Eating humble cupcake

     I admit I thought the whole cupcake craze was ridiculous. I rolled my eyes at the excitement fellow facebookers had as they posted link after link of their cupcake creations. I have watched one episode of DC Cupcakes and I thought a reality show was not just a bit over the top, it was WAY over the top. After all, moms that made cupcakes were just compensating for lack of skill in the art of cake decorating (a skill that my mother was able to use quite frequently in our home with 8 children!).
     Now serving: one large serving of humble cupcake-chocolate of course!
     My son had a birthday party for his 10th birthday on Saturday and I decided to make cupcakes. Then, as I was thinking about the ice cream to go with those cupcakes, I thought "Hey--what if the ice cream was INSIDE the cupcake-like a cold, creamy surprise???" Thus began the journey.
     Yes, I believe that inspiration can come from God. So, since the streets of Heaven are paved with chocolate, as the great chocolate philosopher Alan Okelberry claims (see Welcome blog post), then why would he not inspire me in all things chocolate??  I also turned to the other source of inspiration (although not necessarily good) that great Google on the screen. The delicate balance between cake and ice cream must be honored. But I could not find anything to match the picture in my mind's eye.
     So I made it up! Seriously, it's chocolate-impossible to mess up:)
     First, I had to make the cupcakes to ensure they had time to cool. I used the big cupcake tins. Sorry, no special recipe. Just Duncan Hines for these ones.

     I first had to create a chocolate shell.  I tried some chocolate bark, but it was like eating those wax lips and wax coke bottles when I was a kid. There were semi-sweet chocolate chips lurking in my pantry (of course) so I tried those. They stuck to the paper and crumbled. I combined the two and it didn't set well. Here are my failed attempts:

     So I got some candy melts from Michaels, dark cocoa of course, and tried those. Using a microwave and plastic decorating tubes, I melted and squirted them into the cupcake papers. Just cut a small hole and pipe it onto the sides of the cupcake paper first and then the bottom. Using a knife, I spread the chocolate around to make it even. Putting them in the freezer for about 10 minutes well help them to set up fast. 

     After they were set up, I pulled out some vanilla ice cream (seriously, Kirtland brand is SOOOO creamy!) and let it thaw get a little bit soft. Using the big cupcake tins (6 cupcakes per tin), I was able to put a scoop in each and kind of smushed it around to make it flat.

     To make a good balance, cut the cupcakes in half horizontal y and put one half on top of the ice cream. Kind of push it down a little bit to get the ice cream and cake to mesh. (I had help from the birthday boy and friend for this step.)

     With some great chocolate buttercream frosting and sprinkles on the top, they go back in the freezer until serving time. You will want to serve these on plates with a fork or spoon cause they will get messy.

     And that is my journey to the dark side of cupcakes!! Although the result was quite tasty, that was not the pay off for my cupcake delight. It was just really fun to be creative and see what I could do! The joy was really in the journey.
     Now then, I think I saw something about graham cracker crumbs, chocolate, and toasted marshmallow frosting. . . .