Les' Rocky Road Cupcake

It tasted as good as it looks!

Rocky Road Cupcakes (with Leslie's version)(courtesy of the Cake Doctor)

- makes 22-24 cupcakes
- prep time: 20 min
- baking time: 18-20 min
- assembly time: 10 min

24 paper liners for cupcake pans (2 1/2" size)

CUPCAKES:

1 pkg devil's food cake mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding (I used chocolate, I bought the wrong size vanilla! I wonder if I used vanilla it would've been better...hmmm...)1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup mild chocolate chips (once again, I used dark, that's all I had)

MILK CHOCOLATE (OR DARK, IN MY CASE!) ROCKY ROAD FROSTING:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 T butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup milk (or dark) chocolate chips
3/4 cup coarsely chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts (we had salted cocktail peanuts at home and the dry roasted kind wasn't on sale so I used that instead!)
1 heaping cup miniature marshmallows (I think I ended up using about 2 cups....)

1. 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.

2. Prepare the cupcake batter. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for about 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Fold in the chocolate chips until they are well distributed. 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 any empty liners (well, duh! Why would you bake an empty liner???). Place the pans in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18-20 minutes (I'm not sure if it was just my oven, but at 19 minutes my cupcake still seemed kinda mushy. I ended up baking for about 21 minutes. It was perfect.) Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liner, lift the cupcake from the bottom of the cup using the end of the knife, and pick it out carefully with your fingertips (I don't know why I keep writing this, cause I NEVER do this. It works just fine if you leave them in the liners and you don't make a mess!!). Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the Milk Chocolate Rocky Road Frosting: Place the sugar, butter, and milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil, 3-4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate chips, and stir until melted. Let the pan rest off the heat to cool slightly but not completely, 3-4 minutes. Fold in the peanuts and marshmallows until they are well combined and the heat from the frosting begins to melt the marshmallows.

5. 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. (Like I said, I used about 2 cups of marshmallows, I wanted each cupcake to have about 5 marshmallows, and I ran out so I kept adding more to the pot...) the cupcakes are ready to serve. (This frosting is a little messy to work with, but it's worth it!! :)
** Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temp for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to one week. Or freeze them, wraped in aluminum foil or in a cake saver for up to 6 months. Thaw the cupckes overnight in the refrigerator before serving.