Coke Float Cupcakes

You guys, these are like chocolate cupcakes on crack. 

No joke.

The cake is light, fluffy and moist.  It is pretty close to cupcake perfection. 

This recipe could easily be adapted to use root beer, or another cola of your choice. Simply swap out the Coke for your fizzy beverage of choice. 

And here come the details:

The Cupcake-

1c Coke
1/2c butter
1/2c veg oil
1/4c cocoa, sifted
22 marshmallows (yup, 22.  precisely)
2c flour
up to 2c sugar (though I used 1c sugar, 1/4 granulated sweetener)
1tsp baking soda
1tsp vanilla
1c buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 325

In pot over med-low heat mix cola, butter, veg oil and cocoa.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Add the marshmallows, cover pot to allow marshmallows to melt.  Stir occasionally.

In mixer, mix flower, sugar and baking soda. 
Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.

Combine the melty marshamllow goop with the flour.  Mix until just combined.  It may look like the batter is rather runny.  Don't worry.  It is supposed to look that way.

Line cupcake tin, or spray with nonstick spray, fill to 2/3. 
Bake 20mins.

Allow to cool completely before frosting.
I was going to make a fancy schamncy Coke infused boiled icing to go with these.  But then I realized it was almost 10pm and I just wanted to be done and get to bed.  So I went with my standard buttercream, threw in a splash of Coke and some cocoa and we were off to the races.

The Frosting-

1c softened, unsalted butter
3-4c icing sugar (if you wish to make chocolate buttercream add 1/4c cocoa in place of some of the icing sugar)
1/4tsp salt
1tblsp vanilla
up to 4 tblspns milk (or in this case Coke)

Beat butter
Add 3c icing sugar (plus the cocoa if using); mix on low speed
Increase speed to medium; add vanilla and milk (or Coke)
Add more icing sugar as needed to reach desired consistency

This frosting works well if you want to pipe it, it works just as well if want to just slather it on willy-nilly.  It also works well for eating directly out of the bowl.  No cupcake needed.  Jus'sayin.

These little babies were made for a bake sale.  Because I was tired and wanted to tap out and go to bed I totally forgot to snap a picture.  So you're just going to have to trust me when I say not only are they delicious they're also pretty darn cute!

Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes, you read that correctly: Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.

I. KNOW.

And yes they are diet friendly. 

I wanted to make a batch of cupcakes to take to my cousin who just turned 10 a few days ago (yup, a bit late on that one...better late than never though, right?). I wanted something more than my standard chocolate cup cake, but wanted familiar flavors for her 10 year old taste buds.  I'm not so sure she would have appreciated the chocolate Irish cream with caramel butter cream I've made.

I also wanted to make them look fun and pretty for her.  Any excuse for a trip to Michaels!

I came home and whipped up a bunch of these little babies.  

The cupcake:

2/3c Nutella
1c regular flour
1 1/2c cake flour
1 1/2c cocoa
2tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
3/4tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2c sugar
3/4c softened butter
2 1/2c butter milk*

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In large bowl beat eggs and sugar for 5mins. Then add in butter.  Mix until combined. Add Nutella. Mix. Add buttermilk and mix until well incorporated.

So good you'll want to just eat it straight from the bowl

Add flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. 

Line cupcake tin with liners of your choice, though this recipe totally warrants using fun ones! Fill cupcake tine and bake 20-25mins, until toothpick comes out clean.

Happy naked little cupcakies 

I found in my oven they were perfectly done at 25mins. Cooking times may vary depending on the oven. I find my oven runs a bit cooler than others I've cooked in, so bear that in mind.





The Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese. I used the Light variety.  Told you they were diet friendly.
5 tablespoons room temperature butter
3 3/4c icing sugar
2 tsp clear vanilla extract **

Cream butter and cream cheese in large mixing bowl.
Add vanilla.
Slowly add the icing sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.
Beat on high until smooth and fluffy.
Add a bit of milk or more sugar if needed to reach desired consistency.

*don't have buttermilk? Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar per 1c of regular milk. Let it sit until it curdles, about 10mins.

**clear vanilla extract helps maintain a pure white color of the frosting.  But if this isn't important to you, then go ahead and use the regular stuff, which is what I did.

Oh, I should perhaps warn you this recipe will yield a bazillion regular sized cupcakes.  If you prefer the minis you'll be baking cup cakes for days.  I actually just did a head count: 2.5 dozen plus 1.  The frosting recipe will yield enough to frost the whole batch. 

Another warning: if you are not a big chocolate fan these are probably not for you.
The cake is super chocolatey while being light, fluffy and moist.  Everything you want a perfect little cup cake to be!

Tip: if you intend to pipe your frosting you may want to chill it for a few minutes first.  I found once the heat from my hands hit the piping bag it went soft pretty quickly.

I think these will be my new go-to chocolate cupcakes!  They're so beyond delicious!  And because the recipe makes so many you've got plenty to share! Or not. Either way, they're yummy and worth every bite!