Taste Tester

Well, hey ya’ll, I’ve been kinda busy in the kitchen. I made Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes the other day for my middle boy. He’s birthday is next Monday and he’ll be 16! He loves malted milk balls. I wanted to do something special for him. I did a quick search, ok, so it wasn’t so quick – but, I did a search for malted milk balls on google… a couple of recipes popped up and I looked at both – seems that everyone has their favorite between the two. Well, one just jumped out at me and I knew this would be the one that Dylan would love. So, I made my list and ran to the store and did a test run.

I was really excited, however, being the first time they took me a little while. I’m going to tell ya straight up – I followed the recipe word for word – and let them sit over night before I pounced on one. Did you hear me? I let them SIT.OVER.NIGHT! You do not have to wait till the next day, eat one now! I totally waited till lunch to taste one – they melt in your mouth! I hope you all enjoy them as much as my family did – I’ll be making them again on Monday for Dylan and his friends.

Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes
Recipe courtesy of Cupcakes!

24 cupcake liners
1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix
1 box (3.8 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Malted Milk Buttercream (see recipe below)
40 malted milk balls, coarsely crushed, for garnish

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

Place cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds until the ingredients are well blended, then stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look smooth and thickened. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22-24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18-20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners. Lift the cupcakes from the bottoms of the cups using the end of a knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. (I left mine in their cups). Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare the Malted Milk Buttercream. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops completely. Garnish with crushed malted milk balls.

Malted Milk Buttercream
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons malted milk powder (I used Ovaltine)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioner’s sugar, malted milk powder, milk and vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more.