Gender Reveal Cupcakes!!

This was the most fun I've had making cupcakes in a LONG time.  My Chiropractor and his Wife are expecting their first child in March.  I'm due in January and it's been so fun to have someone else to chat about pregnancy with.  Granted, I see more of him than I do of her but ... it's still fun.  She and I have had very, very similar pregnancies.  We've both felt great, mild nausea, no morning sickness.

Recently, she messaged me on Facebook and asked if I could make them a dozen cupcakes for a gender reveal dinner that they were having with his Family.  I was elated!  I've seen this on Pinterest before but had never thought I'd do something like this.

{Side note: I now wish we would have done something fun like this when we found out we were having a Girl.  The way the ultrasound tech told us was pretty lackluster and looking back on it, it's probably just a ho-hum, every day experience for her. Having a little more excitement around it would have been fun! Maybe for the next kiddo.}

She sent me the Pinterest link for the cupcake that she liked.  It was a simple chocolate cupcake with what looked like a chocolate ganache on top and then a question mark on top of the cupcake piped in a white frosting.  I knew right away what I wanted the cupcakes to look like and I couldn't wait to practice before the big day!

They had their 20wk ultrasound and her Husband found out what they were having and she decided to wait for the cupcakes.  He text me early afternoon after their appointment and told me which cupcakes to give her. I was so excited I could hardly stand to sit at work the rest of the afternoon.  I was so nervous on the drive home that I'd either a.) spill the beans or b.) give her the wrong dozen cupcakes.  {Even though I had labeled them for myself with a post-it note}

I know a few people who are pregnant right now who are due after me.  It would be so fun to make these again or to even make a gender reveal cake.

I realized today that I put the second row, far right cupcake in the carrier crooked and I really am fighting some OCD urges with wanting it to be fixed! 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Filling and Ganache

Cupcakes

Recipe from: Hershey's 

Makes approximately 30 cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extraxt

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350.  Place cupcake liners in each well of a cupcake pan.

Stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about two minutes. Stir in your boiling water.  Mix until the water is combined thoroughly.  The batter will be very thin.  This is ok. 

Pour batter into prepared, lined cupcake pan, filling each liner about 2/3 full.  Bake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Filling

Recipe from: The Girl Who Ate Everything

3 sticks butter at room temperature

6 cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract dash of salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the butter and powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and salt.  Mix until combined.  Gradually add the milk and beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy.  You may not need all of the milk.  Add a tablespoon at a time until it becomes the consistency you desire.

Ganache

Recipe from: Annie's Eats

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup light corn syrup

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Remove from the heat, add the chocolate chips, cover and let sit for 8 minutes.  After 8 minutes, if the chips aren't completely melted, return to medium heat and stir frequently until all the chips are melted.  Stir in the vanilla extract until combined and the chocolate mixture is smooth.  Cool the glaze until it is lukewarm at which point if you were to pour a spoonful back into the rest of the glaze it would mound slightly.