Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

So glad it's the weekend!  Mike is finally starting to feel like himself again.  Yesterday was his last day of IV antibiotics and now he is just on his oral and has orders to rest up through the weekend.  Sooo glad he's feeling better, though I've gotta admit it's been nice having him home!  We've been enjoying the extra time together though haven't done anything too exciting.  I think later today we are going to head down to one of our favorite restaurants with Yama.  It's so nice having a place right on the water where we can relax and bring Yama for some much needed fresh air.  Tomorrow we might go fishing.  We considered going today but we finally got a chance to sleep in (yay for no doctor's appointments!).  I haven't slept so close to 10:00 in sooo long!

Last week my friend Nanc' and I baked some Malted Milk Ball cupcakes.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try them.  The cake itself turned out soooo good from the sour cream and the chocolate pudding.  I am planning on reworking that batter to come up with some other flavors (think: strawberry).  

Recipe below the pictures!

Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

24 cupcake liners
1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix
1 box (3.8 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips (I totally forgot to add these, and would forget on purpose next time)
Malted Mill Buttercream (see recipe below)
40 malted milk balls, coarsely crushed, for garnish

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.  Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.  Set the pans aside.

Place cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds until the ingredients are well blended, then stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed.  The batter should look smooth and thickened.  Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter.  Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full.  (You will get between 22-24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.)  Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18-20 minutes.  Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners.  Lift the cupcakes from the bottoms of the cups using the end of a knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips.  (I left mine in their cups). Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare the Malted Milk Buttercream.  Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops completely.  Garnish with crushed malted milk balls.

Malted Milk Buttercream

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons malted milk powder (I used chocolate syrup … shhh; no sense in buying a whole container of Ovaltine when the recipe only needs five tablespoons and the chocolate syrup worked well)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds.  Stop the machine and add the confectioner’s sugar, malted milk powder, milk and vanilla.  Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute.  Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more.

(source)