I made cupcakes for Dave's ukulele groups 16th anniversary - I gave him a couple flavor ideas and he picked chocolate with raspberry filling. I haven't made the filling this way before so I'll share what I did (and what I'll do differently next time).
I doctored a Devil's Food cake mix with an extra egg, swapped milk for water, swapped melted butter for the oil, added a teaspoon of vanilla, a big scoop of sour cream, and about 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips. Bake according to package directions. I got 24 regular-sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes. Cool completely.
For the filling I combined a large jar of marshmallow Fluff with a stick of room temperature unsalted butter until well combined and fluffy. Add a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of salt, and a *scoop of seedless raspberry jam. Gradually add in powdered sugar if the filling is too runny, until you get the consistency you need to put it in a piping bag fitted with a large 1M star tip without it running out. I made the mistake of not getting it thick enough and it was messy! I probably put in 1/3-1/2 cup of jam and that was too much and made the filling very runny (I didn't measure, just scooped straight out of the jar), next time I will start with maybe 1/4 cup and see if that makes it firmer. To fill the cupcakes, poke the 1M tip into the middle of the cupcake and squeeze gently.
I frosted them with chocolate ganache frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (half and half or whole milk will also work)
- 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bar, finely chopped
- pinch of coarse salt, optional
- 1/2 t. vanilla, optional
Heat the cream to just below boiling, do not boil. (note: I warm the cream in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, start with 1 minute and if it isn't hot enough add 30 seconds and check again).
Put the chopped chocolate in medium bowl and pour the hot cream over. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until the chocolate has melted completely and is smooth. Add a pinch of salt and vanilla if desired.
Cover and let the melted chocolate cool, it will fully cool within 3 hours at room temperature. Whip it on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture - they actually looked just like these cupcakes tho that I made for his group when I first started this blog:
