Hi-Hat Cupcakes
I have been trying to make hi-hat cupcakes for the better part of a year. Seriously.
They are such beautiful cupcakes with their big swirls and chocolate coating, but have been totally elusive to me. I’ve tried countless versions and just couldn’t get the right consistency for the frosting so that it stood tall and didn’t droop into a puddle once it was dipped in the chocolate. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when these came to fruition last weekend… finally!
There are three key components to hi-hat cupcakes:
1) Chocolate cupcakes (I used my all-time favorite recipe, naturally);
2) A stiff marshmallow frosting; and
3) A magic shell-like chocolate coating.
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These cupcakes always remind me of going to the local soft serve stand as a kid; one of their most popular options was the chocolate-dipped cone. If you replace the cupcake bottom with a cake cone, it’s exactly what those treats looked like.
There’s no better feeling than conquering something that has give you fits, am I right? These fantastic cupcakes were well worth all of the failed attempts; practice makes perfect, as my mom would say!
If you like chocolate, marshmallow frosting and pretty things, you have to make these!
One year ago: Rocky Road Rice Krispies Treats
Two years ago: Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Four years ago: Guacamole
Six years ago: Homemade Pita Bread
Hi Hat Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 3 ounces (85.05 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- ⅓ cup (28.67 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ¾ cup (177.75 ml) hot coffee
- ¾ cup (93.75 g) bread flour
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
- 1¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
- 3 egg whites, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (62.5 ml) water
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) cream of tartar
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Coating:
- 12 ounces (340.2 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard-size muffin pan with liners. Place the chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the mixture and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate mixture for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Whisk the oil, eggs, vinegar and vanilla extract into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin pan cups. Bake until the cupcakes are set and just firm to the touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on the wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Make the Frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the sugar, egg whites, water and cream of tartar. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk until sugar is dissolved and the mixture reaches 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer the bowl to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the frosting forms stiff peaks, about 12 to 16 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Transfer the frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch round decorating tip (I used an Ateco #808 tip). Pipe a high swirl of frosting onto the top of each cupcake. Transfer the cupcakes to a baking sheet and refrigerate while preparing the chocolate coating.
- Make the Chocolate Coating: Combine the chocolate and oil in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water and stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a small (deep) bowl, and cool to room temperature.
- Holding each cupcake by its bottom, quickly dip each cupcake into the chocolate to coat the frosting, and place on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes stand at room temperature 15 minutes, then refrigerate for 30 minutes uncovered. Place in a covered container and refrigerate 2 additional hours before serving. Cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
I absolutely love your chocolate cupcake recipe, which is now my go-to recipe every time someone wants chocolate! I have been wanting to attempt the hi-hat, and now thanks to you I will try them…they are gorgeous! Love your recipes and site!
Hi
Really Loveling Article sand Tips Good thank you for all of your hard work on this. This will be tried soon Thanks For Sharing
These came out perfectly!!
I’ve been looking for a hi-hat cupcake recipe for a while and these look truly amazing! Can’t wait to bake them myself!
Congrats on a successful cupcake! This looks delicious with that big, puffy swirl of marshmallow frosting! I’ve never had a hi-hat cupcake, and can’t wait to try one. :)
These look great! Can I substitute coconut oil for the vegetable oil?
I too am wondering if coconut oil can be used instead of vegetable oil?
I’ve made Magic Shell sauce using just chocolate chips and coconut oil. Because coconut oil is only a liquid at 75 degrees F (and above), I imagine that it will work if the room where the cupcakes are is kept cool enough.
Hi Patty, It should work, although I haven’t tried it with these particular cupcakes.
Hi Arlene, I think it should work, although I haven’t tried it on these cupcakes.
OMG – thank you for all of your hard work on this. This will be tried soon :) I have a bakery that makes them but instead of marshmallow filling they have a chocolate mousse-like filling. The possibilities are endless. This has made my day!
I’ve never heard of a Hi-Hat cupcake! I love these – they are so cool looking. They look just like a dip cone – that was always my dad’s go to order when we got ice cream. so fun!
What a fun cupcake! They look perfect!
Absolutely Gorgeous! I am craving one…. eeekkkk
I have wanted to make these for at least 5 years! Every time I read recipe reviews they sounded disastrous! So excited to finally give them a try! Thanks!
I meant “these look fabulous!”
these look fabulous?
do you think the marshmallow frosting will freeze well?
Thank you!
Hi Rena, I don’t think it would.
I used a recipe that freezed the marshmallow like frosting (after piping on cupcakes) for 3 hours befor dipping, and I had complete sucess with the dipping. I refreezed them after dipping and they were fine afterwords, but had a light coat of moisture over the chocolate coating.
These look AMAZING!
These cupcakes leave me speechless. They’re just no words to express how I feel about them. Oh my. Life changing. How yummy.
Oh my goodness – these are like a work of art!! Definitely want to give them a try but also slightly intimidated :)
Beautiful and amazing! These have been on my bucket list for a while. I have fears that the frosting would fall off right into the chocolate coating though…….I guess I will just have to get my courage up and hope for the best.
That happened to me in some of my first attempts, but this frosting held up wonderfully well. Two keys – make sure you cool the chocolate coating to room temperature, and dip quickly!
Wow! This is very impressive! I just love a persistent baker, so thank you for your research!
These look great. You mentioned swirled dipped soft serve ice cream cones. Have you thought about baking the cupcakes in ice cream cones? Very easy and pretty spectacular presentation.
I first saw these on Martha’s site… you did a wonderful job.
I really want to try these cupcakes, but they just scare me! I’ll have to be brave, though. My boy is taking treats to his classmates for their end-of-the-year party and I just need them to be these! Yours are gorgeous!
These look absolutely amazing. I really can’t wait for my exams to be over so i can give this recipe a try! Thankyou so much for putting it up!
These are so neat!! Love the recipe!
You must be a very patient and determined person! These are so beautiful, and I can see the hard work that went into making them perfect. That photo off the cross-section of cupcake…wow.
These look so delicious! Your recipes are always fabulous. I think if you had a bakery, I would go crazy with all the incredible options!
Those ‘hats’ of frosting that are solid enough to dip are an epic feat! And I can only imagine how long you tried to nail the recipe and thanks for persevering because these are gorgeous! I would love to try one! Pinned
Hi michelle,
Instead of bread flour,can i use all purpose flour? What are the proportion for conversion?
Val
I personally don’t think you should because the bread flour makes the cupcake become moist, and it also helps the cupcake from falling apart. The second time I made these the were delicious but the all fell apart. ( I used all-purpose)
Hi Val, I really do recommend using bread flour for these cupcakes, as it is key to their texture and structure.
Hello, i’m a really big fan of your site! I’ve made like 4 different recipes of yours in a week (brownie, 2 cookies, and your cheddar bay biscuits this morning!) and they have all been really successful! Just wondering tho, i only have a cupcake mold that fits 6, is it okay to bake this in batches or should i just halve the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Dylan, I think that should be fine, although you might find that your second batch doesn’t rise quite as high as the first since the leavening agents won’t be as active when they hit the oven (I’ve had this happen when baking cake layers in batches before).
I’ve always wanted to make these but have been so intimidated! I’m definitely trying your recipe soon!
I’ve never heard of Hi-Hats, but these look amazing! Reminds me of Mallomars. Do they have to be refrigerated to hold up, or do you think they could stand to be room temp after the initial setting?
Hi Anna, Once these were set, they were left out for about 3 to 4 hours and never started to droop, so I would say if you want to take them out of the refrigerator to serve they would be fine for maybe a half day, but I would do any long-term storage in the refrigerator.