Zuccotto Cupcakes

"All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors." - John Calvin

One unexpected perk to giving up sweets for Lent: when you can only have them one day a week (Sunday), you don't want to mess around - only the good stuff will do. Unless otherwise detained, I hope to make some fabulous desserts every weekend of Lent through Easter. This weekend included my secret Raspberry Brownies (my brother's request), and these cupcakes.

A few months ago, a lady at my church brought these to a Community Sunday dinner. After one bite, my brother ordered me to get the recipe from her by any means necessary. Thankfully, this recipe is online, so force (ahem) persuasion was not needed.

cupcake batter

 I took a box of regular boxed white cake mix and added a small box of vanilla instant pudding for the batter.

chopped chocolate

Then I chopped some chocolate off of a brick. It needs to be finely chopped, then mixed into the batter.
 

stuffed cupcakes

Mixing the filling, and stuffing the cupcakes with it were a ticklish business, so I only have a photo of the cupcakes after stuffing.

Homemade Ganache

Then I made a ganache, along with...

White Chocolate Cream Frosting

...this frosting.

Cupcakes with Ganache

The cupcakes were spread with ganache...

Frosted, finished cupcakes

...and then spread again with the frosting. I made 24 total, and put frosting on half, while leaving the other half with just ganache.


Definitely above the average dessert, and well worth the effort.
Enjoy!