Gender Reveal Cupcakes

When Steven and I found out we were having a boy we really didn't wait long to tell people. I called my mom and dad immediately following the appointment and by that weekend most of our friends and family knew. But I really, really, really wanted to do some sort of gender reveal!  So, being the mean, terrible person I am, I decided to make the other couples in our weekly Bible study wait to hear the news until I whipped up some gender reveal cupcakes. 

And OH.EM.GEE were these gooooood! They tasted just like Hostess cupcakes but a million times better if that's at all possible?! Needless to say, these heavenly cupcakes made up for the torturous wait we made our friends go through. 

Recipe from Pale Yellow blog. Makes 36 cupcakes.

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups water
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 ˚F and line cupcake tins with papers.
2. In a small saucepan bring the water and the sugar to a boil.  Pour sugar/water into the bowl for your stand mixer and add the butter and chocolate.  Stir to melt and let cool slightly.  Stir in the vanilla.
3. Place the mixing bowl on the mixer and mix on low speed.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat to combine.  Scrape the bowl as needed.
4. Sift together the flour, soda, powder, and salt onto wax paper.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Use a standard size ice cream scoop to portion the batter into the cupcake cups.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Filling
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme
pink and/or blue gel food coloring

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for two minutes.  Add in 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons cream, pinch of salt, and vanilla.  Beat on low speed to combine.
2. Add in the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 1/2 tablespoons of creams in alternating increments on a slow speed.  Add in the marshmallow cream and beat on high until the mixture is well combined.
3. If the baby is a boy, color the filling blue, if the baby is a girl, color the filling pink.  If the mother is having twins of two genders, divide the filling into two different bowls and color one pink and one blue.
4. Add the marshmallow filling to a piping bag with an injection tip.  Poke each cupcake in the center and squeeze until the top of the cupcake begins to rise.
5. If there is a lot of filling poking out, scrape it off.

Ganache
9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
pinch of salt
3 teaspoons vanilla

1. Place the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl.
2. Bring the cream, butter, and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan.  Add the hot cream to the chocolate and leave the mixture alone for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk the chocolate and the cream together and set aside to cool.  Stir every ten or so minutes to keep the ganache from setting.
4. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of ganache on top of each filled cupcake and use the back of the spoon to smooth the ganache.

Piped Topping
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

1. Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with a paddle attachment on low until well combined.  Turn up the speed and beat for 1 minutes, scrape the bowl as needed.
2. If the mixture seems too thick, add some more cream.
3. Add the piping frosting to a piping bag with a number 2 tip.

The piped topping was the most difficult part for me. It was super challenging to get the consistency right and mine ended up being a little runny (too much heavy cream). Other than that, this recipe is pretty easy to follow and makes the cutest (and most tasty) gender reveal!

Oh, and we had chocolate ganache left over for days that we used to drizzle over some vanilla ice cream. Yum.