I am so happy to report that these turned out WAY better than anticipated. I have been dying to make these for ages now, and when I finally came across an excellent tutorial, I followed the steps and made my own.
I started with a Pillsbury store bought Devils Food cake mix. I know it's cheating, but I refuse to make cake from scratch when I know that the dough boy has got me covered for $1 at WalMart. It's just not worth my time and hassle to use anything else. So, start with the mix and bake according to the package instruction. I got 40 cupcakes. One thing to note is that you want to fill each cup with 2 tablespoons of battered so that way they are perfectly tall enough for the goodness that comes next.
Homemade cream filling. It's SO good. When I read the tutorial I thought she was being a little over zealous of her praise for the cream filling, but it is so good, and really easy! Follow the link above for the full tutorial, and you're good to go. I wouldn't chill my cream filling when I do this again, though because it was really hard to pipe into the cupcakes. I'm a wimp I guess.
Butter, chocolate chips, corn syrup, vanilla. It just looks heavenly, doesn't it? This is the ganache for the top of the cupcakes. I microwaved mine and got a perfect consistency. You DO want this to cool before you dunk your cupcakes. Just watch it to get the right consistency.
I have a piping tip that is made to fill cupcakes, and the tutorial has many other suggestions. I found it pretty easy. I'm going to start filling cupcakes more often!
I was practicing my swirls while the chocolate chilled...
But that cream filling is too good to waste, so I smeared it off with my finger and ate it. (:
These are my homemade version's classy cousins from the city. Each one has 7 perfect swirls.
I had to take a big bite so you guys could see the inside...
Next, you dip the filled cupcakes into the melted chocolate mixture.
Swirl the cupcake as you come up and you will get a perfectly smooth consistency. Chill before you add the swirls on top.
Imposters!
Again, I want to encourage you to follow this tutorial to get the full recipe and step-by-step instructions. It does seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't that hard, and these cupcakes are SO good.
Lovin' from my oven,
Logan