Gooood morning (afternoon), people of the world! I come to you today with a recipe that comes out looking very fancy, makes you feel like Susie Homemaker, and tastes GREAT.
Let’s say that today’s Moral of the Post is to find the good in every day, and to try to live it up as it’s happening. As a planner, I do a lot of anticipating and waiting, and …well, planning. But sometimes I need to take my own advice and live in the moment. And try to take life day to day.
I brought some cupcakes to a bonfire/pool/screening party the other day at a friend’s house. The night was full of summery goodness with a nice pool, roasting marshmallows, making S’mores, and spending time with friends. I tried living in the moment there. See where this is going??
Let’s get onto these cupcakes.
I have called them “The Fanciest Shit” cupcakes, if you’ll excuse the profanity, because it was just so exciting when I first made them with my friend Krista! You can call them “Fancy Chocolate Strawberry Cream Cupcakes” if you want. Or you know, do whatever. I don’t own you.
This recipe is from a book Krista brought over called Cupcake Heaven. (Hey, Krista, I know you’re in Disney and all [who’s jealous??], but you left your cupcake book at my house.)
Basically, first, you’ll want to make a double boiler. Put a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water. You’ll want to make sure that the bowl to pot ratio makes it so that the bowl doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot, but sits atop it. You don’t want any steam coming out from under the bowl. Keep in mind that when your water starts boiling, you don’t really want it to touch the bottom of the bowl; put in a small enough amount of water so that that doesn’t happen.
(I’m sorry I didn’t take picture of this part!) Put your chocolate chips, corn syrup, and butter into the glass bowl. Set the burner for your double boiler to medium-low heat.
While that melts, put the cornflakes in a Ziploc bag. Take out a rolling pin. And HULK, SMASH!!! (Into nice, delicate, fine pieces. 🙂 )
Once the chocolate chips start melting, start stirring the mixture with a rubber spatula.
Once everything is melted together and smooth, remove the bowl (carefully) from the pot, and remove the pot from heat.
Now, pour your cornflakes in small increments into the bowl with your chocolate! Mix that up!
After it’s all mixed together and lookin’ good, take out a non-stick cupcake tin (I didn’t have non-stick, so I sprayed lightly with cooking spray). Spoon your cornflake/chocolate mixture evenly into the cupcake tins.
This is another fun part! Now you get to make little nesty dents in the cupcake base with the bottom of your spoon!
Now that’s done, go ahead and stick your cupcake tin in the fridge for approximately 30-45 minutes. Or 20 minutes in the freezer should also do the trick.
In the meantime, please relax! (Unless, you know, you have Very Important Things to do. Do them. But also RELAX.) Make a cup of tea, or whatever you like to drink, read a book, Tumbl, you do you! Enjoy the moment!
Also, during this time, you can choose to be Fancy As Shit, and make your own whipped cream. It’s fun to do it the Fancy way, and use your arm muscles!
Choose your own Adventure!
I want to be fancy! Good for you! Pour your heavy cream into a bowl and add the powdered sugar. (I used approximately half a tablespoon more powdered sugar than was called for.) Now Whip it Real Good!
I couldn’t find my electric beater, so we had to use a WHISK and ARM MUSCLES. It’s a good thing Krista is a beast at life and has better arm muscles than I do! Either way, though, whip that fanciness to stiff peaks! (Basically until it’s a consistency that resembles cool whip. Not too runny!)
I DON’T want to be fancy! No problemo, dude, I respect that! Buy some Cool Whip. The end. I’ve done this both ways, and both end just as well!
Also during this time, you’ll also want to cut up your strawberries into small pieces!
When the time is up for the cupcake bases, remove your tin from the cold place of your choosing. Grab a pallet knife (or, you know, any kinda knife) and start prying up and removing the cupcake bases, and putting them onto a plate.
*If, in this step, you notice your cupcake bases crumbling and falling apart, put them back in the tin (mash down and reshape again if you have to), and stick the tin back in the fridge (or freezer, if you’re losing patience) for another 10ish minutes.
Once they’re all out, top the chocolate bases with a layer of strawberries. Follow up with dollop of whipped cream. Next add another layer of strawberries!
*Optional excitement! Krista had the WONDERFUL idea of chopping up some left over chocolate chips and sprinkling chocolate on top of the cupcakes!
They came out quite wonderfully, if I do say so!
Tip: You should store these bad boys in the fridge until you’re ready to eat them, because they’ll get all melty!
They were a hit at the bonfire, and we ate them with our S’mores!
Sometimes you just need a little bit of baking and friends to get you through the day. This was a great day, and I’m looking forward to many more like it throughout the rest of the summer!
Hope you’re having a wonderful day! 😀
Ingredients:
Makes 1 dozen.
Recipe adapted from Cupcake Heaven.
For the cupcakes:
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup sweet butter
4 tbsp. light corn syrup
5 1/2 cups cornflakes
For the topping:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 to 2 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
*2 tbsp. kirsch or brandy (optional. There’s no liqueur in my house!)
2 cups fresh strawberries, finely chopped.
*12 fresh strawberries. (If you opt to top with whole strawberries rather than chopped.)
Directions:
1. Place chocolate, corn syrup, and butter in a double boiler. Allow chocolate to melt before stirring.
2. Put cornflakes in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.
3. Remove chocolate from heat and add cornflakes. Stir to coat evenly.
4. Divide mixture among 12 cups in a nonstick cupcake tin. Using a teaspoon, press the mixture into the base and up the side of each cup. Chill in the refrigerator or freezer.
5. Combine cream and confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth. If using liqueur, fold that in. Beat until your reach a whipped cream texture. Chop strawberries.
6. Using a knife, carefully remove the chocolate cups from the pan. Divide the chopped strawberries among the cups. Fill each with a dollop of cream and top with strawberries and/or chocolate.
Life University 