Kahlua-Spiked Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Pudding Core and Toffee Bits (From a Box!)

     Believe it or not, these cupcakes look gourmet but they’re actually from a box…

Prep time: 2 hours

Cook time: 15 minutes

Servings: 28 cupcakes 

INGREDIENTS:

Cupcakes:

1 box of your favorite chocolate cake mix

Ingredients required on the box

Filling:

1 large box (5.9oz) of Jell-O instant chocolate pudding mix

1 ½ cup milk

¼ cup of Kahlua or Baileys Irish Cream

4 oz Heath Milk Chocolate English Toffee Bits

Whipped Cream:

¼ cup Nestle Toll House Cocoa Powder

 ⅓ cup sugar

2 cups cold heavy whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla extract

1 packet (10 g) Dr Oetker Whipped Cream Stabilizer or 2 Tbsp. instant pudding mix

Toppers:

4 oz Heath Milk Chocolate English Toffee Bits

OR

1 cup Ghirardelli bittersweet or milk chocolate chips

CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with 28 cupcake liners.

Make the cake batter according to instructions on the box.

Using a tablespoon scoop, distribute the batter evenly into the 28 cupcake liners. Each cup should be half full and contain approximately 2 tablespoons of batter. The batter will rise a lot during baking so make sure all cups contain the same amount of batter and DO NOT overfill the cups.

Bake for 15 minutes on the middle rack, then start checking: cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean or with a just a little bit of crumbs.

Once the cupcakes have cooled enough to touch, core out the centers with an apple corer. Turn the corer as you apply pressure so that it cuts through instead of smashes the cupcakes. Be gentle as you reach the bottoms of each cupcake to avoid cutting through the paper liner.

FILLING INSTRUCTIONS: 

Combine the dry pudding mix, milk, and liquor. Whisk thoroughly until no lumps remain. If the pudding still appears too lumpy, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to loosen.

Place pudding into a pastry bag and pipe it into the core of the cupcakes, to about three-quarters full. Fit the piping bag over a tall glass first to prop it up if you’re doing this by yourself. Alternatively, you can use a freezer bag as the pastry bag: fill one side of the bag with pudding and make a quarter inch cut at the bottom corner.

Spoon toffee bits into the remaining space at the center of the cupcakes.

WHIPPED CREAM INSTRUCTIONS:

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and the cocoa power to break up lumps.

Add heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract to that bowl and mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until soft peak forms. Taste and add sugar or cocoa powder if desired. Be less generous if you’re using instant pudding instead of stabilizer in the next step.  

Add the whipped cream stabilizer or instant pudding mix and continue mixing until stiff peak forms (when ripples in the whipped cream no longer disappear). DO NOT overmix, else the whipped cream might become lumpy and render liquids. If that were to happen, fold in 2 tablespoons of cold heavy cream to return the whipped cream to a silkier consistency.

Make sure the cupcakes are completely at room temperature, then fill the whipped cream into a 16-inch piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M or 4B open star tip, and pipe swirls onto the cupcakes. Start at the center, go around in a circle, and come back down into the center. Apply pressure at the beginning and end of each swirl. For visual references, look up “Georgetown Cupcake signature swirl demo” on YouTube.

DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS:

Top cupcakes with more toffee bits.

OR

Want some extra flair? Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler until the chips almost disappear, then take it off the heat and gently mix until all chips disappear. Be sure to not get any water in the chocolate, else it will seize up and become unusable. Don’t overheat the chocolate because it will be more difficult to pipe, and don’t overmix to avoid air bubbles.

Place a piece of parchment paper or silicone mat above the butterfly template or any template of your choice.

Pour the chocolate into a 12-inch piping bag fitted with a Wilton #3 round tip, and pipe chocolate onto the parchment paper or silicone mat while tracing the butterfly patterns.

Allow the butterflies to cool for 45 minutes to 1 hour in room temperature, until the chocolate loses its shine. Alternatively, pop it into the freezer for 5 minutes to harden, but you must decorate with them immediately after, because cold chocolate will condensate moisture in the air and become droopy if left out for too long.

Get ready to wow some people!