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The surprise is on the inside! It doesn’t need to be a Birthday to donate these Chocolate Pudding Filled Cupcakes to your friends! An airy chocolate cake cradles a hidden dollop of rich chocolate pudding topped with a simple Vanilla Buttercream.
CUPCAKE UPDATES: Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting Recipe – Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe – Snowball Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients for Chocolate Pudding for filling:
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups whole milk
2 egg yolks
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
Ingredients for Chocolate Cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ingredients for Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons whipping cream
NOTES: This recipe makes 12 -16 cupcakes.
Make the pudding. In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine sugar, cornstarch and cocoa powder. Pulverize mixture with the back of a spoon to remove lumps. Stir in milk. As heat takes over mixture, bubbles will disappear and powders will incorporate into the liquid. Cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Turn the heat down to medium low. Pour some of the chocolate mixture into two beaten egg yolks and pour the egg mixture back into the pan. This “tempers” the eggs and prevents them from scrambling. Cook and stir a few minutes more. Turn off heat and stir in butter, pinch salt and vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Press plastic wrap onto surface of pudding so a “skin” will not form. Allow to cool in the refrigerator.
Make the cupcakes. Preheat oven to 350(F). Melt chocolate in microwave carefully. In an electric mixer cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and combine thoroughly. Add melted chocolate and vanilla and combine thoroughly. Add flour, salt and baking soda and combine thoroughly. Add buttermilk slowly and combine thoroughly until smooth. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 10 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before filling and icing.
Make the frosting. For best results, use the wire whisk attachment on your mixer and have all the dairy cold. Sift powder sugar or pour sugar into a bowl and mash with the back of a spoon to remove lumps.Mix sugar and butter on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 3-4 minutes. Blend in vanilla. Add tablespoons of cream gradually and continue to beat on medium-high speed for several minutes more, until light, fluffy and smooth. Mixture will have a pearly sheen and perfect spreading consistency. Do not refrigerate before frosting cupcakes.
Finish the cupcakes. Cut a cone shape out of the top of the cupcake. Look! A place to put pudding! Cut the point off the cone. Fill cake with pudding. Replace top. Frost. Decorate. Share. Enjoy.
HOW MUCH BETTER DOES THIS LOOK KNOWING WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE?
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Link to the Sec. 170(c) Birthday Cupcakes video.
Link to the accompanying Sec. 170(c) Birthday Cupcakes blog post.
I just found out about your show through pictures of you on CC Chapman Flickr pages. The cupcake podcast was the first one I have seen and I love this a lot. Great production, good content, and perfect editing. The length is perfect too. Keep on cooking Betty this podcast is hot hot hot!!! Great stuff Betty!!! Thank you
Hey Scoobydoodt! It is a pleasure to meet you! Thanks for checking out my podcast and all of the wonderful compliments!
I met CC at the PNME – didn’t have much time to chat, but he is a very cool guy and a great talent. I’ll be sure to let him know you stopped by because of his pics of me ;)
Do you like to cook or are you more about the eating?
xo,
Betty
Hi average gal, just watched my first show, what a hoot, so enjoyed it. Went out a bought the fixins for the cup cakes for a work party this week. Then glued myself to the computer to watch earlier segments. Your a breath of fresh air, keep them coming.
Thanks for the laugh!!!!!
Hey kataz! How exciting for this average gal to think that an office full of people will be eating my little cupcakes! The pressure is on… let me know how they turn out and don’t hesitate to ask if anything about the recipe is unclear.
And, if people don’t like the cupcakes – just tell them they were a Rachel Ray recipe ;) Hee Hee!
Thank you for stopping by – I’m working on a new one right now… hope you are gearing up for Halloween!
Cheers,
Betty
Perfect Timing – My boyfriends 12 year old is turning 13 this week and I have the honor of making her cupcakes. I am sure to sore some big points. Thanks M.
Hi Michel!
Happy Birthday to the NEW TEENAGER! How exciting! I really hope she loves the cupcakes! If you have any questions about the recipe, please ask! And of course I’d love to know how they turn out!
Have a fantastic party!
xo,
Betty
Hi betty, I am from singapore and my senior’s birthday i like this sunday, i do not have an oven so i was thinking of making this cupcake for her the day before at my friend’s house. can the cupcake be kept in the fridge overnight? and may I know how long the cupcake can be kept? by the way the vedio rocks… ^^
loves from singapore^^
Hi sihui! Thank you for the sweet words! How wonderful to hear from you! And how exciting to hear that you will be making my cupcakes for your senior’s birthday. Please extend my warmest wishes for a happy day!!
Here is what I think: For best results, make the cupcakes (baked with frosting and filling) and have them ready to go for the party by storing them in an air-tight container at room temperature. You can store them like this for 2 days.
If it is very hot weather, you can bake the cupcakes and store in refrigerater in an airtight container. There will be some variation in texture of frosting (not as creamy) and the cupcake will be more dense.
What you could do, is bake the cupcakes at your friends house the night before (store at room temp) and fill and decorate them the day of the party.
If you have leftovers after the party, they will keep for about two days at room temperature in an air-tight container or in the fridge for about a week.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any more questions… and please let me know how the party goes!
xoxoxo,
Betty
Hey ho Betty! :D
I just saw your videos on Yahoo videos and i’m really impressed, you have a lot of imagination and great recipies! I’m from Romania and i gotta impress my mother-in-law to be. I figured bringing some cupcakes (which are pretty rare here!) for the little kids would show what a good housewife I could be xD
Wonder if i could use that regular packaged pudding dust to make the pudding filling, cause i manage to get clumps even into that. So I’m afraid it’ll be all clumpy if I make it myself :(
But anyhow thanks alot for the great show, i’m looking for your podcast already! :D
Cheers!
Dew.
Hi Dew!
So nice to meet you, thanks for coming over from Yahoo! You can certainly use the packaged pudding! If you wanted to go an even easier route, I’ve seen pudding already made in the dairy case at my supermarket that would work, too!
A trick you can do, to make the pudding taste a little more “homemade” is stir in 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.
These cupcakes are sure to impress your mother-in-law to be and make for a bunch of happy kids! Let me know how they turn out!
Cheers,
Betty
Betty,
Had a party for my 1 year old today—-found your cupcake recipe and video online and thought I just had to try them. Most everything turned out well—however, the pudding recipe didn’t. The ingredients list 1 cups fat free milk and 1/3 half and half. Is it truly 1 cup milk and 1/3 cup half and half. I watched your video–and there is no mention of the half and half so I omitted. I would love to try them again because they sound amazing—I would appreciate your input.
Summer in Illinois
Hi summer in Illinois!
Happy Birthday to your 1 year old! Gosh, I’m so sorry to hear the pudding didn’t turn out!
Yes, the recipe is indeed 1 cup fat-free milk and 1/3 cup half-n-half. You could also use all regular milk , but 1 1/3 cups *total liquid* is the key.
I do it this way because I usually have fat free milk and half-n-half on hand. The pudding needs a little more fat than the fat-free milk provides, so I mix it with half-n-half.
I’m sorry for any confusion and I *really appreciate* you writing – cuz if anyone else has this question… you’ve helped answer it for them!
I’d love to hear that you give the pudding another whirl… let me know if you do!
Cheers,
Betty
Hey Betty!
I think your WAY more than an average girl. I love your recipes becuase they teach you how to cook and have fun too! I’m going to make these cupcakes for my birthday party and just thinking about them makes my mouth water! You go girl!
Urs till the cake walks,
Lilly
Hi! I’m an Italian girl and I attend a Vocational Hotel and Catering school. I come from Videojug.com because this recipe is very interesting. Thank you, I’ll daze everybody!
Hi Cristina!
I’m so glad you came here from VideoJug all the way via Italy! I really hope you like them… let me know how they turn out!!
Cheers,
B
Hey Betty!
This recipe looks fantastic, I can’t wait to make these!
I do have a couple of questions though…
Firstly, for the cupcakes, I couldn’t seem to find all purpose flour at the supermarket.
Would it be possible to use plain flour instead?
And also, the buttermilk…I don’t know if it goes by a different name here but I couldn’t seem to find it. Is there an alternative?
Also, for the cake recipe, it says one stick of butter is needed. And I think the average sizes of butter sticks varies between America and England, so could I ask how many grams of butter that is?
And finally! Is it necessary to use an electric cake mixer? Could I use an electric hand whisk instead?
Looking forward to your reply (so I can hurry up and make these little beauties!).
Yours,
Ashley.
Hi Ashley!
I’m so excited for you to try my cupcakes… all the way in England! Great questions!
About the flour. I think “all-purpose-flour” is plain flour. (From Wikipedia: All-purpose or plain flour is a blended wheat flour with an intermediate gluten level, which is marketed as an acceptable compromise for most household baking needs.)
Hmmm… I don’t know of another name for buttermilk and it really does add something special to these cupcakes. I find it in the dairy case next to the half-n-half. If you can’t find it there are a few alternatives (that I have read about but never tried):
Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar to each cup of regular milk. Allow to sit for ten minutes before using.
You can also mix equal parts of sour cream and milk. Or a low-fat substitute can be made by mixing equal parts of skim milk and low-fat yogurt.
THANK YOU for the question about the butter! It is 1/2 cup (4 oz or 113.4 grams). As you can see, I altered the recipe up there thanks to you!
As far as the mixer v. electric hand whisk, I think that will be fine. The cake batter comes together fairly easily. It’s the frosting you will need to whip and get a lot of air into.
Hope this helps – if you can, take a photo of your cupcakes so I can put it on the homepage :)
Cheers,
Betty
You’re last post was a huge help,to me also!
I’m from Australia so our terminology is quiet different.
‘all-purpose-flour’, ‘buttermilk’ and the butter stick
were confusingbut you cleared it up for me [im going
to make it now :) ]
Thanks again.
Hi derbas!
I’m so glad these differences have come up! I’m learning a lot from all of you…
I hope your cupcakes turn out great! Take a picture and send it in! I’d love to see how they turn out :)
Cheers,
Betty
Hi Betty!! I’m a brazilian girl and I come from Videojug.com, I thogth this recipe very interesting.
I really want try to do it, but I ‘m with some problems.
Like the girl said before, the average sizes varies, and I couldn’t find what is ‘3 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate’. Could you say me how many grams or cups that is??
And, one more little thing, What is ‘large eggs’?? I couldn’t find this too. I thought could be white of an egg, is that??
Sorry, for my stupid questions, hee hee and thank you for your attention!!! =)
oh, and I really like you, you’re very nice!!!
Best regards, xxoo
Ana.
Great questions, Ana!
3 1/3 ounces unsweetened chocolate is about 100 grams or a little less than 1/2 cup. The unsweetened chocolate is chocolate used for baking here in the States. It looks like a candy bar – but does not taste like one! Here is a link to the product I probably used:
http://brands.kraftfoods.com/BakersChocolate/BakersBrands.htm
I put a note under the 4th photo from the top of the page where the baking squares are pictured. They come in ounce sized squares, so I used 3 and 1/2 of them.
They label eggs by size here in the US. So, most recipes say use a “large” egg. But, really, it’s just an ordinary, normal-sized egg. And, it’s the whole egg, not just the whites in the cupcake batter.
The pudding recipe calls for just the yolks of two eggs.
I’m so glad you wrote and asked these great questions! I hope that I have helped you – I know your questions will help others!
Let me know if there is anything else you need to know and send me a picture of your cupcakes! [email protected]
Good luck!
Betty
Hey!!! thank you very much!! You’re so sweet!!!
And certainly, I’ll send the picture!!
I do love you and the music of the videos are great!!!
xxoo
Ana
Hi Betty,
This recipe look delish!!! I offered to make them for my father-in-law who is turning 50 this Friday for the big birthday party!! I am panicking because I went to the supermarket, they didnt know what half n’ half is, neither do I… is there a replacement recipe or a different name?? I tried searching on the internet, would it be buttermilk by any chance??
Thanks a lot,
Sarah
xxx
Hi Sarah!
Happy 50th to your father-in-law!
Half-n-half is also known as half-cream. It is not buttermilk (which goes into the cupcake batter). It is a mixture of one part whole milk and one part cream.
For the pudding filling, you can use all whole milk (1 1/3 cup) if you want to instead of the half-n-half (or half cream).
Hope this helps…
Cheers,
Betty
Thank you so much Betty, you’re a star!! I hope they turn out looking as yummy as yours!!
x
Thanks for the awesome recipe you rock! I love your explanations as I was reading your recipe I would ask “why does she do that” and then you would answer my question how novel thank you!
Hi Kale! Thanks for dropping by! I’m so happy the recipe was informative for you… I’m always around and happy to answer questions – so if you’ve got em’… fire away!
Cheers,
Betty
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO MAKE………………..
FRITTLERS
Hi brooklyn!
Do you mean fritters? Here is my recipe: http://www.averagebetty.com/?p=177
They are savory – not sweet. Does this help?
Cheers,
Betty
These look delicious!
Thanks, Lau! Hope you give em a try!!
Hi betty! I am so glad I tried your recipe minus the pudding (due to lack of time!)! Nonetheless, it’s sooooo delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe! I just colored my frosting PINK as requested by my housemates! :) Cheers!!!
Hi Jam!
Thank you so much for trying my recipe and dropping by the site!! It makes my day to think you enjoyed my cupcakes with your housemates <3 And, don’t worry… I enjoy them all the time minus the pudding hee, hee!
Cheers,
Betty
Betty! great cupcakes! i just finished making some :)
do you recommend putting them in the refrigerator if they won’t be eaten until tomorrow night?
Please reply.
Thanks!
-T
Woo Hoo, Tiffany!! How exciting :)
Thanks for trying my recipe!!
Have you already frosted them? If you have, put them into an airtight container overnight. Make sure they are in a cool area of your kitchen.
You *can* refrigerate them if you want, but the frosting won’t be as creamy.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Betty
so i found your cupcake recipe about a year ago, and these are the ONLY cupcakes that i ever make.. I dont trust the others and these always turn out great!!
:) thanks so much
Michi! Your comment has made my day! Thank you so much for writing and letting me know you love the cupcakes!!
I am working on a vanilla cupcake recipe; any requests?
Cheers,
Betty
this is the best cupcakes i have served in the internet for the whole day !!!
i have a question, when i make icing with icing sugar and butter it always turns out yellow, how do i get it to be perfectly white like in the pictures,
is that what the cream does?
sorry if this sounds stupid.
Hi Average Betty….
Came across your sight for these fab cupcakes…
BUT have a problem…
What can I replace the buttermilk for…or can I just use whole milk?
Unfortunately.. live in a country where buttermilk cannot be found easily… HELP~~~
Can’t wait to make these!!
Hi LongDari!
Thanks for visiting my site!
Let’s see… You can certainly use whole milk instead of the buttermilk. The buttermilk does add something special to the flavor of the cupcakes. So if you can’t find it there are a few alternatives (that I have read about but never tried):
This seems to be the most popular w/ the most positive reviews:
Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to each cup of regular milk. Allow to sit for ten minutes before using.
You can also mix equal parts of sour cream and milk. Or a low-fat substitute can be made by mixing equal parts of skim milk and low-fat yogurt.
I hope your cupcakes turn out great! Please let me know! Take a picture, I’ll put it on the homepage!
Cheers,
Betty
Nice recipe. Can i also bake it in a whole round cake tin? if so, about how many minutes will it take and what should be the temperature? Any tips? Thank you.=)
Hi Cen, Thank you! You can bake the batter in one 9″ round cake pan for 30-40 minutes at 350(F). I’d recommend lining the bottom of the pan with wax or parchment for easy removal from the pan. Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes…
Hello!Thank you for your wonderful site) Your cupcakes look stunning and I would like to make some. Could you please tell me though what is 1 cup?How many gramms(solids) and millilitres (milk) does it represent? Soory about that, living in Russia we mesure everything in gramms and you’ll find that in recepies as well))Thank you!