Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, and I think we can all agree… chocolate reigns supreme when it comes to Valentine’s sweets.  Hi, it’s Carrie Sellman from Half Baked, excited to be here for the 14 Days of Sweet Valentine’s Ideas!  And since it’s Monday, I have a chocolatey cupcake created just for you.  In a few easy steps, your cupcakes will be all dressed up and ready for Cupid’s holiday.  What better way to give hugs and kisses than these  XOXO Chocolate Cupcakes!

Inspired by those bite-sized candies we all know and love…. little drops of milk chocolate, twirled up in a tiny foil wrapper.  Only these cupcakes aren’t so tiny.  These cuties are actually full-sized cupcakes, in disguise!

I’ve been wanting to experiment with Martha’s High-Hat Cupcake Recipe for a while now and thought this was the perfect opportunity.  I followed the same basic concept.  Swirl the icing up high and then dip it into a chocolate coating.  Only, I went for a smooth dollop of icing, similar in shape to the chocolate candy.  An inside shot might make this more clear…

Fun right?  Wrapped in a square of tin foil and finished with a paper flag, these chocolate cupcakes would perfect for a Valentine’s Party or a chocolate dessert table.

Or make a batch for your family and share some chocolatey cupcake-love for Valentine’s dessert.

XOXO Chocolate Cupcakes

Supplies:

• Chocolate Cupcakes (store bought, made from a mix, or baked from scratch)
• Chocolate Buttercream (medium to thick consistency, like this recipe)
• Chocolate Coating (recipe below)
• Tin Foil, cut into 8 x 8 inch squares
• Paper Flags (free printable here)

For the Chocolate Coating:

Melt 24 oz of chocolate chips with 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil, in microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Microwave for another 30 seconds.  Repeat until completely melted and smooth.  Pour into a deep bowl or cup.  Cool slightly before dipping cupcakes.

To Assemble:

1. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, pipe chocolate buttercream into a swirly mound on cupcake.  Think of a soft-serve ice cream cone as your swirling upward.
2. Using an offset spatula or knife, gently smooth out the ridges in your swirled icing.  Pull spatula from bottom to top to keep the nice dollop shape.
3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 for all of your cupcakes.  Put cupcakes into freezer for 15 minutes while preparing chocolate coating.
4. Hold cupcake upside down by its bottom and dip into chocolate coating, until all of the icing is covered.  Hold upside down to allow excess chocolate to drip off.  Turn upright and allow to chocolate to set.  {approx 15 mins)
5. Wrap bottom half of cupcake in tin foil square.  Crinkle and smush tin foil to make it look like an unfolded wrapper.
6. Refrigerate cupcakes until ready to eat.
7. Add paper flags when ready to serve.  Slightly fold paper flag back and forth to give it a rippled shape.  Tuck into back side of foil wrapper, so that it stands upright behind cupcake.

TIPS:  These would be adorable as mini cupcakes as well!  And slightly easier to make… just pipe on one large dollop of buttercream using a large round tip.  This eliminates the need for Step #2.

Sending you chocolatey love and sweet thoughts this Valentine’s Days!  Enjoy!  XOXO  ~ Carrie