White Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

These cupcakes have been on my list to try for a long time. When a friend of mine requested something white chocolate-flavored for his birthday, I decided it was time to break out this recipe and give it a go. The cake itself is not white chocolate, but the frosting has white chocolate in it, and here's the real awesomeness of this cupcake: there's a Lindt white chocolate truffle hidden inside! Or in my case, half of them had white chocolate truffles and half had peanut butter truffles since my friend also requested peanut butter. So goooood.

I'm usually very hesitant about cream cheese frosting. I'm not a huge fan of it, but this frosting wasn't too bad. It wasn't too overly cream cheesy. It had a nice balance to it. The other thing I dislike about cream cheese frosting is that it has to stay refrigerated, so you need to have room in your fridge and then make sure there's room in your party host's fridge if you plan to bring them somewhere and dessert won't be out for a while.

These cupcakes were a hit and they were really simple to make! They'd be perfect for the upcoming summer holidays. I bet you could dye the cake or frosting red and blue to have red, white and blue cupcakes!

White Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes
Source: The Pampered Chef

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:

1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup whole milk (I used 1% since I didn't have whole)
1/2 tsp Double-Strength Vanilla (I used normal vanilla extract)
4 egg whites, room temperature
6 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
12 round white chocolate truffles, unwrapped (I used Lindt and had both white chocolate and peanut butter)

For the Frosting:

6 oz white chocolate for baking, chopped (I used baking chips since it's easier)
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), softened
1/2 tsp Double-Strength Vanilla (Again, I used normal vanilla extract)
2 cups powdered sugar
White chocolate chips for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place paper liners in wells of cupcake pan. Whisk flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Combine milk and vanilla in a separate small bowl. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites on high speed of electric mixer until stiff peaks form. In a separate medium/large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy; beat in sour cream until smooth.

2. On medium speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with milk mixture in two additions, mixing until smooth. Whisk in one-third of the egg whites. Fold in remaining egg whites using whisk. Divide batter evenly among liners.

3. Bake 17-20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove pan from oven. Immediately snip a 1/2-inch-deep (1-cm) “x” into top of each cupcake using shears (or a knife). Press one truffle into each cupcake until flush with top of cupcake. Remove cupcakes from pan. Cool 30 minutes or to room temperature. (Truffles will melt into cupcakes.)

4. For frosting, place white chocolate in a small bowl and microwave, uncovered, on HIGH 1-1 1/2 minutes or until chocolate is mostly melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Let stand 3 minutes or until slightly cooled. Combine melted chocolate, cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Using clean beaters, beat on medium speed until well blended. Slowly add powdered sugar; beat well.

5. Place frosting in a decorator bag fitted with an open star tip. Pipe frosting evenly around tops of cupcakes. You could also just frost them with a frosting spatula. Garnish cupcakes with white chocolate chips, chocolate curls, or anything you'd like and enjoy!