Easter Chocolate Malted Cupcakes

My dad and my hubby have maybe one thing in common (other than they are both really really cool) ...they both love malt balls. I always buy Aaron a package of Easter egg Whoppers around Easter time. Speaking of, anyone else thing Easter candy is the best!? Yum.

Anyway, I saw the eggs sitting on the counter plus I needed some cupcakes for an activity and here you have it. In my cupcake making experience I've made lot of scratch cupcakes. Some have turned out great and others terrible. I hate using a cake mix, I dunno, I'm a snob I guess. But there is this whole world of "doctored" cake mixes that really do taste a lot better AND you're pretty much guaranteed a moist yummy cupcake every time.

So, I'll share the basic recipe I use. You can find all kinds of variations of doctored mixes all over the net, so if you're craving a particular "flavor", just use my friend Google and you're bound to find what you're looking for.

Chocolate Cake or Cupcakes
1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

And it's easy! Throw everything into a bowl, mix it up and pour into prepared pan(s). Bake at 350. Check the cake box for approximate bake times.

This is a basic recipe, you can add or substitute to suit what you're aiming for. I added about a cup of chocolate malt milk mix (Ovaltine) to the batter to give the malt taste. They turned out moist and delicious. Yum.

As for the frosting, I used a basic buttercream and added Ovaltine to it. Next time I would dissolve the Ovaltine in my liquid before adding to the buttercream. I crushed up some Whopper Eggs and sprinkled on. Enjoy!

Basic Buttercream
1 cup softened butter
1 cup shortening

8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon popcorn salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 fluid ounces heavy cream

Cream the butter and shortening until smooth and pale. Add all the powdered sugar. It should be really dry at this point. Warm your liquid, add salt and stir till dissolved. Let cool. Add cooled liquid to your sugar mixture slowly till you reach your desired consisitency. Add vanilla or other flavoring and beat until smooth.

Have a great day!!!