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Hot Cocoa Cupcakes

After posting about my marshmallow coco mug pops yesterday, I thought I would stick with the theme and share some adorable hot cocoa mug cupcakes! These rich chocolate cocoa cupcakes are filled with gooey marshmallow creme, topped with a sweet marshmallow-y cocoa frosting and a swirl of "whipped cream" frosting and toppings galore. These are such a festive indulgence for the holiday season and a really fun party treat!


To learn some tricks on how to fill your cupcakes, watch the video below or click here to view it on YouTube

Start by creating a well for your filling. You can do this by cutting out the center with a knife, a melon baller or even an apple corer.

Spoon in some marshmallow creme.


Put the top back on... if you didn't eat it already. Totally fine without the top too, as you can just spread frosting over the hole.


Spread your cocoa marshmallow frosting over the tops.


Add your whipped white frosting to look like whipped cream and add some marshmallows!


If you wanna get really festive, you can bake your cupcakes in fun baking cups or oven safe mini paper drinking cups, create a handle out of candy or icing coated pretzels to look like a mug and add fun toppings.


I covered some regular and mini broken pretzel twists with cookie icing and used red Twizzlers for a handle and straw. You can top them with anything from a sprinkle of cocoa powder, to mini chocolate chips, sprinkles or itty bitty marshmallows!


Cocoa Cupcakes

Yield: 14 cupcakes 

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes:
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (105g) all-purpose flour, weighed or spooned and leveled
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder, dutch processed or "Special Dark"
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated white sugar
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules
  • 1/2 cup boiling water

    Filling
    • jar of marshmallow creme or fluff

    Frosting
    • 3 large egg whites, room temperature
    • 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
    • 1/4 cup water
    • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
    • 1/8 teaspoon salt
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 2-4 tablespoons cocoa powder

    Toppings of your choice
    • sprinkles
    • mini marshmallows
    • chocolate chips
    • cocoa powder


    Directions
    Prepare Cupcakes
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with baking cups.

    In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa and sugar. In a measuring cup whisk together oil, egg, vanilla and sour cream. Gently stir into dry ingredients. Dissolve instant espresso or coffee in the boiling water and stir into batter. Batter will be thin and liquidy.

    Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full, about 3 tablespoons of batter per cup. Bake for 16-19 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. (For mini cupcakes, fill with about 1 1/2 tablespoons batter each and bake for about 8-10 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

    Prepare Frosting
    Before you start, make sure your mixing bowl and whisk/beaters are completely grease free, and when separating your eggs, make sure there is not a speck of yolk in your eggs whites.

    Combine egg whites, sugar, water, cream of tartar and salt in a stainless steel or glass bowl placed over a pot with 1" of simmering water. With a wisk or hand mixer, constantly beat for 5 more minutes, until frosting is glossy and stiff peaks form. (mixture should reach 160 degrees.) Remove bowl from heat. Add vanilla and beat another 2 minutes, until frosting has slightly cooled. Stir the cocoa into about 1/3 of the frosting. Set aside the rest for piping on top.

    Assemble
    Start by filling your cupcakes with your marshmallow fluff/creme (see video below, or click here for a variety of techniques for filling a cupcake). Spread your cocoa marshmallow frosting over the tops. Pipe a swirl of the white frosting on top and add toppings!


    If you like these, check out my marshmallow cocoa mugs: