Rocky Road Cupcakes From Scratch Recipes

Steps:

• Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the vegetable oil and water over low heat.
• In a large bowl, sift the flour with the sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the melted butter mixture and beat with a handheld mixer at low speed until smooth. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, then add the buttermilk and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping the bottom and side of the bowl. Pour the batter into the lined muffin tins, filling them about three-fourths full.
• Bake the cupcakes in the center of the oven for about 25 minutes, until springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the frosting: Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream with the butter, corn syrup and salt until hot but not boiling. Immediately pour the mixture over the chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Let the frosting cool, whisking occasionally, until thick enough for dipping and glazing the cupcakes, about 30 minutes. For a frosting firm enough to spread, let stand for 1 hour.
• Mix the frosting with the peanuts, chocolate chips and marshmallows. Frost the cooled cupcakes and serve.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a cupcake pan with paper wrappers.
• Using a standard-size ice cream scoop or a 1/4 cup measure, scoop the Devil's Food Cake batter into the prepared pan. The batter should come one-third to one-half the way up the sides of the pans.
• Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, rotating the pan once halfway through, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back to the touch.
• Remove the cupcakes from the oven, let them cool slightly in the pan, then finish cooling them right side up on a wire rack until they reach room temperature.
• Repeat this process to bake the remaining batter, as necessary.
• While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, prepare the Chocolate Icing, if you have not already done so. Set it aside.
• Once all the cupcakes have cooled to room temperature, use a paring knife to gently carve out a 1/2-inch-diameter column that reaches about halfway down through the middle of each cupcake. (You can also carve this opening with a medium round piping tip by pressing the tip into the top of the cupcake about halfway down and then twisting it 360 degrees before pulling the tip out.)
• Fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip with Marshmallow Fluff. Inserting the tip of the bag into the carved center of each cupcake, pipe the filling into the cake until it just begins to overflow the cavity (see Filling a Pastry Bag and Piping, page 11).
• Fit another pastry bag with a large star tip and fill it with Chocolate Icing. Pipe rosettes of icing on each cupcake (see Filling a Pastry Bag and Piping, page 11). Repeat until all the cupcakes have been iced.
• Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top of the cupcakes and serve.
• Once iced, the cupcakes can be kept covered or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Bring them to room temperature before serving.
• Polish your look
• To make Rocky Road Cake, ice chocolate cake layers with Marshmallow Icing up to the crumb coat stage (see Icing a Cake, page 14). Once the crumb coat has set, finish the cake with 1/2 recipe Chocolate Icing. Sprinkle almonds across the entire top of the cake or, if you're planning on inscribing it, just around the perimeter.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350*.
• Prepare cake mix as box directs.
• Add remaining ingredients to batter.
• Blend well.
• Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
• Bake for 22 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
• Cool in pan.