Jumbo Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

A certain someone's half birthday was yesterday.

A certain someone is half-way to seven.

A certain someone that didn't have school yesterday.

A certain someone that I made the mistake of telling him over breakfast that he could be King for the day and the aristocracy kind of went to his head.

A certain someone who is lucky enough to have a Mom bake these for him.

These are not normal-sized cupcakes.  The name alone kind of gives that away.  I don't, however, own the "jumbo" size that Martha suggests so I had to go with the "ultra jumbo" size pan that I own which only bakes 4 at a time.  So, I just baked four ultra jumbos and made the remainder of the batter in a normal sized cupcake pan.

One extra little treat about these...

Mmm..... 

Heavenly. Marshmallow. Filling. 

These are so yummy, almost brownie-like in texture and the marshmallow filling makes a frosting on top totally unnecessary, however, would be welcomed none-the-less!

Jumbo Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Here's What You Need:

1 cup butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sour cream, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

Here's What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray or butter your cupcake pans and dust lightly with a simple mixture of additional cocoa powder and flour.  This combination helps the cupcakes not stick to the muffin pan and doesn't leave a white residue (from just flour) on the outside of the cupcakes. 

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a medium bowl and give it a whisk to combine.  Set aside.  In a mixer bowl, mix the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour.  Do not over-mix!

Divide the batter evenly among the cups of the pan filling each about halfway.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  This is all based on how big your muffin pans are.  You might want to start checking on them around 20 minutes but might take as much as 30 minutes. My ultra jumbos took 30 minutes while the smaller ones were done around 23 minutes.

Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool.  When cooled, mix up the remaining butter and marshmallow cream.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up.  Scrape marshmallow goodness into a zip top plastic bag and snip off a small corner.  Using a sharp knife, melon-baller or small cookie dough scoop, scoop the center of each cupcake from the bottom.  Squirt some cream inside and then replace the bottom section.  You might want to tear off a bit of that section before inserting it so the cream doesn't ooze out.  You can just put it in your mouth to make clean up easier.  Anything to help make life easier.

Martha says that the cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature in an airtight container.  I don't think these will last any longer than that anyway, so that's not something I'll worry about.

This recipe comes from Martha Stewart's CUPCAKES.  Kevin's mom gave this cookbook to me a few years ago for my birthday.  Love it!

Happy Half-Birthday King Owen!