Do you like Twix...?

I was laying in bed thinking of cupcakes and I was trying to come up with a good idea, something different. I then started thinking of my next favorite food, candy. Then I put the two together...candy+cupcake= genius! Of course I went directly for a delicious Snickers idea but the nougat kind of threw me off, still thinking about how to recreate that. Anyway, I ended up with Twix stuck on my brain. Here's my take on a Twix cupcake...

I had to approach this cupcake several different ways to work out the best cookie/caramel/chocolate combination.

Caramel, yuuuuummm!

Again, I had to bake these inserting the caramels at different times to get maximum molten caramel. My (not so) scientific results were the caramel needs to be inserted in the cupcake about 5 minutes before they are done baking, any sooner and they sink to the bottom.

Hey, I'm pregnant.

So, here's the two best options. Crunchy cookie bottom, chocolate cake, caramel center and milk chocolate frosting OR chocolate cake, caramel center, milk chocolate frosting dipped in cookie crumbs.

Yeah, the crunchy cookie crumb bottom is the BEST.

(::Warning:: This is NOT a chocolate overload cake, this is very light.)
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups sour cream
1 1/3 cups boiling water
In a mixing bowl, cream brown sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add alternately with sour cream to creamed mixture. Mix on low just until combined. Stir in water until blended. Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Or just make cupcakes ;)

Sandy's Milk Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons whipping cream (more if needed...I ended up around 5T).

Place 1/2 cup softened butter in a mixing bowl. Add in the cocoa powder, 2 cups icing sugar and 3 tablespoons whipped cream; start beating with an electric mixer add in more whipped cream as needed to create desired texture. Beat until mixture is smooth and creamy.


Love of a lifetime.