Monday, January 2, 2012

Chocolate 'Cupcake' Fudge

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When all else fails, sprinkles will fix everything. Sprinkles (especially rainbow sprinkles) are awesome. Sprinkles make me happy. And after a trip to the party supply store I had mountains and mountains of of them in all difference colours. I was determined to make something with these sprinkles. The first thing didn't turn out so great. It's not everyday that I have to go around asking people, "Do these unicorn horns look more like mystical penises?". Yeah.
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I was still determined to make something with these sprinkles. They are just too darn pretty. So I decided to try Karen's recipe for easy chocolate fudge, it looked so freakin delicious. I just made a plain chocolate fudge, but poured it into mini cupcake papers and topped it with vanilla icing so they look just like cupcakes. All so I had something to put the rainbow sprinkles on. So cute!
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There are many things I love about this fudge recipe. Karen's instructions were super easy to follow and the best part is that there is no sugar thermometer involved. There was a heck of a lot of stirring involved, my arms nearly fell off and my favourite silicon spatula snapped :( But it was totally worth it. The chocolate fudge is so tasty. And with the pink icing and sprinkles on top it looks so fun and cheerful.
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The two things that usually freak me out about chocolate fudge is the risks of it not setting, or the chocolate seizing and making the whole mixture turn grainy. This recipe worked perfectly, the mixture sets pretty quickly so you have to work fast. I even kept my fudge at room temperature all day and it didn't go soft or melty at all. My first batch of fudge actually seized up as soon as I stirred in the chocolate and I completely freaked out, but I returned it to the heat and gradually added hot water to the mixture and it totally fixed it. It was like magic!
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I wish I had been able to make these in time for our New Year's celebrations, the confetti sprinkles are just perfect for that kind of occasion. But these little cupcake shaped fudge bites are perfect for any party, they are nice and bite-sized, which I prefer since the fudge is quite sweet and you don't want to eat too much of it in one go. And everyone needs more rainbow sprinkles in their life.
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Chocolate 'Cupcake' Fudge
(slightly adapted from Citrus & Candy's Easy Chocolate Fudge, makes 24 'cupcakes')
1 x 395g tin of condensed milk
80g butter (I used salted, but you can use unsalted and add 1 tsp salt)
200g light brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
180g dark chocolate, finely chopped

For the icing:
125g butter
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
Optional: Pink/Red food colouring, a few drops
Sprinkles to decorate

Line two 12-hole mini muffin trays with papers. Place condensed milk, butter, sugar, and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is glossy and sugar has dissolved (do not boil whatsoever).

Increase the heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer while stirring (there’s gonna be a lot of stirring involved here!). Continue to stir and cook for about 6-8 minutes until the mixture has thickened and it 'comes away from the sides' (check out Karen's video at the end of her post, it was a really useful reference for this part). Fudge is ready when a teaspoon of mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water.
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Remove from heat and working quickly, add in the finely chopped chocolate, stir until chocolate has melted (work fast otherwise the mixture might seize. Don't fret if it does, return it to the heat and add hot water 1 tbsp at a time and stir until the mixture turns molten again). Carefully spoon into prepared cupcake papers, smooth tops with a spatula and cool for 30 mins on a wire rack. Chill in fridge until firm.

Prepare the icing; remove butter 30 mins before starting. Chop up butter and beat in a large mixing bowl on high with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and gradually add sifted icing sugar, vanilla and food colouring. Increase speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy. Peel cupcake papers away from the set chocolate fudge (I sliced a thin layer off the tops of each of them before doing this, so they had flatter tops). Place icing in a piping bag with a 1cm star tip and pipe over the top of the fudge and decorate with sprinkles. Store fudge in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
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35 comments:

  1. omg...this looks so amazing *0*

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  2. It looks ultra delicious:) All photos are unique, works of art.

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  3. so adorable! and I highly agree, everyone does need more rainbow sprinkles in their lives.

    Solution to world peace? :D

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  4. Yay the sprinkles are back!! Anything with sprinkles are always my favourite photos (SCATTER!! rofl). And I'm totally in love with these wee little cupcakes <3

    Lol now you got me all curious about the mythical penises ;)

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  5. one word: NOM.

    I too, share your adoration of sprinkles. and fudge. and foods that are disguised as other foods. :)

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  6. heh i can totally imagine you holding a bowl of sprinkles and flinging it everywhere and going hmm not enough sprinkles dammit

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  7. I nearly spat out my tea all over my laptop at sprinkled mystical penises.

    Looks yum :)

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  8. Looks delicious, beautiful photos. Happy New year wish you a blessed and successful year. I pinned this on pinterest. xo
    http://pinterest.com/rowaida/

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  9. They're gorgeous! Great photos! I would be so afraid to make these too xD But I'll happily eat them :3

    ~ Kieli ~

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  10. LOL mystical penises....

    These are adorable, and I really wish I had a batch right now!

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  11. Those look so cute! My mom has a great fudge recipe that everyone loves and is so incredibly easy, but I've never thought of putting it in cupcake holders, that's too cute!

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  12. My daughter will give anything for anything that has sprinkles on it. Most specially the rainbow sprinkles...I would have to give these cute treats a try! Thanks for sharing!

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  13. so cute! you always have such pretty photos too!

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  14. These are the cutest thing ever! Lovely shots too.

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  15. So beautiful! I love the pink, I want to eat these!

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  16. Ahhh these are so cute!! What a great idea. And I completely agree that everyone needs more rainbow sprinkles in their lives xox

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  17. Yay for sprinkles. Never mind about New Years eve, you can have these anytime

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  18. These are so cute! I can imagine that fudge + vanilla frosting = sugar overload so perfect to make them in such tiny little bite-sized portions. And you're right, everything is better with sprinkles :-)

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  19. deliciosos, además de bonitos. Feliz año nuevo.

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  20. Aww these are gorgeous steph! Never would have thought to turn the duge into a cupcake. Sounds so delish!

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  21. Que maravilla de receta, de presentación, de fotografías. Me encanta todo. Feliz 2012

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  22. I just discovered your blog. Beautiful, inspiring photos. I look forward to reading through your archives..

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  23. Those cupcakes are adorable and I love your photos!

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  24. they kinda look like my daughters playdough cupcakes!! of which my son does try to eat.....

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  25. Hahha hahahahhaha mystical penises!! Nice one!!
    Happy new year darl!! X

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  26. Hi, mind explaining what does Tbl means in "2 Tbl golden syrup?" I've googled. Some said Tub full and some said its tablespoon.

    Would love to try this out soon!

    Thanks & have a nice day! (:

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  27. JoeyCheong - That should definitely be tablespoon. Sorry I usually write tbsp but I was lazy and copy pasted the ingredients list straight from Karen's post and must not have checked it properly. I've fixed that up now, sorry about the confusion!

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  28. Hi! I just made this.. it seized up when I added the chocolate but your instructions for how to fix that worked perfectly... now I'm just waiting for it to cool before I can dig in!

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