- 22
Ingredients
- 1 package (18.25 ounces) plain chocolate cake mix
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Vegetable oil spray for misting the pans
- All-purpose flour for dusting the pans
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- Red and yellow food coloring (to mix together to make orange)
- Red, yellow, and orange sugar sprinkles, or 1 package (.33 ounce) Pop Rocks candy, for garnish
Preparation
Step 1
Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 400°. Mist 24 cupcake cups with vegetable oil spray and dust with flour. Shake out excess flour and set pans aside.
Place cake mix, water, oil, eggs, vinegar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop machine and scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down sides again if needed.
Spoon or scoop 1/4 cup batter into each prepared cupcake cup, filling it two thirds full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes). Place pans in oven.
Bake cupcakes until they peak and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, generally 11 to 13 minutes. Watch cupcakes closely because they can burn at this high heat. Remove pans from oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run dinner knife around edges of cupcakes, lift cupcakes up from bottoms of cups using end of knife, and pick them out of cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before glazing.
Meanwhile, prepare glaze: Place milk, sugar, and butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves, butter melts, and mixture begins to come to a boil, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in white chocolate chips until they are dissolved and glaze is smooth.
Place cupcakes on serving plate or place waxed paper under baking rack to catch runoff glaze. With serving spoon, ladle hot glaze over cupcakes and ask your child to immediately sprinkle them with sugar or candy so that colors melt into glaze.Cupcakes are ready to serve!
Store cupcakes, in cake saver or under glass dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Unflavored vinegar is best, but you can use cider vinegar. Cake mixes already contain a perfect amount of leavening, and that’s why it’s tricky to get them to peak in center! If you are more interested in eating a moist chocolate cupcake with white chocolate glaze than you are in creating a science experiment, forgo vinegar and soda in batter and sugar sprinkle garnish.