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Chocolate Clover Cupcakes

Justin Chapple St. Patrick's Day food hack: chocolate clover cupcakes
Patty Lee / TODAY
Cook Time:
20 mins
Prep Time:
50 mins
Servings:
18
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Chef notes

Tiny balls of foil are the trick to making clover-shaped cupcakes. Just roll small pieces of foil into tiny balls and then put them between the filled liners and the cupcake tin before baking to shape them into clovers. Use 3 foil balls per cupcake. To make the recipes easier, you can use store-bought cake mix and frosting. Be sure to test one cupcake first to ensure you use the correct amount of batter for each cupcake.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 container store-bought vanilla frosting
  • Green food coloring
  • Green sprinkles

Preparation

For the Cupcakes:

1.

Preheat the oven to 350° and line 18 cups of two 12-cup muffin pans with foil liners. In a bowl, whisk the flour with the cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until fully incorporated. Using a 2-tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the lined muffin cups. Using your finger, gently pull back the liner of a filled cupcake and drop 3 tiny foil balls between the liner and the pan in 3 spots to form the clovers. Repeat with the remaining liners.

2.

Bake the cupcakes in the center of the oven for about 17 minutes, until springy and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the muffin pan, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

3.

In a medium bowl, mix the frosting with drops of green food coloring until the frosting is bright green and no streaks remain. Frost the clover cupcakes and decorate with the green sprinkles.