"Faustess" Cupcakes (aka the best cupcake I've ever had)

My friend Robin made these and I seriously though I had died and gone to cup cake heaven. She combined two recipes, her mother-in-law's Ho-Ho Cake and the Fauxstess Cupcakes by Vegan With a Vengeance. All I know is that they are amazing. Enjoy!



"Faux-stess" Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 box dark chocolate cake mix plus ingredients to prepare it (you could use Devil's food or any other chocolate cake--probably not German chocolate though)

Prepare cake as directed, and bake in line cupcake pans.

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup milk (I used soy)
5 tbs flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup crisco
6 tbs butter

Place milk and flour in a saucepan and cook until thick. Then cool completely. I placed it in a bowl in the fridge while the cupcakes baked. It was cool by the time they came out of the oven, and I made the rest of the filling while the cupcakes cooled.

Beat sugar, vanilla, crisco, and butter until light. Add the cooked mixture and beat until fluffy.

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:
1/3 cup soymilk (you can use any milk, I'm sure)
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used semi-sweet because it's what I had on hand)
2 tbs pure maple syrup (I used my homemade brown sugar syrup)

In a small saucepan, scorch the soymilk (bring it to a boil), then lower the heat to a simmer and add the chocolate and syrup. Mix with a heatproof spatula for about 30 seconds. Then turn the heat off and continue stirring until the chocolate is fully melted and the icing is smooht.

Royal Icing for Squigglies Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbs soymilk powder
2 tbs water

I ended up just using soymilk instead of the powder and water because that's what I had on hand. However, I did need quite a bit more than just 2 tbs to get the right consistency. The key is to add liquid slowly to make sure the icing doesn't get drippy. Honestly, this made way more than I actually needed, so you could easily cut it in half.

Sift the sugar into a mixing bowl . Add the soymilk powder. Add 1 tbs of the water and stir. Then add the rest of the water a little bit at a time until you reach a consistency slightly more solid than toothpaste. The icing shouldn't be drippy at all. If it is, add a little more powdered sugar.

To assemble:
You will need 2 decorator's bags (or plastic baggies), one fitted with a small round tip, like you'd use for writing, and one fitted with a large round or star tip. Fill the bag fitted with the large tip with the filling. You can just poke the tip right into the middle of the top of the cupcake, and squeeze to get as much filling in the center as you can. Wipe off any excess with a paper towel (or your finger).

Dip the cupcakes into the ganache, swirling until the top of the cupcake is completely coated. Let set in the refrigerator 10 minutes until ganache is set.

Then draw little squigglies on top with your royal icing.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not that bad, and they are soooooo worth it!