Chocolate Cupcakes Desserts

Cake Mix Doctor®’s Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Frosting

June 12, 2013

You’ve all heard of The Cake Mix Doctor, right? She’s written several cookbooks taking cake mixes and doctoring them into fabulous new creations. Now Anne has come up with her own cake mix. One that tastes like it’s made from scratch and doesn’t need any doctoring. I had the chance to talk with Anne over the phone about her cake mixes. I was completely geeking out. I mean, I’m talking to The Cake Doctor! Not only did I talk to her, but she offered to personally deliver her cake mixes for me to try. To say I acted like a complete starstruck goober would be an understatement. She was super sweet and I’m so excited to share her recipe for Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Frosting with you and offer the opportunity to try her cake mixes yourself!

Cake Mix Doctor®'s Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Frosting by So, How's It Taste? www.leah-claire.com

So, how’s it taste?

She’s got an Old-Fashioned Yellow Cake Mix and a Deep Dark Chocolate Cake Mix. It was really hard to choose which one I wanted to try first…until I came across her recipe for Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Frosting. I’ll get to that in a minute. I decided to go with the classic yellow cake and chocolate combo. It’s my all-time favorite. Her cake mix is interesting because instead of adding oil, water, and eggs like other cake mixes, you add milk, butter, and eggs. Already I was sold. I’ve mentioned before how I swear I can taste the oil in some cake mixes. I couldn’t wait to try hers with the butter and milk instead. On the back of the box, there’s also an option to add pudding to the mix for moist pudding cupcakes. I decided to give that a try, so the recipe below includes the pudding. The cupcake batter was thicker than I expected, but I liked that much better. It made filling the cupcakes really easy. The smell was absolutely intoxicating. You could really smell vanilla, like it was from scratch.

They baked up nice and fluffy. The cupcakes were a bit greasy when I took them out of the pans, but I assume it’s due to the butter. Once they cooled, that went away. Next up was the frosting. I was nervous about this because it’s cooked in a saucepan and the recipe suggests to use it immediately because it sets up quickly. It’s not just a few ingredients you throw in a mixer and combine with butter to call it buttercream. No, this was similar to making fudge…and it was absolutely worth the effort. Everything comes together nicely in a saucepan (although I did have to switch pans because my mixture was starting to scorch, so really watch it while you’re letting it come to a boil). Once all the ingredients were in, I got the best arm workout mixing it all together. That just means I could eat more cupcakes, right?! It seriously looked like fudge. It’s really thin to begin with and then slowly thickens. I ran out of patience after about 30 minutes and decided to try piping it. As you can see from the picture, it still wasn’t stiff enough. It does set fast once it was on the cake though. I’m curious if I had waited longer, would it have been too thick to pipe?

This chocolate fudge marshmallow frosting is the best thing I have ever made…ever. I seriously will never make a frosting as good as this. It tastes like fudge and marshmallow and makes you see rainbows and unicorns and those cute little birds flying around your head. It is to die for. I couldn’t wait to bring them into work the next day. The coworkers agreed! I may have finally, finally turned my nose up to tub chocolate frosting (and that’s huge coming from me folks!) The combination of this frosting on the classic yellow cake is sweet perfection.

Cake Mix Doctor®'s Cake Mixes on So, How's It Taste? www.leah-claire.com

To celebrate her cake mixes, Anne has kindly given me some to share! I’ve got a box of her Old-Fashioned Yellow Cake Mix, a box of her Deep Dark Chocolate Cake Mix, a copy of her “The Icing on the Cake” cookbook, and a few recipe cards to giveaway! TWO lucky readers will win this Cake Mix Doctor® gift pack!

Mandatory: Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite way to use a cake mix! (Giveaway open to contiguous U.S. residents only.)

Optional entry: For one additional entry, tweet the following: “Win a Cake Mix Doctor gift pack from @SoHowsItTaste! Enter here: http://bit.ly/11708PZ” and leave a separate comment that you tweeted.

Contest ends on Sunday, June 16, at 8 p.m. central. Please make sure you enter a valid email address as an alternate winner will be chosen if I don’t hear from you within 48 hours. Good luck!

Congrats to MiYun, comment #6 and Ray S., comment #12!
You’ve both won goodies from The Cake Mix Doctor!
Winner chosen using random.org.

Disclaimer: I was given a box each of the Old-Fashioned Yellow Cake Mix and Deep Dark Chocolate Cake Mix. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are solely my own, as always.

Cake Mix Doctor®'s Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Frosting

by The Cake Mix Doctor®
makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes
1 box Cake Mix Doctor's® Old-Fashioned Yellow Cake Mix
1 (3.4 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup milk, warmed
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs

Frosting
2 cups granulated sugar
1 (5 oz.) can evaporated milk
10 large marshmallows
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter
1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake batter according to package directions, using the vanilla pudding mix.

2. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and place on wire racks to cool completely.

3. For the frosting, place the sugar, evaporated milk, and marshmallows in a large saucepan over medium heat and let come to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 6 minutes, stirring constantly.

4. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the butter, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Continue stirring the frosting until it is thick and smooth and the chocolate and butter have melted, about 5 minutes. Use the frosting immediately, it sets up quickly.

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  • Rose Geib June 12, 2013 at 9:15 am

    Ann Byrn absolutely deserves the title of ‘The Cake Doctor’ I have never been disappointed with any of her suggestions and I own 3 of her books! I was very excited to see this recipe posted on pintrest because now I use all of my pinned recipes instead of looking things up in my oddles (that’s a technical term) of cookbooks!

    I have a birthday coming up and this classic combo looks like EXACTLY what I need! Thanks for sharing As for my best use of a cake mix? My daughter is Type 1 diabetic and literally on the way home from the hospital, we were searching grocery isles and somehow found a kind mother of a diabetic who shared her easiest diabetic solution. cake mix, diet pop and sugar free cool whip. I add unsweetened berries when available in the summer and STILL after 7 years of cooking and baking…I go back to this to satisfy our sweet craving for cake.

    I look forward to trying Ann’s mix because I do try to not add oil to anything I don’t have to and have been working towards ‘whole’ ingredients for some time.

    Sorry to make this such a long comment! But really…THANKS!

  • Jackie l Food.Wine.Fashion June 12, 2013 at 9:53 am

    How fun! These look so delish and I also love the idea of using butter and milk in cupcakes instead of oil.

    I love all the different kinds of boxed cupcake mixes available these days. I just like to use them as is – with a homemade icing 🙂

  • alexandra @ sweet betweens blog June 12, 2013 at 10:10 am

    I absolutely love your description of the frosting and rainbows and unicorns!

    I usually use cake mix to make pineapple upside down cake when J has a craving.

  • Heather June 12, 2013 at 10:10 am

    I’ve been DYING to get a cake doctor cookbook! It’s been on my Christmas list for years & I’m sad to report no one has gotten it for me 🙁 anyway I’m boring and haven’t done much interesting things with cake mix. I have made cookies with it before.

  • Sherri June 12, 2013 at 11:15 am

    I can’t wait to make these, I’m absolutely fascinated by the frosting recipe! The *moist exciting thing that I do with cake mix is that I always add pudding to the mix. It really makes a difference.
    *I crack myself up!

  • MiYun June 12, 2013 at 11:40 am

    Cake mixes are great for a wine cake that I make. It is great for the holidays. Super delicious.

  • Liz June 12, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    I would make a sheet cake with this mix.

  • Amanda June 12, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    I would make chocolate chunk cookies with the mix!

  • Nancy A. June 12, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    I would absolutely LOVE to try her cake mixes!! I have never saw those in any of my stores. I would make a big cake for the weekend and eat it all up (with help, of course).

  • Maria June 12, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    I love her cookbooks. I have used cake mixes to make whoopie pies, yummy!

  • Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking June 12, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    Great giveaway and recipe, Leah! I love using cake mix for cake bars… so quick and easy. Thanks for sharing!

  • Ray S June 12, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    Birthday cakes homemade with the kids are always a special treat in our home!

  • Georgiana S June 12, 2013 at 7:27 pm

    I would make a round royal red velvet cake! Our family’s favorite! Thank you for the Cake Giveaway!

  • Anne @ Have a Cookie! June 12, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    I would make a pineapple upside-down cake with the yellow cake mix and some chocolate crinkle cookies with the chocolate mix.

  • TBeth June 12, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    So where have I been? I’ve never heard of the Cake Doctor, but you can bet I’ll be reading up … and volunteering for dessert duty and upcoming potlucks, I suspect, so I can try some new-to-me ideas. Woot!

  • Renata June 13, 2013 at 10:09 am

    Gotta create a strawberry shortcake for the family to enjoy at our summer picnics! Yum!

  • Renata June 13, 2013 at 10:10 am

    Following you and and tweeted via @serene_streams!

  • Jeanne June 13, 2013 at 10:29 am

    I’m going to be looking for her mixes in Costco.

  • Michelle June 16, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    My favorite is making quick cakes for work events

  • ErinsFoodFiles July 2, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    That frosting sounds SO good!

  • Julie August 15, 2013 at 7:33 pm

    Where do you find this mix? Would it work with another yellow cake mix if I cannot find this one?

    • Leah Short August 16, 2013 at 7:49 am

      Hi Julie! Here’s a link where you can find her cake mixes http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/annes-cake-mix/. You can’t substitute another brand, but you could make yellow cake from another brand following their directions on the box.

  • Shelly May 12, 2016 at 1:35 pm

    Thanks you SO much for posting this recipe! I left my cookbook at home this trip afloat and though my crew would love this frosting! Would also lover to win the mixes 😉

    • Shelly May 12, 2016 at 1:37 pm

      Well I see spell check works… And also these posts are from 2013