chocolate malted cupcakes

Chocolate - the perfect stress reliever and a great treat for a cold day. My last two days of classes are quickly approaching (Monday and Tuesday), so this weekend I've been wrapping up a final project. Between that and Christmas shopping, I decided to take a break and try a recipe I spotted in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook. The recipe, chocolate malted cupcakes, jumped out at me because I absolutely LOVE chocolate malts. Especially chocolate malts from Winsteads. Hoping the cupcakes would taste like one of my favorite treats, I decided to give them a try!

I'm partial to vanilla and golden cake cupcakes, but the chocolate malted cupcakes are delicious! As soon as a finished the icing, I iced one for my husband to try, and he loved it! He gave it a ringing endorsement, which he doesn't do for all my baked treats. For instance, he claimed that the last batch of cupcakes I made (Thanksgiving) were on the dry side. I bought Whoppers candies to put on top of each cupcake, so he was also excited about the fun candy addition to the cupcake.

Right out of the oven:

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large ggs, room temperature
1 cup sour creem, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, both sugars, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together milk and malted milk powder until powder is dissolved.
2. With and electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat flour mixture, milk mixture, and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add sour cream and vanilla, and beat until just combined.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each halfway. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight container
4. To finish, frost cupcakes. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temp.

The finished product!

Chocolate Malted Icing
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup dutch process cocoa
1/4 up malted milk powder
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 Tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and the malted milk powder. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.

In the recipe, Martha recommended frosting the cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting. To me, chocolate with chocolate sounded better, so I found a recipe for chocolate malted icing online. After searching online, I also found most chocolate malted cupcake recipes recommended icing with chocolate malted icing. But, the choice is up to you! I decorated the cupcakes with Whoppers candies as I mentioned above. Also, the recipe calls for Dutch process cocoa powder. I was unable to find this at Hen House, so I ended up going to Dean & Deluca for it. It was a little pricey at Dean & Deluca, so I'm going to do a search online to see if it's something I can order, or if there is another store in town that carries it. I even checked Russell Stover's in Fairway and they recommended World Market, so I may have to go there next time. If anyone has seen Dutch process cocoa powder in their grocery store, let me know!