I {heart} You! Vanilla Cupcakes with a heart baked inside and Strawberry Laffy Taffy Buttercream!

Snow Day Cupcakes!!!! Baby it's coooold outside and what's a girl to do? Bake!!! Yup, the snowstorm hit us hard and as an excuse not to shovel - I opted to bake these scrumptious treats! The kids thought these were "the best cupcakes Mom" ahhh, made me feel less guilty about sending my husband out!

Vanilla Cupcakes with a {heart} baked inside and Strawberry Laffy Taffy Buttercream Icing

I stumbled upon these heavenly treats one day while browing through foodgawker and knew I had to try them. I mean I had to. So Laffy Taffy is not widely available here in Canada so I scoured the candy shops till I found some strawberry candy and bought all 3 sticks they had left. It was fate because the icing turned out perfect! I adapted the recipe a bit and this is what I came up with.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Laffy Taffy Buttercream Icing
{Makes 24 cupcakes}
Print Recipe Here
For the cupcakes and the hearts you’ll need:
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
5 cups flour
2 2/3 cups whole milk
red food coloring
For the Laffy Taffy buttercream you’ll need:
20 pieces of strawberry Laffy Taffy candy
4 Tbsp heavy cream
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
Directions: 
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F).

Mix the butter and sugar together at medium speed for about 90 seconds, until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets well combined.

Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until the batter is smooth.

Alternate between the flour and milk, beating on med-high speed,

until the batter is light and creamy.

Pour a little more than 2/3 of the batter (about 3 cups) into a smaller bowl. Add red food coloring until you get your desired pink or red color.

Pour the batter into a non-stick (or lightly greased) lasagna pan baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes until the edges of the cake start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely (to speed up the process, I stuck in in the fridge).
Once the sheet cake is cool, loosen the edges away from the pan with a knife and then invert the pan onto a cutting board. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out two dozen cake hearts that are small enough to fit into an average-sized cupcake pan.

Spoon two heaping tablespoons of the remaining batter into paper-lined cupcake tins, so they’re about half-full. Put one heart into each tin and press it point down into the batter. Keep all the hearts facing forward in the pan. Cover with another teaspoon of batter and bake for 24 minutes.

Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.
Here’s the tricky part—you’ll have to keep the cupcakes facing forward so you get the right cross-section of the heart when you cut or bite into the cupcake. After frosting, put a heart candy on them that can also face forward so you know which way to cut the cupcake in order to see the heart shape inside.

For the buttercream, melt the taffy and the heavy cream together in a small bowl for one minute on high, stirring every 20 seconds. Stir the mixture together until it’s smooth, then stick it in the fridge so it cools a bit (the cream will keep it from hardening).

In a mixing bowl, whip the butter for 30 seconds until it’s smooth. Add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time, whipping until fluffy.

Finally, with the mixer on medium-low, drizzle in the melted and cooled taffy mixture. When it’s all in, turn the mixer up to high and whip the frosting until it’s fluffy. If you’d like, add a little pink or red food coloring to get the desired shade. Then frost! 

Remember, while frosting, keep track of which direction the heart in the cupcake is facing. You can put conversation hearts on top, facing forward, so when people bite into it they see a pretty butterfly :

or a heart:

or lots of hearts:

Here's a printable recipe:





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