect accompaniment to the rich chocolate cupcake.  It also pipes on like a dream and as it's so light it helped to create the whipped cream look I was going for.  I dusted some cocoa, sprinkled some marshmallows on and dipped a wafer in melted chocolate just to finish them off! 

One of my favourite combos, especially for Christmas is gingerbread with cream cheese frosting.  I made these cupcakes for the first time two years ago and then last year in the Caribbean I made them with my sister too, so they're definitely becoming a bit of a tradition!

 Homemade gingerbread men as toppers always go down well.  I'm really not a fan of fondant decorations and I believe cupcake toppings should always look good and be delicious.

My favourite cupcakes of the day were these brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  They are all round a delicious flavour combo but also I was excited to make them so I could turn them into baubles! I ordered the mini Reese's peanut butter cups from one of my favourite websites - The Stateside Candy Co, and I knew as soon as I saw them that they would be perfect for looking like a bauble! 

So I tried my best to mound my frosting into a circular shape and then did a few zig zag patterns over the frosting with melted chocolate.  I put the reese's cup at the top to act as the hanging part of the bauble.  They were time consuming but I think they were worth the effort! As a random side note, I discovered last year whilst in the Caribbean from my American colleagues that they didn't know what a bauble was! Apparently in America they are known simply as Christmas Ornaments so for all my American followers these were my 'Christmas Ornament' cupcakes! 

I also baked 12 mini's of each flavour because these bite sized treats are always popular.

Did you know egg boxes are made for putting mini's in? I like to give them aways as presents in these by decorating the boxes and tying ribbon around them.  I decorated these with some striped Christmas paper and a gift tag...

and put a random assortment of mini's inside - people fell in love with these and all the boxes were snapped up in the first 20 minutes! I must remember to make more for next time around...

I finished with a few treats for those out there who might not be as cupcake crazy as I am! I made some Christmas shaped gingerbread cookies, and these peppermint brownies.  They were chocolate brownies frosted with chocolate-peppermint swiss meringue buttercream and finished off with some chopped up candy canes and a drizzle of mint chocolate .  I made these in the last hour before we had to leave the house as an afterthought, but I was glad I did as they got some of the best compliments of the day! 

I'm off to do my 25th load of washing up...no really! Baking for the masses without a dishwasher is no fun at all!