House of J: Fancy Julia and the Delectable Cupcakes

adjective

delightful; highly pleasing; enjoyable: a delectable witticism.

delicious: a delectable dinner.

We love Fancy Nancy...

We also love cupcakes...

The result: Vanilla cupcakes with banana creme pudding filling, chocolate ganache topping and sprinkles. mm mm mm.

I started with Billy's vanilla cupcake recipe, cut in half, because who needs 30 cupcakes, not us!

I did make a few adjustments of course.

Even though the recipe was halved, I still used the full portion of vanilla extract. Another adjustment was 1/4 evaporated milk 1/4 almond milk instead of 1/2 cup milk.

Side Note: Half of 3/4 is 1/4 and 2 tablespoons

The general rule of thumb for cupcakes is to fill the paper liner about 1/2 way. Because we were scooping out some cupcake for the pudding, I recommend filling 3/4 of the way. You want the cupcake top to sort of poof out over the paper. Like a shelf for the topping. Because we are filling the liners higher, I needed a cook time of 22 minutes.

I highly recommend spraying the top of the cupcake pan for easy release. I forgot too, and had to use a super sharp, super thin knife to slide under the tops to pop them out, resulting in a few scratches to my pan. BOO.

For the banana creme pudding I used 2.5 mushy "nanas"

1 cup almond milk

2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup corn starch

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Mix together with a blender, emulsion blender, or food processor and simmer on low heat until it bubbles and reaches a pudding like consistency, stirring constantly.

Throw that in the fridge until cooled. PS if you don't like "skin" on your pudding, put plastic wrap over it.

This made enough to fill the cupcakes plus 2 small pudding cups for Julia.

In the mean time, make the ganache.

1/2 cup heavy cream

6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips(roughly half the bag)

Boil the cream and remove from heat. Toss in chocolate, stir and walk away...

Now would be a good time to make the cupcakes.. or nurse the baby...or...

clean up an ENTIRE container of cornstarch that your toddler "baked" with all over herself.the chair. the floor. her bedroom and her toys.

235436452364655 minutes later.. the ganache is ready (realistically, about 2.5 hours on the counter or 30 minutes in the fridge.

Once the cupcakes are cooled. Take a paring knife and cut a circle in the cupcake, about an inch in diameter and an inch deep. Fill with cooled pudding.

Place back in the fridge for a few minutes just to set the pudding.. In my house this happened to be bed time so it set in the fridge for story time and kisses.

Use the back of a spoon to spread the ganache over the cupcakes, about a teaspoon per cupcake. Sprinkle with colored sprinkles and top with a cherry. Or any other candy that suites your fancy.