At some point during our discussions of Cinco Cuatro de Mayo celebrations last month, your friend and mine, Kristine, asked how I would top the Churro Cupcakes from last year’s festivities. Challenge accepted!

While last year we had a cinnamon cupcake, dulce de leche filling and cinnamon cream cheese frosting, this year we have:

• Cinnamon Cupcake
• Spiced Chocolate Pudding Filling
• Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

The end result is just insane.  I am not ashamed to tell you I ate the middles of all the cupcakes and dunked them in the leftover pudding (although I showed excellent restraint because I only made a half batch of the cupcakes, so this only happened six times instead of twelve).

The only weird thing is that my chocolate whipped cream (btw – hello – never knew this was an option in life) is so much darker than in the original recipe. Not that I’m complaining, it was still so good.

These cupcakes are best made over two days; I made the cupcakes and pudding on Thursday night, then assembled them and made the frosting on Friday. Whipped cream has a tendency to deflate quickly, so just make that close to when you’re ready to serve. Four little bites of chocolate cinnamon heaven.

Chocolate Churro Cupcakes

Source: Love & Olive Oil

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup almond milk (I bet you can swap in regular milk)

1 tsp cider vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

Spiced Chocolate Pudding Filling

2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)

3 oz semisweet or dark chocolate

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp meringue powder (I left this out…didn’t have any at home)

pinch cream of tartar

pinch cinnamon

1 cup whipping cream

Directions

1. For cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350, and line a muffin tim with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk and vinegar, then add the sugar, oil and vanilla and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
2. For pudding, combine the cornstarch, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in the milk, until no lumps remain. Heat over medium-low for 15-20 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken, whisking frequently so the mixture doesn’t burn and you don’t get any lumps. Add the chocolate and continue to whisk for about 2-4 more minutes until the pudding is thick and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, and transfer the pudding to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding, and stick it in the fridge to chill completely.
3. When ready to assemble, use a knife to cut out the centre of each cupcake, and save a little piece from the top. Fill each cupcake with pudding and pop the top back on.
4. For frosting, whisk icing sugar, cocoat powder, milk, meringue powder, cream of tartar and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in the whipping cream and beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.  Pipe or spread on top of the cupcakes!