Despite absolutely loving the woods, I’ve never been camping. Shocking? Perhaps. But seriously, I think I’d be more of a glamper than a camper, retreating to a cozy cabin for my woodland excursions. In any case, I absolutely love a campfire, and have wanted to make these campfire cupcakes for some time.
A word about the frosting: I cannot imagine how many calories or grams of sugar there are in this combination of butter, marshmallow fluff, and powdered sugar – so make sure you include the kosher salt. It’s not quite as sweet as you might imagine, especially when paired with the dark chocolate of these cupcakes.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
For the frosting
- 1 cup butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 7 ounces marshmallow fluff
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Red, orange, and golden yellow food coloring
- Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookies, cut into small “logs”
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; this makes 13 cupcakes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well-blended, then make three wells for the wet ingredients.
Place vinegar, vanilla, and vegetable oil into the wells; add water and mix until the batter is smooth. The mixture will bubble up slightly when you add the water, so just keep mixing until you get a smooth consistency in the batter, which will be fairly thin.
Using a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup, scoop batter into cupcake wells, filling about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and remove from cupcake pans; cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
To make frosting, beat butter on medium speed for 1 minute, then add 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat until all of the sugar is incorporated, scrape down the bowl, and add the second cup powdered sugar. Beat again, then add marshmallow fluff and beat to combine. Add remaining powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt and beat to completely combine.
Divide frosting into three portions and tint red, orange, and golden yellow. Place a piece of plastic wrap (about 20 inches long) on our counter; dollop yellow frosting in a straight line, then orange, then red so you have three parallel lines of frosting on your plastic wrap. Roll up and twist both ends, then snip off one end and insert it into an 18-inch piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M large open star tip. Pipe a few trial blobs to make sure all three colors come out at once.
Pipe flame-shaped blobs of frosting onto each cupcake and add three cookie “logs.” If desired, pipe a few more blobs of frosting to cover the ends of the logs. Store in an airtight container in the fridge; bring to room temperature before serving. Makes 13.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 