Rocky Road

Not long ago, I tried a local cupcake sweetry called Gigi’s. I ordered a have dozen cupcakes of a variety of flavors to spur on my own creative juices. Confession: I ate then all myself! So as I often do…I ate each cupcake thinking how I could make it better. My top candidate for a makeover was the Rocky Road. Now in all fairness, I am sure Gigi’s cupcake would have been perfect if it had been fresh. However, a few days later not so much. It was good after I heated it up and added ice cream. But as my avid readers know, I do not do good rather I create magic. So off to the drawing board I went. Now one thing you need to know is perfection does not always need to be made from scratch. There are cases such as this that magic comes from a box with a little tweaking. May I recommend if you ever need a delicious chocolate cake in a hurry try this easy mix with chocolate chips. The icing for these cupcakes involved chocolate gauche which I have never attempted before so I went completely by the book or in this case my new favorite blog…http://howtoeatacupcake.net/2008/03/rocky-road-cupcakes.html.

Rocky Road Cupcakes

1 triple chocolate fudge cake mix
1 1/3 cup of water
½ cup of vegetable oil
3 eggs

1 teaspoon of almond flavor
1 cup of chocolate chucks (or chocolate chips)

Preheat oven @ 350 degrees. Mix the first four ingredients together for about two minutes. Fold in chocolate chucks. Spoon into cupcake wrappers. Bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Gauche

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup mini marshmallows
½ cup chocolate covered or plain almonds, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup chocolate chucks

Put the chocolate, butter, condensed milk, and salt in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touch­ing, a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler). Cook, stirring constantly, until the chocolate and butter have melted and the frosting is smooth and thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the water and stir in the vanilla. Scrape the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until the frosting thickens further and cools to lukewarm (so it won’t melt the marshmallows), about 3 minutes. When thickened, the beaters should form lines in the frosting. Fold in marshmallows, almonds, and chocolate chips. Allow the frosting to thicken until it’s a spread able consistency that won’t run down the sides of the cupcakes. (Just play around with it, you’ll know when it’s ready.) Let the cup­cakes sit uncovered until the frosting firms up, about 1 hour. These cupcakes are best stored in a covered container to protect the frosting; store for up to 3 days at room temperature.