A Writers Reward: Recipe For Chocolate Cupcakes with Dream Filling

I think writers need to celebrate when reach a milestone, for instance, when we finish a story.  Yesterday I completed a short story, A Night In The Woods, I began years ago -- exactly how many is depressing to contemplate. Perhaps that's why typing "the end" felt like such an accomplishment.

What do we do when we achieve something? We celebrate!

I celebrate by baking. Lately I've had a craving for my Chocolate Dream Cupcakes, so that's what I made. (Not at my apartment, though, my kitchen is the size of a postage stamp!)

Anyway, this is, hands down, my favorite cupcake recipe so I wanted to share it with you. It's super easy.

What you need:

Cupcakes
- A box of chocolate cake mix, I prefer Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix (wickedly delicious!).

Icing
- 6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
- Three tablespoons strong coffee
- Icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsps dark rum
- 250 grams (1 cup) cream cheese, room temperature

Filling
- 1/3 cup water
- Three large egg whites
- 1 tbsp white corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar

Instructions
First, following the instructions on the box, make the cupcakes and leave them to cool on racks. They'll need to be completely cool before they're iced. A tip: I like to use paper cupcake cups so I don't have to grease and flour the pans.

When the cupcakes are cool, use a paring knife to cut out a small circle in the middle of each cupcake. I put the fluffy chocolate cores in another bowl and snack on them later.

Now, let's make the filling. This is just 7-minute frosting. I should cut this recipe by a third (so only 1 egg white is used, etc.,) but I haven't tried that yet so I'll give you the full recipe and you can experiment. Combine all ingredients in a medium sized glass bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Beat with a hand mixer on medium or high for 7 minutes. Take the bowl off the stove and continue beating every two minutes or so as it cools.

I know the filling sounds like a lot of work but, trust me, it's worth it. The filling is what makes these cupcakes mouthwateringly delicious.

Now we're ready for the icing. This is simplicity itself, just melt the chocolate with with the coffee in a double-boiler and, when the chocolate is melted and blended with the coffee, start mixing all the icing ingredients together in a large bowl.

Assembly
If you have a piping bag for icing then use this. I don't so I make a piping bag out of wax paper or use a medium sized Ziploc bag. Just fill up the bag and cut off one of the corners. So armed, fill up the hole you've made in each cupcake. Now take a big dollop of chocolate icing on your knife and slap it down in the middle of the cupcake on top of the hole and seal it up. You'll end up using a lot of icing, but the more the better; we're celebrating after all!. :)

That's it! These are great cupcakes to share, everyone I've given them to has come back for seconds and I've never had to take any home from a pot luck.

Good luck! I hope these cupcakes satisfy your sweet tooth as thoroughly as they have mine.

Photo credit: Me! Can't you tell? ;)

"A Writers Reward: Recipe For Chocolate Cupcakes with Dream Filling," copyright© 2012 by Karen Woodward.