Monsters Inc. Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes

Trick or Treat! Halloween is almost here and I couldn’t help but put together this Monsters Inc. Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcake recipe. Aren’t these adorable? The perfect Disney cupcake idea! I visited Disneyland for the Halloween festivities in years past and the Mike Wazowski Marshmallow filled donuts were always sold out. So instead of letting it crush my spirits I decided to make a chocolate cupcake version at home instead! These would also be a great idea for a Monsters Inc. themed birthday party.

How To Make Monsters Inc. Cupcakes

Now before we begin, I must warn you, these were more time consuming than I realized. I would honestly suggest setting aside at least 2 hours to make these, 2.5 if you plan on photographing them. This is why I test all of my recipes before posting them here on the blog. I want my readers to have realistic expectations of what they’re getting themselves into. I can’t count how many times I found a recipe online and was really excited to make it only to realize things were not going to be as quick and easy as the recipe claimed to be.

Monsters Inc. Cupcake Decorating Ideas

That being said, I think that if you’re looking for something fun and festive to make these are probably easier than a lot of other Halloween cupcake recipes. All you really need for the decorative part is the vanilla frosting I made from scratch, regular sized marshmallows and chocolate gel icing in a tube. Honestly I think the most complicated part was decorating all of them and that’s because when it comes to cake decorating I’m still in the amateur division. But I’m definitely going to give myself an ‘A’ for effort!

Jarod gets some special love for being my assistant with this creation as well because he ran to the grocery store to buy me more marshmallows when I realized the jumbo ones were too jumbo and he helped me stage these photos when I was two seconds away from having a meltdown over how they looked.

For anyone else reading this who is an artist or food blogger I’m sure you understand the inner turmoil of a project you worked really hard on just not turning out like you saw it in your brain. This is me 75% of the time I’m photographing my recipes but I think it’s what keeps me growing and learning. If you scroll back in my Instagram feed and look at my first pictures you will see how much I’ve evolved. Everyone has to start somewhere right?

Anyways, to wrap things up I just wanted to thank you for reading, thank you for following along on my journey and lastly have an amazingly fun and spooky Halloween!

MONSTERS INC. CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW CUPCAKES

TOTAL TIME - 2 hours

Yields 12 Jumbo Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

• • 1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter - Make Sure It’s Room Temperature
  • ¾ Cup Unsweetened Hershey’s Cocoa Powder
  • 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • ½ Tsp. Salt
  • ½ Tsp. Baking Soda
  • 2 Tsp. Baking Powder
  • 2 Cups Sugar
  • 3 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup Sour Cream

• • 1 ½ Cups Marshmallow Fluff
  • ½ Cup (1 Stick) Unsalted Butter - Make Sure It’s Room Temperature

• • 1 ½ Cups (3 Sticks) Unsalted Butter - Room Temperature
  • 1 lb. (4 Cups) Confectioners’ Sugar
  • ½ Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 8 Drops (Or More) Green Food Coloring
  • 12 Regular Sized Marshmallows (Cut at the ends for the eyes and also used for the horns)
  • Black Gel Icing (Small Tube)

• Jumbo Muffin Tins
• Scissors
• 1 Large Ziploc Bag
• Cooling Racks
• Melon Baller

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Spray two jumbo muffin tins with cooking spray, set aside and then preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. Using an electric or hand held mixer cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time until well blended. Set the mixer to low and begin to add the flour mixture and sour cream. I find it best to add the sour cream in between sprinkling in the flour mix. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed well.
4. Now it’s time to fill those cupcake tins! I use a small measuring cup to fill them almost all the way to the top of the tin. Place them in the oven for about 25 minutes, rotating them once halfway through cooking. Use a toothpick to see if they are cooked all the way through by poking a cupcake in the center. The toothpick should come out clean when they are cooked properly.
5. While the cupcakes are in the oven it’s the perfect time to make the marshmallow filling! Using a medium sized bowl whisk together the marshmallow fluff and butter until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until ready to fill the cupcakes.
6. When removing the cupcakes from the oven let them sit in the tins for another 5 minutes on the counter before removing them from the tins and placing the cupcakes on a cooling rack.
7. Once the cupcakes have cooled down dump the marshmallow filling into a large ziploc bag. Twist the bag to remove any extra air. Then snip off one corner of the bag to make a small opening.
8. For this next step you will want to use the melon baller to scoop out the center of each cup cake. You can do this on the top or bottom of the cupcake since you will stuff the scooped part back in (minus a few crumbs for room) after you fill them. Hollow them out just enough to squeeze your desired amount of marshmallow filling into each cupcake.
9. After you’ve prepped the cupcakes it’s time to make the frosting and decorate them! Using your electric mixer again you will want to beat the butter on medium high until creamy.
10. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and gradually add the confectioners sugar. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to thoroughly mix. This will take about 5 minutes.
11. Once the frosting looks nice and fluffy, add the vanilla extract and food coloring. It took quite a few drops of the green food coloring to get these to look the right shade of green.
12. When it looks the proper color use a small spatula or butter knife to spread the frosting onto each cupcake. Make sure they get coated properly, the goal is to not see the chocolate underneath.
13. Lastly it’s time for the design! I used sharp scissors to snip the round ends of the marshmallows to make the eyeballs. And then cut the remaining pieces of the marshmallows into small triangles for the horns.
14. Place the eyeballs in the center of each cupcake and the horns right above. Using the black gel icing draw the smile and a dot for the center of the eye. Now you have your very own Mike Wazowski Monsters Inc. Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes!

I’m really excited that you’re going to try one of my recipes! Please tag me on Instagram @natashasfoodadventures so I can see how these Monsters Inc. Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes turned out for you.