Martha's In The Making: Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Well, I have been wanting to try these for a while, but was discouraged as they are supposed to be JUMBO cupcakes and yield 12...but after thinking about it, I realized that was likely close to two dozen standard size cupcakes which is pretty average, so I went for it. I must say I was pleasantly surprised...they are my most favourite cupcake yet...Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

These were a tad more labour intensive that I would have liked, but I knew that going in, and did them last in a morning full of baking. I had a weekend without my husband at home, and my daughter Taylor woke up at the crack of dawn as usual, so I decided to bake the morning away since it was terribly cold out and we were going to be staying in for the day. I baked 8 dozen cupcakes/muffins this day (I was baking a few extras for a friend with a new baby and a couple of other young ones as well, so I figured who couldn't use muffins in their freezer).

So, I baked mini banana muffins, banana blueberry muffins, fruit explosion muffins (like Tim Horton's) and these cream filled cupcakes...and they were all scrumptious!

So the cake part was easy...other than the fact that I had to open a new can of cocoa and it exploded all over my kitchen...it made a pop sound like a pringles chip can and a large poof of cocoa came out...i had to giggle, but didn't date to take a picture as I didn't want everyone to see my messy kitchen - which I ended up having to tidy and clean up after the spill!

The cake batter is very thick like brownie batter - which is why this cake is so moist and dense, which is likely why I loved it so much, since anyone who knows me knows that I can't say no to a good brownie.

I found this a little more intensive and messy, as the recipe calls for greasing and then cocoa dusting the cupcake pan instead of using cupcake liners...which is difficult to me, as I am sure most people know cocoa is usually kind of crumbly and doesn't dust very well...I must research a better way to do this as I have done it twice now and cursed alot at how much cocoa ends up on the floor and counters and all over me while I am doing it.

Anyway, the cupcakes baked well, but the cocoa seems to make the cakes look burnt even though they aren't...as my husband gaped at the finished product saying...YOU BURNT THEM ALL? to which I replied, just taste it, it isn't burnt...so maybe I am just doing something wrong?

So once the cakes have cooled completely, you need to cut a hole in the bottom and scoop out some of the cake inside (it says to use a small melon baller, but I improvised with a small measuring spoon which was just as effective). The recipe says to discard the crumbs...and I am sure there is a better use than tossing this yummy goodness...(I squished the remaining crumbs into a gingerbread cookie cutter which I forgot to ice and later ended up throwing it away...but I tried!)

The cream filling is a combination of marshmallow fluff that you buy, and butter to make it easier to work with, and it cuts the sweetness of the fluff - as usually that stuff makes your teeth hurt it is so sweet...but it turned into a nice fluffy soft creamy goo...

So once the bottoms were filled and I pushed the bottoms back on, I was worried about them leaking out, so I left them upside down for a while while I made another batch of cream filling - since the recipe only calls for 12 jumbo cupcakes, I didn't have enough to put the swirls on top, only to fill the 21 cupcakes I managed to yield from the recipe.