The Story:
I know the grocery stores are already busting out the pink Valentine’s Day cards and candy but I’m still playing Christmas music and watching Christmas movies with hot chocolate on the couch. I mean really, who is out buying their Valentines Day cards this soon?
No one.
Salted Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 box chocolate or devil's food cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 C. melted butter slightly cooled
- 3/4 C. milk or buttermilk
- 3/4 C. sour cream
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache:
- 1 C. chocolate chips I used semi-sweet
- 1/3 C. heavy whipping cream
- coarse salt for sprinkling
Chocolate Buttercream:
- 1 C. butter softened
- 1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp. milk more as needed
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 - 4 C. powdered sugar
Coarse salt for sprinkling
Chocolate dipped pretzels for decoration
- NOTE: If you live in a hot place you may want to decrease Ganache cream amount from 1/3 to 1/4 Cup.
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
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3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, butter, milk, sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth.
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4. Stir in cake mix.
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5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minute or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
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6. Let cool.
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7. Ganache: Use a double boiler to melt cream and chocolate together and stir until smooth. (You can also just microwave the two together, but make sure you use a bowl meant for microwaving, some bowls get scorching hot and that will burn you chocolate.)
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8. Dip the tops of your cupcakes in ganache, then sprinkle with a little coarse salt. I used my left over ganache to dip some pretzels I had on hand, put them on foil and popped them in the freezer to set.
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9. Buttercream: Beat butter for 2 minutes. Add cocoa powder, milk and vanilla extract and beat again. Slowly add in powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. If it becomes too thick, add more milk.
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10. Once the ganache on the cupcakes have set (should only take about 10 minutes) pipe buttercream onto cupcakes and sprinkle a little coarse salt and top with a pretzel! Be careful to not put on too much salt!
After the sugar coma that is Christmas, I think most of us are ready for a dessert that has ZERO eggnog and peppermint AND maybe has a little slaty kick.
Fresh out of the oven…love my huge cupcake pan.
If you want a “low calorie” cupcake you can just stop here, the ganache is rich and fabulous with no buttercream at all.
These pretzels were left over from my Reindeer Cupcakes, but a quick dip in chocolate and they were ready for these cupcakes!
Last photos in Illinois, back to Utah for me!
Wow those are intense! Normally I am not an all chocolate lover, but with the salted action I just might need to dig into one. Maybe if I stuffed them with a salted caramel I’d be able to overlook all the chocolate haha
Yeah, the salt is a nice little way to cut through all the sweetness and also make it sound really elegant 🙂
OH MY..these are a must try and FAST TOO! Have come across candy bars from several different brands with salt…going to try these but may add some espresso powder to mix. Dark Chocolate with a hint of coffee and a dash of salt! …that makes me dance in the kitchen too!!
These are so cute with the half-dipped pretzel. And I love salt with chocolate!
Thanks! You can always buy the dipped pretzels but I just had the stuff sitting right there so I did it myself!
These look delicious! I am 100% a cupcake girl, so this post definitely caught my eye. I’ll have to add it to my ‘To-Bake’ list.
This is such a cute cupcake. I love the half-dipped pretzel. As much of a fan of caramel/salted caramel that I am, I think salted chocolate is even better. So much more refreshing. I may have to try this idea out for my own blog (with credit, of course :)). Thanks, Lizzy!
Can you refrigerate cupcake batter overnight?
You can, but sometimes they don’t rise the same after they’ve been left out. This batter only takes about 5 minutes to make though, so it’s pretty quick 🙂
Thanks! I’m making cupcakes for someone on Friday, and another person wants the same cupcakes Saturday… And I’m trying to figure out how to keep them fresh, I’m making cookies and cream, banana cream with chocolate ganache, and blackberry white chocolate. Do u have any suggestions on how to keep cupcakes fresh for long periods of time?
We for 2 or 3 three days I just seal mine up in tupperware. Longer I’ll put them in a tupperware in the freezer!
Thank you so much Lizzy!
Wow, these look so very Cute! these would be good for a relief Society activity treat.
are there anymore Cupcake cookbooks By you coming out this year, Maybe?
I have a cookbook called “make it with a cake mix” coming out in the spring with an awesome cupcake section!
These sound amazing!! I can’t wait to make them. 🙂 I’m looking forward to purchasing your new cookbook too. Any specific brand of coarse salt? I can never seem to find any at the store when I go…. Thanks!
I just get the Morton brand, but any Kosher last works great!
Those look amazing! I love sweet & salty. What types of cupcake pan do you use that’s in the picture above? I love the large size!
I have a link to it on the right side of my page closer to the top!
Oh my these look delicious I can’t wait to make these!!!! Just wondering about how many cupcakes can you frost with this buttercream recipe? Thanks 🙂
It just depends how much frosting you want on each. Sometimes I make a recipe plus half of the recipe to make sure I have enough frosting if I want to really load up each cupcake 🙂
Haha that’s great thank you
I’m not sure where you’re getting your information, but good topic.
I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more.
Thanks for wonderful info I was looking
for this info for my mission.
How many cupcakes does this recipe make?
I like your article very much