How to Make Fudge Filled Cupcakes

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup-cakes

My first filled cupcake was at my little sister's wedding. I was blown away by the genius of putting MORE chocolate INSIDE the cupcake-- amazing!

On top of that, those cupcakes were piled with mounds of frosting, so much that you got it all over your face when you took a bite. 

I had eight. 

I wanted to stop at seven, but I noticed that there was one more raspberry lemonade cupcake, and I thought, "Well, why not?"

It was definitely a night to remember.


I've spent the last four years figuring out how to make cupcakes as delicious as those. It's taken a lot of experimenting and many (many, many!) batches of cupcakes, but I have figured out one recipe that I am completely happy with. 

Fudge-filled cupcake with buttercream frosting

It's my Chocolate Fudge-Filled Cupcake. 

Here are all of the things you could wordlessly communicate by giving away a cupcake like this.

Let's all get fat together!
Have a great Monday at the office
Time to celebrate being on a diet
I don't know you but I like you. Take a cupcake and let's be friends!

All right, enough chit chat. Let's learn how to make a really excellent cupcake. 

FUDGE-FILLED CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS:

You'll need:

One chocolate cake mix (my favorite is the butter-chocolate from Pillsbury)

Ingredients necessary for your cake mix

24 paper cupcake liners
2 gallon-sized ziploc bags
1 16" icing decorating bag
1 Wilton #21 Star Frosting Tip

Chocolate peanut butter with milk chocolate frosting

For the Fudge Filling:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dutch-processed baking cocoa (the nicer the quality, the better your fudge will be)
1/2 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the buttercream frosting:
2 cups chilled butter (it needs to be soft enough to mix but cold enough to hold its shape before mixing)
1/2 cup crisco vegetable shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups powdered sugar
(optional) 2 tablespoons Wilton Meringue Powder (keeps your buttercream from melting)
Milk added by the tablespoon as needed

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes

Instructions:

Cake:

1. Mix cake according to box instructions. Spoon cupcake batter into the paper cups OR fill a gallon-sized ziploc bag with batter. Cut off a corner of the bag and squirt batter into cups. 

2. Bake at box-recommended oven settings. Cupcakes are ready when an indentation in the cake springs back up. 

JENNA TIP:
Never trust a recipe's cooking time. When you are baking cupcakes, always check the oven after about 12 minutes. They will not be done, but you will have an idea of how close they are. I never cook cupcakes for longer than 16 minutes. 

Violet Love Cupcakes

Fudge Filling:

3. In a medium saucepan, mix together the sugar, cocoa, milk, butter, corn syrup, and salt. Heat to boiling while stirring. Boil 3 minutes, then remove from heat. Cool 30 minutes or until the chocolate is room temperature or cooler. 

4. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla until totally mixed. If necessary, thin with milk. Taste test as desired. 

JENNA TIP:
The thickness of the fudge is mostly determined by how long you let it boil. Three minutes ought to give you a firm-yet-gooey fudge. You can experiment with longer or shorter boiling times to get different results. 

Graham Cracker Frosting

Frosting:

I'm going to start this one with a little explanation. I adapted the fudge filling recipe from a cookbook, but this frosting recipe is 100% my invention. I've been trying to find the right mix of butter/crisco/sugar for literally years, and I finally figured this one out just recently. 

BUT- butter is different in according to where you live in the United States. This recipe was designed with eastern-type butter, which is typically long and narrow. Western butter is packaged to be thicker and shorter.

Western on the left, Eastern on the right

I don't know why this is, but eastern butter seems to have some sort of additive that makes it hold its form even when it's warm, almost like margarine. Western butter, though, will melt immediately into slop once it's warm. 

I kind of think western butter is higher quality, but ah well. You work with what you have. 

All of this comes down to mean that if you're trying this in the west, you'll probably have to keep your butter a a little cooler than room temperature and you'll likely need to add a few tablespoons of milk at the end to get a workable consistency. 

Back to the recipe. Sorry to slow you down!

5. In a kitchen mixer, add the chilled butter, crisco, and vanilla. Beat on a medium setting for 6 minutes, or until mixture is fluffy and no lumps remain. 

6. Add the powdered sugar and meringue powder (if using) and beat until mixture is smooth. If using western-style butter, a tablespoon or two of milk may be needed. You are absolutely required to taste test the finished frosting.

Assembly:

7. Using a serrated knife, carve out a hole in the center of each cupcake. If filled cupcakes are going to be part of your life, consider hopping onto Amazon and buying a cupcake corer.

Cored cupcakes

8. Fill a clean gallon-sized ziploc bag with the cooled fudge and cut off one of the bag's corners. Squirt fudge into the core of each cupcake until the holes are filled. 

9. Insert the icing tip into the decorating bag and fill the bag with icing. Starting at the center of each cupcake, squirt the icing in a spiral motion until frosting is covering the entire cupcake. 

You can do some cool things with frosting!

10. Get creative! Add grated chocolate, crushed candy, sprinkles, or whatever your heart desires. 

Let me know how this works out for you, and Happy Cupcaking!

-Jenna

Bunny Bottom Cupcakes for Easter