Snickers Cupcakes

Well I saw this cake - and thought wow, yum, but also read the wonderful story behind it's creation, with a tear in my eye for sure.  I really wanted to make it looks like a labour of love and something to be treasured for something special.

Then as I was trolling through Foodgawker, I came upon this recipe for snickers cupcakes.  Hmmm alot more doable in the time I have available at the moment.

Shane said woo hoo great idea, picked up the snickers in the weekly grocery shop but couldn't quite bring myself to pay $4 for a jar of marshmallow fluff - Shane said did you get it - and I'm like nah there must be a way around it - i can make marshmallows, how hard can it be ..... as it turns out super dooper easy and not full of preservatives and rubbish.

So I followed the cupcake recipe for the cupcake but I downsized the cocoa to 2/3 of a cup and upped the flour.  I also didn't have any buttermilk or sour cream on hand, so I used fullcream milk with a teaspoon of vinegar - you could also add lemon juice, to sour the milk up some and add the thing that makes the bicarb soda go fizzy.

I did find the cupcakes made WAY more than the recipe said - i made muffin sized and I got 23 of the blighters, not 14 as the recipe said, her cupcakes must be bigger than mine :D

I LOVE the cupcakes, I'm not a chocolate cake girl, but these were pretty good, plus as an added bonus were still quite nice the next day - I'm a believer in cupcakes being made the day they are served, though my family tells me they are 'fine' the next day - I don't quite believe that.

For the filling I made salted caramel myself.

1/2 cup sugar turned amber, add in 45 g salted butter, when mixed add in 1/4 cup of cream, though for some reason mine wasn't as thick as in previous efforts, it's still very yummy.

Then onto the frosting - well  given that my cupcakes made more, I figured the frosting would be too much, so I made a half batch - substituting the homemade fluff for the store bought variety.

Marshmallow Fluff

one egg white
5oz of honey or maple syrup 

Beat for about 7 - 10 minutes until thick and fluffy - stiff peaks. 

Yup it's that easy - I know uncooked eggwhite, but I've never really worried about that.  If you are concerned, there are eggless recipes, bit more work, but it's cooked marshmallow, just do a google search.

I have frosting left over even after decorating 23 cupcakes.  I forgot the peanuts oops, so the filing was just the caramel.

But they were delicious - not something I'd make everyday - can't beat a good vanilla or lemon cupcake for that.