Chubby Hubby Cupcakes

5/2/2016

Any Chubby Hubby fans out there? I pulled this little piece of Chubby Hubby information off of the Ben and Jerry's website.
Chubby Hubby®Vanilla Malt Ice Cream with Peanutty Fudge-covered Pretzels with Fudge & Peanut Buttery Swirls

It began with two office jokesters' pulling a prank on a colleague whose endless tales of his love for Ben & Jerry's made them nuts. They hatched an imaginary batch packed with pretzels, peanut butter, fudge in vanilla malt ice cream; spread a rumor of a brand new Ben & Jerry's hit called "Chubby Hubby®". After searching obsessively he was crushed when the hoax was revealed, so the jokesters home-made a pint. He proclaimed it too good to be a joke; after one taste, so did we. The rest is history. Chubby Hubby® -- it's no joke!

Turns out, malted vanilla - peanut butter - fudge ... the perfect ingredients for ice cream AND for a super delicious cupcake.

Chubby Hubby Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
1 cup malted milk powder
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature

For the filling:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups coarsely chopped pretzels

For the frosting:
Peanut Butter Buttercream

To garnish:
Mini pretzels drizzled with melted chocolate

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to blend and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add in the sugar, about ¼ cup at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each addition.

Blend in the malted milk powder.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared liners.

Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Add the cream to a saucepan and bring to a simmer (or warm in the microwave). Remove from the heat and pour the hot cream over the chocolate; let stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk together until a smooth ganache forms. Whisk in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time until completely incorporated. Let stand at room temperature, whisking occasionally, until slightly thickened.