Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

I am no professional baker, cook, chef, etc. But when I saw these adorable Chocolate Malt cupcakes on a blog I follow, I knew I HAD to try them. I made them for Father's Day as my grandfather absolutely loves chocolate malts. The maltier the better! I followed the recipe for the cake exactly. The only thing I did different with the frosting was to add more malted milk and sprinkle crushed malted milk balls to the tops of my cupcakes. I didn't have the gorgeous soda fountain style straws the original recipe showed, so I just cut some regular red and white striped plastic straws and used them instead.

I'll be honest: I wasn't that impressed with the cake. With ingredients like sour cream, whole milk and brown sugar I figured they were going to be nice, heavy, moist cake. I was certainly wrong. However, I will say this: I used jumbo cupcake tins and wrappers so I had to adjust the baking time (maybe I left them in too long?). Also, it was incredibly humid. I'm talking condensation-on-the-wood-floors-so-your-bare-feet-squeak humid. I think the humidity affected the frosting and the malted milk balls more than anything else, but it could have been a factor with the cake as well. I did like the fact that the cake was not too sweet. 

The frosting, on the other hand, was to die for. I had left over frosting when I was through with my cupcakes, so I put it into a plastic container and threw it in the fridge. I ended up using it on brownies (boxed, shh don't tell!) as a way of dressing them up. They were ridiculously good and the frosting came right back to life from being in the freezer.  

If I made these again, I'd use this recipe for perfect chocolate cupcakes, but I would add the malted milk powder to them. I wouldn't change a thing about the way I made the frosting! If you live in a hot, humid climate: beware! This is a very touchy recipe! I am not sure how it would work if there was air conditioning involved as we have not turned ours on yet. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!