Before fabricating my cupcakes, I thought I needed a little KitKat taste refresher. My coworker Geo (a Canadian) thought that I should make them more like Canadian KitKat. I had only eaten American KitKats, so he volunteered to bring a KitKat from the Great White North for comparison. I’d like to think Geo for bringing me a stale Canadian Kit Kat (so old that it crumbled when I opened the wrapper) so that I could compare it to a fresh American Kit Kat. Surprisingly enough, the fresh KitKat won the taste test by a landslide. I decided that the important components of an (American) KitKat bar are the crunchy layers and the (extremely) sweet milk chocolate.
I found these wafer cookies at Whole Foods which seemed like the right size to go in the center of a mini cupcake. (Round would have been nice, but you can’t have everything…) Technically, I think the filling between the wafer layers of a KitKat is chocolate, not vanilla, but I thought chocolate cake surrounding that would make it more authentic.
I used my friend Cathy’s grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe. I brought 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1/4 cup canola oil, and 1/2 cup butter to a boil, then let it cool. (The original recipe called for 1 cup of water, but I hoped a thicker batter would prevent the cookie from sinking.) Next, I sifted together 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (trying to be healthy), 1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoonful baking soda, and 1 teaspoonful salt. In another bowl, I mixed together 2 eggs, 2 cups sugar, and 1/2 cup buttermilk. After adding the dry ingredients, I poured in the cocoa mixture and stirred until blended. I SHOULD have added 1 teaspoonful vanilla, but I forgot. (This recipe produced 48 mini cupcakes and a 9×9 square cake.)
After placing heaping tablespoonful of batter in each liner filled cupcake indention (using a cookie scoop), I pushed in a wafer cookie.
I baked the cupcakes for 15 minutes (but probably should have taken them out after 12-13 minutes) then allowed them to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. I’ve had solid fillings sink in the past, which is why I used a thicker batter. Either the cookies were too light or the batter was too thick because they stayed right on top…maybe too much on top.
I hid the cookie with a layer of melted milk chocolate….
I topped the cupcakes with a swirl of whipped milk chocolate ganache (made by boiling 1 part cream and pouring it over 3 parts milk chocolate chips, allowing it to cool, then whipping).
This is the original product:
and this is the cupcake….
(The cookie was really hard to cut into, so the cake got a little smushed.)
I think that this cupcake successfully conveyed the essence of a KitKat. They went over extremely well at work, so I was pleased. I also ended up with an extra cake in the freezer to use for L=Lollipops (Cupcake Pops).
5 thoughts on “K is for Kit Kat”
Mimi
I would like to share a dream that I had with you if you don’t mind….
I had a dream the other night after I came back to the states from my adventure in Asia searching for all the different flavors of Kit Kats that Japan has created. I am going to Japan to teach English next month, so my dream was about my family visiting me in Japan. We were in a Japanese grocery store that had a baking section. And there it was. A KITKAT CUPCAKE! My sisters and I have also been a little cupcake crazy these days… and the idea of a Kit Kat cupcake just came to me in a dream. I didn’t know that someone on this world wide web has already tried to concoct a Kit Kat cupcake. I love to bake. And I love love love Kit Kats. So, I am going to try to create my own Kit Kat cupcake. I’m trying to collect some ideas, and yours is one of the best that I have seen so far. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
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Heather
Seems good! Im trying to make kit-kat cupcakes for my school, because we are having a food lesson! I bet the kids will llllllllooooveee it! 😀
Lilian
mmm…. My kids just love em’! Thought I did lots of cupcakes and each cupcake had a different chocolate type, and everyone was fighting for the kit-kat one, and in the end i ate it!!!
Samantha_=)
haha! I did that too, but instead of kids fighting, I had a dog with his puppy eyes and i was like ‘okay! you can have the kit-kat one!’ =)