It's that time of year! You can taste all the flavors of a warm cup of cocoa in these light, fluffy chocolate cupcakes with chocolate marshmallow frosting. Topped with a marshmallow and dusted with cocoa powder, these are sure to be the first to go at any holiday party!
Servings: 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the chocolate cupcakes:
1 cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 box devils food cake mix
1 (4-oz.) box instant chocolate pudding
For the chocolate marshmallow frosting:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 (7-oz.) jar marshmallow fluff (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt to taste
12 large marshmallows and cocoa powder to decorate
Directions:
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two muffin tins with liners.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, whisk together the wet ingredients until combined. Add the cake mix and pudding mix.
Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to slowly combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat for on medium high speed for 3 minutes until you have a fluffy and shiny batter.
Scoop into the muffin tin, only filling up 1/2 of the way. They will rise a ton so just barely fill them up. A cookie scoop makes this much easier (this is the one I use).
Bake for 18-21 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center with moist crumbs (see note). Cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting:
Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second intervals until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, beat together the chocolate, marshmallow fluff and butter until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom really well.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
Decorate the cooled cupcakes by piping or spreading on the frosting. It doesn't have to look perfect because the marshmallow will hide any mistakes.
Cut each large marshmallow in half length-wise and place sticky side down on the cupcakes. Lightly dust with cocoa powder using a sifter or mesh sieve.
Notes:
Moist crumbs: If your toothpick is coming out completely clean, you have overbaked them! Next time pull them when a toothpick comes out with some moist crumbs. The residual heat of the cupcakes will finish cooking the cupcakes out of the oven and prevent overly dry cupcakes.
Frosting: This will be enough frosting to barely cover all of the cupcakes since I prefer a higher ratio of cake to frosting. If you are a frosting lover, feel free to double the frosting recipe so that you can put more frosting on each cupcake!
Love this recipe? Let me know by leaving a comment or messaging me on Instagram! I'd love to hear what you think.