In a followup to the three weeks of Halloween themed cupcakes, I thought it only fitting to have a Halloween leftover cupcake. This week's cupcake is a vanilla cake filled with Mr.Goodbar bits and a Milk Duds ganache, topped with a Hershey's milk chocolate cream cheese frosting and Reese's buttercup crumbs. There were York Peppermint 'Batty's in the mixed bag of treats so those will be served up on the side as an after snack mint.
Mr.Goodbar Cupcake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chopped Mr. Goodbars (~7 miniature bars)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan(s).
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar until fluffy (~3 minutes). Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between. In a small bowl whisk together the milk and vanilla extract; set aside. In a medium bowl sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture in thirds alternating with the milk/extract mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients until combined. Fold in Mr. Goodbar chunks.This batch yielded 5 mini and 12 regular sized cupcakes baked for 10 and 15 minutes respectively.
Milk Duds Ganache
8 oz Milk Duds (~1cup or 15 miniature boxes)
2/3 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp butter
Melt the chocolate and butter over a double broiler. Whisk in the cream and allow to cool until thick/pipe-able, refrigeration helps.
Once cupcakes have cooled, cut hole into center of each and fill with Milk Duds ganache.
Hershey Milk Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz Hershey Milk Chocolate, melted (~1cup or 9 miniature bars)
2 tbsp heavy cream
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 pkg, I used 1/3 less fat), room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup confectioner/icing sugar
In a large bowl, mix together the melted chocolate and cream, allow to cool. In a separate medium sized bowl, cream together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Mix in the sugar. Refrigerate, removing from the fridge 1 hour before using. At 3/4 inch thick, this yielded enough frosting for all 12+5 cupcakes with enough left over to frost a couple more.
Once frosted, sprinkle with crumbs chopped from 5 Reese Peanut Buttercups.
The Panel:
Sweet was definitely a common response to this week's cupcake, but it was to be expected. The after meal Peppermint 'Batty' were well received and the general concept appreciated. The comment was made that the simple vanilla cake choice was well planned as it balanced out the chocolate overload. The Milk Duds ganache was highly favoured, though JRock mentioned that in relation to the quantity of cake, there was too much filling. Peanut actually suggested sprinkling a bit of sea salt over top to balance the caramel sweetness.
CrazyCakes: "Not sure whether to be overwhelmed or in-love.."
Diana: "Aromatically delicious!"
My comments:
I agree with the odd comment that the cake was slightly dry, in which case I was rather thankful for the caramel center which I felt detracted from that issue. I think I will start adding applesauce when working with the regular vanilla batter recipe in an attempt to resolve this issue. Overall I felt the flavour combination was hearty and that the cream cheese balanced the sweetness well. I found the Mr. Goodbar hard to pick up though the peanutty bits added nice texture when encountered. Would be curious to exercise Peanut's sea salt recommendation.
Sweet was definitely a common response to this week's cupcake, but it was to be expected. The after meal Peppermint 'Batty' were well received and the general concept appreciated. The comment was made that the simple vanilla cake choice was well planned as it balanced out the chocolate overload. The Milk Duds ganache was highly favoured, though JRock mentioned that in relation to the quantity of cake, there was too much filling. Peanut actually suggested sprinkling a bit of sea salt over top to balance the caramel sweetness.
CrazyCakes: "Not sure whether to be overwhelmed or in-love.."
Diana: "Aromatically delicious!"
My comments:
I agree with the odd comment that the cake was slightly dry, in which case I was rather thankful for the caramel center which I felt detracted from that issue. I think I will start adding applesauce when working with the regular vanilla batter recipe in an attempt to resolve this issue. Overall I felt the flavour combination was hearty and that the cream cheese balanced the sweetness well. I found the Mr. Goodbar hard to pick up though the peanutty bits added nice texture when encountered. Would be curious to exercise Peanut's sea salt recommendation.