Welcome to Hot Chocolate Week, Day 3! I continue this week of decadent, chocolate posts with a simple, yet oh so yummy cupcake. This cupcake features a moist chocolate sponge, marshmallow cream filling, whipped cream, and a dusting of cocoa. What is better than that symphony of luscious chocolate, creamy marshmallow, and light whipped cream? When it comes to easy, delicious hot chocolate cupcakes, nothing! These cupcakes are also very light in addition to being super moist and delicious.

The recipe that I use when I make chocolate cake is an adaptation from Posie (Harwood) Brien’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake recipe on Food52’s website. Here is the link for that recipe: https://food52.com/recipes/68071-chocolate-mayonnaise-cake. You can find my adapted recipe at the bottom of this post.

Prepare the Chocolate Sponge Batter:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Add the salt and whisk the mixture to make sure the dry ingredients are well combined. Add room temperature eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract into a separate bowl and mix using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Mix on a medium-high speed until the ingredients lighten in color, which will take approximately 3-4 minutes.

Add the mayonnaise and mix on a medium speed until well combined, approximately 1-2 minutes. Add one-third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined (do NOT overmix!). While mixing, pour one-third of the water into the bowl. Repeat until all dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and water are just combined. Add the cake batter to your desired cake or cupcake pans.

Bake 6” round cakes for approximately 25-30 minutes, regular cupcakes for approximately 16-18 minutes, or mini cupcakes for approximately 12-14 minutes. Baking times will vary depending on what you are making, but you will know when your sponge is done when a cake tester (such as a toothpick) inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Remove pans from the oven and let the sponge or cupcakes cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes. Next, remove the sponge or cupcakes from the pans and let them completely cool on a wire rack or baking sheet.

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You can find the full recipe with these instructions listed in the printable recipe at the bottom of this post.

Prepare the Filling:

The filling for this cupcake is literally as easy as opening a jar of marshmallow fluff and placing it into a piping bag!

Prepare the Whipped Cream:

For the whipped cream topping, I recommend making a stabilized whipped cream because it will hold its shape better. When first making stabilized whipped cream, I looked up videos on YouTube in order to learn how to add the stabilizer. Tatyana’s Everyday Food’s stabilized whipped cream recipe is my favorite recipe to use because the whipped cream holds its shape nicely and it is not too sweet.

Here is how I make that stabilized whipped cream: Add one cup of heavy whipping cream and 1/3 cup of granulated sugar to a cold bowl. Whip on a medium speed until it thickens, but does not yet hold stiff peaks. Turn off the mixer and add 1 teaspoon of gelatin to 2 tablespoons of water and heat in the microwave until the gelatin is fully dissolved. Add the gelatin and 1 ½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract to the heavy cream. Beat on medium-high speed until the cream holds stiff peaks. Place in the refrigerator for approximately 15 minutes and then it is ready to use!

Assemble the Cupcakes:

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Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, I cut the centers out with one of my fondant circle cutters that is approximately 1.25” in diameter. Remove the top half of the center and lightly press down the remaining sponge in the center of the cupcake.

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Next, fill the center of the cupcake with marshmallow cream until it is completely full of marshmallow.

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Add some of the whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with a 1M piping tip. Depending on how much whipped cream you would like on top, pipe either a rosette or muli-layer dollop of whipped cream.

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Finally, sift some unsweetened dark cocoa powder over the top of the whipped cream. These delicious cupcakes are complete and ready to enjoy!

Thank you so much for checking out this post for the third day of Hot Chocolate Week! I hope that you try these delicious cupcakes! Please leave a comment below regarding if you make these cupcakes and how you enjoyed them!