Fair Food Revisited

A few months ago, I was at a local bar talking to the bartender about the dessert options they offered (for whatever reason.)  And he was waxing euphoric about the deep fried oreos (for whatever reason.) Next thing you know, I'm in a 45 minute Bubba and Forrest Gump style conversation about all the delicious treats you could deep fry and what you could use to deep fry them.  Specifically, he went into a mouth watering description about how he loves deep fried Snickers Bars and how if he's feeling really indulgent, he'll make up a yellow cake batter to dip the Snickers Bar into before deep frying.  My synapses immediately started firing.  I don't own a fry daddy (for obvious reasons, I can't be trusted with a tool that will allow me to deep fry things whenever the urge strikes me.) But I could do the next best thing, I could make a Snickers Cupcake. 

Problem: Everything I found online for Snickers Cupcakes started with a chocolate cake batter and usually involved some kind of caramel frosting.  These were too fussy for me.  I wanted yellow cake and a plain vanilla frosting.  So I decided, screw the Internet, I'd make my own!
I started with my go to yellow cake recipe but I preheated the oven to 375 instead of 350.  I really wanted these cupcakes to rise more then they usually do and I have heard that increasing the temperature a bit would do that.  Plus they'd have a little bit of frozen deliciousness inside so I needed to counteract that.

While I mixed up the batter, these little guys hung out in the freezer.

If you have a willing assistant, you can put him/her to work opening the Snickers minis while you scoop the batter.  You don't want your batter to sit around too long after it is mixed because all that baking soda and/or powder will start reacting to the buttermilk and you won't have the kind of rise you want in the oven.  If you don't have a willing assistant, try bribing him/her with the leftover Snickers minis.  If that doesn't work, I'd suggest getting them prepped before you mix the batter.  Put them back in the freezer while you mix.

Once the batter is scooped into the lined cupcake tin, and the Snickers minis have all been coated in flour, you are ready to assemble. 

Place a single mini right in the center of the cupcake batter.  Don't worry about pressing it down or covering it with batter.  It'll sink, and the batter with rise up over it no problem.  I actually pushed these guys down a little bit.  Next time I think I'll skip that, as mine still sunk to the bottom. 

Bake them at 375 for 15 - 20 minutes.  For me, 17 minutes seemed just about right. 

While those cool, work on the frosting.  I once again went with my favorite Cooked Frosting from Tasty Kitchen

I doubled it in order to cover all 36 cupcakes I was making with a pretty swirl.  The new ratios were:

• 10 Tablespoons Flour
• 2 Cups Milk
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups Butter
• 2 Cups Granulated Sugar (NOT powdered)

Begin by mixing the flour and the milk and putting them in a pot over medium heat.

Make sure to keep stirring while it cooks, you don't want it to clump or scorch.   I actually scorched the batch I made this time.  I didn't realize it until after I had finished making the frosting.  As I was tasting the final product, both hubby and I noticed it tasted a little caramelly.  Which actually worked really nicely with the Snickers Cupcakes but was completely unintentional.  I couldn't figure out why the caramel hint was there until I was washing the pot and noticed the entire bottom was scorched.  Oops.  Happy accident.  So, if you want your frosting to taste a little bit like caramel (aka, burnt) scorch the pot a little.  But be careful, there is a very fine line between yummy slightly burnt caramel taste and overly burnt toast taste.

Anyways, as Tim Gunn says: "Carry on"

Once the mixture thickens to a nice paste consistency, take it off the heat and let it cool.

Add the vanilla while the mixture cools and stir it well.

While that is cooling, whip the butter and the sugar together with your whisk attachment of your mixer.

After 5 minutes, scrape down the sides and inside the whisk attachment and whip again for another 3-5 minutes. 

Next, add the cooled flour mixture and whip it for a minute or so.    If you've scorched the bottom of your pot (intentionally or otherwise) don't scrape all the bits from the bottom up.  Just take the parts of the mixture that will come out of the pot easily. 

You want the final consistency to look like whipped cream. 

While this was whipping, I took a few more of the frozen Snickers minis and chopped them up.

I swirled the frosting on with a large star tip and sprinkled on some of the chopped Snickers bars to give it a nice finished look.  It also doesn't hurt to let people know that this seemingly vanilla cupcake contains both chocolate and nuts. 

Hubby thought I needed to do a little branding so he created a little Snickers flag for the final product shot.

They really do satisfy you.