Easy Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

The Easiest And Most Delicious Hot Cocoa Cupcake Recipe (With Marshmallow Filling and Ganache Frosting!)

This recipe has three main components- the chocolate cupcakes, the marshmallow filling, and ganache frosting on top.

Start with a box cake mix to make things a bit less daunting. The trick to making these moist chocolate cupcakes from a box mix is adding buttermilk and Greek yogurt (or sour cream). You can bake the cupcakes up to two days in advance. Keep them covered for storage.

Marshmallow Filling and Chocolate Frosting

Prepare the Marshmallow Buttercream Filling by combining butter, marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar, and heavy whipping cream. Add a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor, if desired. Find the marshmallow fluff in the baking aisle at your local grocery store.

Whip these ingredients well until a light and airy filling forms. Place into a piping bag and set aside. You can use a zip-top bag with a cut-off corner tip if you do not have a piping bag.

Ganache is a 1:1 ratio of chocolate with warm heavy cream. The ratios can be altered to change the consistency of the ganache, but the preparation remains the same:

• PLACE chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. You can use chocolate melting wafers, chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi-sweet), or a chopped-up chocolate bar.
• HEAT the whipping cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it simmers gently. Do not let it come to a rapid boil. 
• POUR cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for 3 minutes. 
• WHISK until the chocolate has melted and is thoroughly combined. The ganache will thicken as it sits.

Assemble the Cupcakes

Cut a small hole in each cupcake. Fill it with marshmallow buttercream and cover it with the cake piece you just removed. If you don’t have a piping bag, use a small spoon to fill each cupcake with marshmallow buttercream. Dip the top in ganache icing and sprinkle with mini marshmallows.

Baking with Dairy

Buttermilk adds richness, tenderness, and moisture to these cupcakes and other baked goods.

Baking with dairy is an easy and delicious way to add calcium and other essential nutrients. Milk adds a bit of sweetness to recipes and encourages the browning reactions you see in many baked goods, such as bread and cookies.

Greek yogurt is high in protein, which helps keep you fuller longer and packs in essential nutrients. Six ounces of Greek yogurt typically contains 14–17 grams of protein (regular yogurt has 7-8 grams). It adds creaminess and tang, too. Find out the differences between Greek and regular yogurt.

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Special Ingredients Cream Cheese Meltaway Cookies

You may remember a version of this cookie called “Melting Moments.” Our recipe varies slightly to include cream cheese baked directly into the cookie batter rather than only being topped with cream cheese frosting.

Cornstarch is the special ingredient that makes these cookies melt in your mouth! They are light and fluffy and the perfect addition to any holiday celebration.

It’s not a typo; there are no eggs in this recipe! Do you know someone with an egg allergy who might want a special Christmas cookie?

Tips for Baking and Storing Soft Cookies

• Let Cream Cheese Meltaway Cookies briefly rest on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Prepare the deliciously fluffy cream cheese frosting while the cookies are cooling. However, you can dust meltaway cookies with powdered sugar if you prefer.
• Cream Cheese Meltaway cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days. They can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week or the freezer for 2-3 months.

Baking with Friends and Family

As stated earlier, you may remember “Melting Moments” from childhood. I certainly have fond memories of baking with my mother and grandmother this time of year.

It might be a special recipe representing my heritage, like Vanocka Czech Christmas Bread studded with plump raisins (and forbidden rum!) or Ice Cream Kolacky Cookies with ice cream mixed right into the batter. How meaningful to have a day in the kitchen swapping stories and making a mess together!

My friends introduced me to these Pepper Jelly Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies. And there isn’t a December that goes by without making our Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER, along with the soft and tender classic Vanilla Ricotta Cookies!

Whatever you choose to bake, spend time in the kitchen making memories with those you love this season! And don’t forget a big glass of milk for Santa! He told me he wants to try our Cheesecake Stuffed Cookies this year.

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Cream Cheese Meltaway Cookies

Cream Cheese Meltaway Cookies are light, buttery cookies with the tang of cream cheese. One special ingredient makes these melt in your mouth!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cookie, cream cheese, frosting

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 22 minutes minutes

Servings 2 dozen

Ingredients

For the Cookies

• 1 cup butter softened
• 2 Tablespoons cream cheese softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Cookies

• PREHEAT over to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or use silicone baking mats.
• In the bowl of your mixer, CREAM together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth (approximately 2 minutes).
• ADD in the powdered sugar and continue mixing.
• In a separate bowl, COMBINE flour, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly ADD to the butter mixture until smooth and the batter pulls away from the sides of the mixer.
• DROP by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Gently FLATTEN cookies with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped into powdered sugar (to prevent sticking).
• BAKE for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool and set for a few minutes until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting

• BEAT the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth and light in color.
• Slowly ADD the powdered sugar and continue mixing until smooth and fluffy.
• Add a drop of food coloring if desired.
• When cookies are completely cool, FROST cookies and add sprinkles if desired.

Video

Notes

• The cornstarch is the secret to the melt-in-your-mouth texture of these cookies.
• You may know a version of this cookie called “Melting Moments.” Our recipe varies slightly to include cream cheese baked directly into the cookie batter rather than only being topped with cream cheese frosting.
• The cookies are just as delicious unfrosted or dusted with powdered sugar! 

Connect with ADA Mideast

Dairy farms operate 365 days a year, even on Thanksgiving and Christmas. On these holidays and every day, dairy farmers are committed to providing excellent care for their cows, producing safe, healthy milk, and protecting the environment for future generations.

For more information about dairy nutrition, to find delicious new recipes and to meet Ohio and West Virginia dairy farmers, visit www.Drink-Milk.com, and follow the American Dairy Association Mideast on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

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This rich peanut butter and chocolate Buckeye Sheet Cake recipe bakes for only 20 minutes with a rich fudge-like glaze that gets poured on while still warm from the oven.

This cake has everything you love about classic sheet cakes with an added peanut butter twist! Because who doesn’t love a chocolate peanut butter buckeye dessert? Keep reading to find out what makes this cake extra special from its light and airy texture to the silky smooth glaze that tastes like fudge!

Buckeye Sheet Cake

The Buckeye State (Ohio!) got it right with their love of everything chocolate and peanut butter, and this sheet cake is no exception. Because a sheet cake is baked in a 12×18 jelly roll pan, the thin cake bakes up in only 20 minutes while you prepare the homemade peanut butter frosting.

Pour the frosting onto the warm cake and top that with a sweet chocolate drizzle.

Sheet Cake Ingredients

Although you might think that this is just your average sheet cake recipe, you’re going to love the additional egg that makes the chocolate cake extra rich. Also, as noted in the recipe, try using a cup of hot coffee instead of the traditional cup of boiling water. You won’t taste the coffee, but you will notice the deep chocolate flavor highlighted in every bite.

How to Make Homemade Buttermilk

This Buckeye Sheet Cake recipe uses buttermilk in the cake as well as in the frosting. If you do not have access to buttermilk, you can make your own by using whole milk and lemon juice or distilled vinegar.

For every 1 cup of milk, stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. Stir it up gently and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before using the homemade buttermilk in your recipe.

Tips for Baking with Eggs

Resist the urge to taste cake batter that contains raw eggs before baking! Even though the likelihood that an egg might contain bacteria is very small, the only way to prevent a potential food-borne illness is to properly cook the egg.

To allow for easier mixing, let your eggs sit out on the countertop for 30 minutes prior to baking. Putting cold eggs, or butter, into your batter could result in hard baked goods.

Large eggs are typically the best to use for baking. If you don’t have large eggs, use this conversation chart to see how to substitute different sizes.

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It’s much easier than you think to make rainbow swirl frosting at home. Switch out the colors in any combination to make a unique rainbow cake or cookie design. Our helpful step-by-step tutorial will show you the easy DIY technique to get that bakery buttercream frosting for your next birthday party desserts.

How to Make Unicorn Rainbow Frosting

We have been using this multi-colored icing method on cupcakes for years, but you may be surprised that you can use this simple technique to make impressive rainbow cookies and unicorn swirled frosting.

You will need:

• Buttercream frosting
• Gel food coloring
• Plastic wrap
• Small piping bags
• Large piping bag
• Open star piping tip

Rainbow Swirl Icing Method

1. Divide frosting between 3-7 bowls depending on how many colors you are using, and color the frosting using gel food coloring for the most vibrant colors.
2. Transfer each color of frosting to its own small piping bag.
3. Pipe long rows of each color onto a piece of plastic wrap.
4. Roll up the plastic wrap into a log shape and snip off the excess.
5. Place the plastic wrap log into a larger piping bag fitted with an open star tip (such as 1M).

How to Use Rainbow Swirl Icing

You can use this rainbow buttercream on top of:

Cupcakes (try our Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes)

Cut Out Cookies (try our Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER)

Best Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

Your favorite homemade or boxed cake recipe.

Rainbow Desserts

These cookies can be made for birthday parties, holidays (such as St. Patrick’s Day), and to celebrate PRIDE month.

Be sure to check out all of our rainbow desserts, like our popular Rainbow Chocolate Chip Cookies and our festive Tie Dyed Rice Krispie Treats.

Frosting Recipes

For the flat flood icing (shown in white and green), I used Small Batch Royal Icing. If you do not wish to make another frosting, you can use store-bought cookie icing such as Wilton.

We do not suggest using canned frosting for the rainbow swirl buttercream. Frosting in a can will droop after you pipe it and will not hold up very well.

For this American Buttercream, you can use full butter or half butter and half shortening, such as Crisco.

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For my husband’s fortieth birthday, we treated him to this Chocolate Overload Cake. It is over-the-top and bursting with all of his favorite chocolate toppings. This cake is special to me because it was the last big celebration that we had in our first home before moving. Looking at these photos in our back yard brings to mind a lot of fun memories.

Chocolate Overload Cake

You can put this cake together in under ten minutes if you purchase a simple chocolate cake from a local bakery. I made a doctored up boxed cake mix and used my favorite rich chocolate frosting recipe.

If you are frosting your cake at home, avoid making the frosting layers too thick. This chocolate cake is full of flavor from the candy bars, brownies, cookies, and doughnuts. Also, be sure to salt your frosting. Even a small sprinkle of salt on top of your cake will make a difference to help cut the sweetness.

Customize Your Cake

The sky is the limit here! Pile your cake high with all of your favorite chocolate treats.

• doughnuts
• cookies
• KitKat candy bars
• brownie brittle
• Mini chocolate bars
• Toffee
• Whoppers
• mini muffins
• brownies

Start by placing your largest and tallest items on top (the doughnuts, cookies, large candy bars, etc.) You can use wooden skewers as needed or pile them onto the top of your Chocolate Overload Cake.

Next, layer in some medium-sized treats like brownie brittle and KitKat candy bars. Be sure to add some height.

Finally, fill in with bite-sized chocolate candies and wrap your chocolates down the side of your cake at an angle. Fill in any bare spots and leave a few open spaces for candles if you celebrate a birthday.

Can I prepare this cake in advance?

For best results, I suggest placing the chocolate toppings on your cake within a few hours of the celebration to avoid the candy and treats drooping or falling off the side.

If you decorate the cake in advance, allow room in your refrigerator to store it until you are ready to serve the cake. Avoid your frosting getting too warm and not being able to hold up underneath all of the delicious chocolate toppings!

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Chocolate Overload Cake

Customize this Chocolate Overload Cake with your favorite chocolate candy, cookies, brownies, and even doughnuts. Make sure to get chocolate in every bite!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword birthday, cake, candy, chocolate, frosting

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 10 servings

Author Katrina Bahl

Ingredients

• 1 chocolate cake prepared
• 1 chocolate doughnut
• 5 KitKat candy bars
• 20 Whoppers
• 10 Hershey Drop candies (or Hershey Kiss candies)
• 5 brownie brittle pieces
• 4 mini chocolate muffins
• chocolate sprinkles

Instructions

• START by placing your tallest and largest items on the cake. Use wooden skewers if necessary.
• NEXT, place the medium-sized candy bars and muffins along the top and side of the cake.
• FINALLY, fill in the empty spaces with the smallest chocolate candies and sprinkles.

Notes

Use a store-bought cake for convenience, or make a homemade chocolate cake. We like to use this rich chocolate frosting recipe.

Customize this cake with any of your favorite chocolate candies and cookies. We wanted to keep it pretty basic for a 40th birthday celebration, but children especially would love bright colors like M&Ms, or peanut butter cups.

Be sure to check out all of our chocolate desserts (like our Best Chocolate Cut Out Cookie!) for the chocolate lover in your life!

Follow my I eat Chocolate Pinterest Board for chocolate dessert ideas from some of my favorite food websites.

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We turned our Best Christmas Cookies into our Best Valentine Cookies. Keep them as they are, or make a few small changes. Either way, these vanilla and chocolate cut out cookies are a Reader Favorite with thousands of reviews and millions of saves every year.

• There is no need to chill the dough before rolling. Just mix, roll, cut, and bake!
• The chocolate cut-out cookies taste just like brownies.
• These Valentine Cookies are soft and can be rolled thick.
• Frost with buttercream, royal icing, chocolate glaze, or enjoy them plain.

Valentine Cookies that keep their shape!

Finally! Readers love this recipe because the cookies keep their shape. Can your cookies spell out cursive words?

You should be able to dent the butter slightly by pressing your finger to it. Your finger should not be able to make a significant mark into the butter or press through to the bottom.

Cream the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes before adding the other ingredients.

Measure flour in grams for the best, most consistent results (but not necessary if you do not own a kitchen scale).

The dough may feel dry at first, but we suggest allowing your mixer to go for 30 seconds to one minute longer than you think is necessary. The dough will begin to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

The chocolate cookies with rich chocolate glaze are a Valentine Cookie must-make combination!

They are so thick and fudgy that you will think you are biting into a brownie. Add your favorite sprinkles, or keep them classic and simple.

How to frost Valentine Cookies

Don’t let the name fool you- our favorite Christmas Cookie Frosting is sweet and delicious for any holiday sugar cookie. It is a crisping buttercream (sometimes called a crusting buttercream) that dries firm enough to stack but stays soft on top of the cookie. We love this one because the cookies get even better in the following days after frosting them!

You can also use a simple powdered sugar and milk glaze or make our Small Batch Royal Icing. Keep it white or tint it pink and purple. Food gel colors give a vibrant shade without changing the consistency of the frosting. You can even use food gel to tint the dough itself. See our Patchwork Winter Mitten Cookies, for example.

Finally, our Three Ingredient Chocolate Glaze is so popular on Christmas cookies that we had to drizzle it all over these Valentine Cookies. The fudge chocolate glaze dries firm so you can stack the cookies. If it is too firm to pipe or spread easily, you can warm it up in the microwave for 30 seconds. Do this as many times as necessary.

Flavor extracts for Valentine Cookies

Make these Valentine Cookies really stand out by swapping vanilla extract for another flavor.

In traditional sugar cookies, we like Cake Batter extract or Coconut extract. Sometimes we use fresh lemon zest with lemon extract too.

In the chocolate sugar cookies, try using a berry extract such as Raspberry or Strawberry.

These extracts can be used in the cookies or frosting, or both. Chocolate cookies with strawberry frosting is a treat!

Can Valentine Cookies be made gluten-free?

Yes! To make these the best gluten-free Sugar Cookie, swap out the flour for your favorite gluten-free 1:1 flour.

I use King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure Flour.

These Valentine Cookies are a mashup of all of our favorite, most popular cookie and frosting recipes. We will link them here and in the recipe card as well. Follow the links for Ingredient lists and Printable Recipe Cards.

The Internet’s Favorite Cookie and a Reader Favorite: Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER

The Chocolate Sugar Cookie of your dreams: Best Chocolate Cut Out Cookie

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Valentine Cookies

The BEST Valentine Cookies- easy, no chill, no spread, soft cookies keep their shape perfectly, and the chocolate ones taste like brownies!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate, cookies, frosting, Valentine's Day

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Total Time 38 minutes minutes

Servings 36 cookies

Author Katrina Bahl

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 recipe Best Sugar Cookie Ever
• 1 recipe Best Chocolate Cut Out Cookie

Frostings

• 1 recipe Crusting Buttercream
• 1 recipe Chocolate Glaze
• 1 recipe Royal Icing

Instructions

• Prepare cookies as directed.
• Frost and decorate with sprinkles or colored sanding sugars.

Notes

These Valentine Cookies are a mashup of all of our favorite, most popular cookie and frosting recipes. Follow the links for Ingredient lists and Printable Recipe Cards.

Best Sugar Cookie Recipe EVER

Best Chocolate Cut Out Cookie

Christmas Cookie Frosting

Three Ingredient Chocolate Glaze

Small Batch Royal Icing

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A few years ago, these vintage Christmas trees began coming back into popularity. Like many, I had fond childhood memories of dusting off that retro ceramic tree every year and placing it on top of the giant wooden box television. There is a 90% chance the tree was also sitting on top of a faded crocheted doily.

I was inspired to make this Vintage Christmas Tree Cake when I purchased some jumbo lightbulb sprinkles. They were three-dimensional and too bulky to decorate cookies with, but they reminded me of the bulbs on those ceramic trees.

I couldn’t choose between the white Christmas tree or the classic green, so naturally, I prepared both. You can never have too much cake!

Vintage Christmas Tree Cakes

I made box cake mixes, but you can use homemade cakes if that is your preference. To make this incredibly quick and easy, I also used a shaped Christmas tree cake pan (linked below in the recipe card).

For frosting thick enough to pipe through a decorating bag and keep its shape, I suggest making the frosting.

Using a large star tip, start frosting your tree cakes from the bottom up.

Cut a cake board to be just a bit smaller than the cakes so that the cardboard doesn’t stick out from the edges. Frost the cakes on top of parchment paper so that you can twist them to reach every space as needed, starting with the sides and then the bottom of the cakes.

When finished, place the jumbo Christmas bulb sprinkles into the cake along with a frosted star cookie.

I thinned out a few tablespoons of white frosting and tinted it yellow. Then I dipped a star-shaped Gingerbread Spritz cookie into the frosting and placed it on top.

Can I prepare this cake in advance?

Unfrosted cake can be prepared 1-2 days in advance and stored in a sealed, airtight container.

Frosted cake will seal in moisture but can begin to get soggy after 1-2 days/

Refrigerated frosted or unfrosted cake can be stored for 2-3 days in the refrigerator if stored properly in an airtight container.

Frozen unfrosted cake can be stored wrapped tightly and sealed for up to 2 months.

Choking Hazard

Please be mindful of serving this Vintage Christmas Tree Cake to small children. Just like when using any small candies or large sprinkles, keep an eye out to make sure every bite is chewed thoroughly before swallowing.

If you are concerned with this, then we suggest using frosting for the bulbs or smaller, flat sprinkles.

If you do not own a Christmas tree pan, I found this tree cake template to look the most like the retro vintage Christmas tree design.

Linked below, you will find my suggestions for the cake pan, frosting tip, sprinkles, and piping bags.

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Vintage Christmas Tree Cake

This Vintage Christmas Tree Cake will bring you straight back to your childhood- just like the retro ceramic Christmas tree, only sweeter!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cake, christmas, frosting, holiday, sprinkles

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Frosting Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 12

Author Katrina Bahl

Ingredients

• 1 cake prepared
• 1 jumbo sprinkles

Crisping Cake Buttercream

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup shortening (like Crisco)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract see notes
• 1/4 cup heavy cream or milk
• 1 pinch salt to taste

Instructions

Buttercream

• In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl for use with your handheld electric mixer, place shortening, butter, and extracts. BEAT until creamy (at least 1 minute).
• ADD powdered sugar 1 cup at a time.
• ADD cream 2-3 Tablespoons at a time, alternating with the powdered sugar.
• MIX until creamy. Use more or less cream (or whole milk) to reach the desired consistency. (I like for it to be smooth enough to pipe through a piping bag, but still a bit more firm than typical store-bought frosting.)
• ADD a 2-3 drops of gel food coloring if desired.

Cake

• PREPARE cake as instructed. Let cool completely.
• PREPARE buttercream frosting.
• Using a large star tip, FROST the tree cakes starting from the sides and then from the bottom up.
• PLACE jumbo bulb sprinkles and top with a cookie or frosting star.

Notes

• The frosting does not dry hard; it simply forms a crust due to the shortening.
• If opting out of using almond extract, use more vanilla extract.
• All butter may be substituted for shortening, but it will change the texture, and it will not “crisp” up.
•  

If you like this Vintage Christmas Tree Cake you may like our Christmas Tree Meringue Cookies or the festive Ugly Christmas Sweater Sugar Cookie Bars.

Items Used in this Recipe

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There might not be a better year to make this whimsical Rainbow Sprinkle Gingerbread House than 2020. In fact, I had to prepare a second one just so my kids could devour it because I couldn’t part with this one. It makes me smile every time I walk near where it is displayed in our kitchen.

Rainbow Sprinkle Gingerbread House

Gather your ingredients:

1. Gingerbread house- Purchase a kit or prepare the pieces at home. For best results, purchase an unassembled house.
2. Royal Icing- Repurpose the icing that comes in the store-bought kit. Trust us on this. Make our Gingerbread House Icing (recipe below). It dries completely firm. Your house will not fall apart!
3. Rainbow sprinkles- We used about 2 cups of nonpareil sprinkles for decorating (discard the excess).
4. Candy- Gather whatever colorful candies you would like.
5. Gingerbread cookies- We used store-bought gingerbread men and Grandma’s Gingerbread Spritz for the trees.

Gingerbread House Icing

Have you ever tried to prepare a gingerbread house only to have it fall apart midway through? First, repurpose the icing that came with your store-bought gingerbread house kit. It is likely a powdered sugar glaze that was not really meant to hold up a heavy structure. Try smothering it on cinnamon rolls or drizzling it on top of graham crackers.

Next, prepare our Gingerbread House Icing (printable recipe card below). It will dry firm and will hold up to the hefty sprinkle-covered gingerbread house pieces.

Attach the Sprinkles

We suggest spreading the icing on the gingerbread cookies and house pieces for the best results, then dipping them into the sprinkles. This can get messy! Let all of the gingerbread house sections and cookies dry before assembling. The suggested drying time is at least 2 hours (overnight is best).

This gets trickier if your gingerbread house came preassembled, but it’s not impossible. You will spread icing over one section of the house at a time before holding the house over a large bowl and pouring sprinkles over it. You may need to do this in batches while allowing the icing to dry on some sections before moving on to others.

Build a Sturdy Gingerbread House

Once your gingerbread house pieces are covered with sprinkles and the icing has dried firm, you can begin assembly.

1. Construct the base of the house. Use a piping bag or decorating bottle full of Gingerbread House Icing to pipe a line of icing on each end that will be touching together. Form the rectangle or square base of your house. Hold in place for several minutes. Use drinking glasses, water bottles, or soda cans placed inside the base (and outside as needed) to prop up the walls until they are set.
2. Meanwhile, pipe icing along seams of the roof pieces. Hold in place until firm enough to use glasses, bottles, or cans for propping up the roof pieces.
3. Allow the base and the roof to firm up for at least 1 hour.

When ready to attach the roof to the base, pipe icing along the top of every base piece and along the bottom of every roof piece that will be touching. Let dry until completely firm. Decorate with more icing and candies as desired!

Baker’s Tip:

Don’t be afraid to use a lot of icing while constructing the Rainbow Sprinkle Gingerbread House. When it dries it will look like snow! You can also cover up any messy seams with more icing and candies when the house construction is finished.

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You don’t even need to get your mixer out for this quick chocolate glaze!

Just like everybody needs a little black dress, every kitchen needs a quick chocolate frosting- actually a quick, versatile chocolate glaze.

This three-ingredient glaze comes together in just a few minutes. You don’t need a mixer, and it dries firm. Pour it over doughnuts, cupcakes, a Bundt cake, or spread it over cookies.

Three Ingredient Chocolate Glaze

The recipe couldn’t be easier! Melt the chocolate, then whisk in the butter and corn syrup. The result is a beautifully glossy chocolate glaze.  What you need:

• chocolate chunks (or chips)
• butter
• corn syrup

We have the best results with corn syrup, but if you are completely against using it, some substitutes for corn syrup are- agave, honey, or maple syrup. Let us know in the comment section if you have another secret success story!

The Best Chocolate

Chocolate is the superstar here, so be sure to pick a good quality one. Our suggestions are a semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate bar or chunks like Ghirardelli and Callebaut. Bakers Chocolate is also a good grocery store brand. But this chocolate glaze doesn’t have to be fancy; no problems using chocolate chips…even the ones in the classic yellow bag. Use what you have!

We love using it on our Best Chocolate Cut Out Cookie.

Also, what is it about crushed candy canes that makes everything so festive? These Peppermint Bark Cookies are a fun doughnut shape that we want to make every season. Our family has a birthday morning Donut Cake tradition, so maybe we’ll make every birthday Donut Day with themed desserts throughout!

How to Store Chocolate Glaze

The chocolate glaze is best used right away; however, if you have any leftover glaze that you don’t want to go to waste, you can store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Use within one week.

For a satiny smooth finish, it is not suggested to freeze cookies or cakes with glaze. There is nothing wrong with freezing desserts with glaze, but you will have the smoothest finish when serving at room temperature.  (more…)

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My go-to dessert is undeniably cupcakes. Always a crowd pleaser, they are portable and perfectly portioned. You can even use a boxed mix to let the filling and frosting take center stage. These Peanut Butter Filled Buckeye Cupcakes are a show stopper on their own, but the real treat is waiting for you when you take a bite. That fluffy peanut butter filling is light and airy, and has an almost mousse-like texture. Top with a traditional candy buckeye if desired.

I’m sharing this recipe in partnership with Ohio Eggs and the Ohio State Buckeyes. You can also find this recipe for Peanut Butter Filled Buckeye Cupcakes on the Ohio Eggs website. I have done some work with them in the past including my favorite Buckeye Bark. I particularly love these cupcakes because of that peanut butter mousse filling. It’s so incredibly flavorful, you may find yourself sneaking seconds.

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