TWIX Cupcakes

A friend of mine asked me last week if I had ever made TWIX cupcakes or if I thought it could be done. Of course it can be done! It just was going to take some experimenting and trial and error. I don't use cake mixes often, but when I do I tend to doctor them up.

What's really helpful is the new unwrapped bite sized TWIX. It made for a nice little topper for these cupcakes.

Since there is a cookie on the bottom of this cupcake, yes I said cookie on the bottom, I like to use a heavy weight foil liner, not the thin ones in the regular grocery store. The gold ones I used on these are the Wilton ones, but even those were a little thin for my liking. The red ones that I used are thicker, more like the ones found here.

For the cupcakes

Makes 36 Cupcakes

1 Devils Food Cake Mix

1 5.1oz Box Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

1 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt

4 Eggs

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 1/4 Cup Fresh Brewed Coffee

1 TBSP Vanilla

36 Shortbread Cookies 

(I used the Keebler, Simply Shortbread Cookies and had to trim them down to get them to fit into the bottom of the cupcake liner)

Preheat oven to 350

Line your cupcake trays with cupcake lines, put a cookie in the bottom of each of the cupcake liners. 

Mix the remaining ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20 Minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely before decorating. 

For the Chocolate Buttercream

I always only use C&H Sugar and Land o'Lakes Unsalted Butter

4 Sticks Softened Butter

8 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 Tsp Salt

2 TBSP Vanilla

1-2 TBSP Milk

3/8 Cup Hershey's Cocoa

Cream the butter. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add the vanilla and salt and mix. Add the Cocoa and mix. Add milk as needed to get to a consistency that can be piped onto the cupcakes.

For the Topping
1 Package of TWIX Bites
Your favorite Caramel Ice Cream Topping (I used Mrs Richardson's)

Decorate the cupcakes with the chocolate buttercream. I used my Wilton's 2D piping tip. Drizzle the caramel on top of the frosting. Top with a TWIX candy bar.


Enjoy!

My Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe

I don't use a box mix for my chocolate cake except on rare occasions. So most of the time I use this recipe that I found on bigoven.com with a few modifications.

Ingredients
2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups All purpose flour
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
I never measure my vanilla and always use at least double what the recipe calls for.
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
I use half Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa and half Hershey's Cocoa
1 cup hot coffee Freshly brewed
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 large Eggs
1 cup milk
If I have half and half or even better heavy whipping cream I use that instead.
1 stick Butter or margarine unsalted recommended
2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3 cups Powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
If I have half and half or even better heavy whipping cream I use that instead.
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
I never measure my vanilla and always use at least double what the recipe calls for.

Preparation Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two 9 inch round baking pans with non stick cooking spray. I refuse to use cooking spray on my cake pans. Always, always use Crisco and for this cake I dust the pans with cocoa Combine first 6 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the hot coffee and mix well with a spoon (batter will be thin). Pour batter into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and then remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely before frosting. Frosting: Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistancy. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.