As I have mentioned many times before, I am a sucker for minis.  I love just about anything that is served in a miniature version.  If practicality didn’t set in, I probably would own a Mini Cooper – I am that bad.  I don’t really consider cupcakes mini cakes though because they are just so mainstream.  I do prefer a cupcake to a slice of cake, but I don’t go nuts over them, like I do other miniatures.  The other month I came across a picture of mini cupcakes in little condiment holders.  I went nuts.  They were just about the cutest things I had ever seen.  There was only one problem, I only know of one place that has those condiment holders, and that is on the east coast.  I actually tried looking for them in Seattle, but had no luck – although I must admit, I didn’t try that hard.  I just kept my eyes opened at certain places, and nothing.

So, this summer when I was back east – we went to that place with these holders – Fred’s – just about the greatest hamburger/hotdog joint there is, and I grabbed a whole bunch of those little cups.  I couldn’t wait to bake some little morsels and test them out.  Then next challenge was to figure out which recipe to use on them.  For some reason, ever since I had made this, I couldn’t stop thinking about how the cake was dairy free, but the icing was not.  Isn’t that such a waste?  If you are dairy-free, that is almost cruel.  So – I decided to go entirely dairy-free this time.  I swear, you would never know it though – the cake is so moist and delicious, and with the marshmallow frosting – it was like eating a mini devil dog.  My grandmother loved these so much, I saw her go through 3 in a matter of minutes.  So – if you are a sucker for minis like me, give these a try – you just have to figure out where to get the cups, the rest is easy – I did all the work for you below.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (3 1/2 ounces)

Marshmallow Frosting

• 2 large egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat bottom and sides of pan with nonstick spray; line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add oil, vanilla, and 1 1/4 cups water; whisk until smooth. Fold in chopped chocolate. Scrape into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until a tester comes out clean when inserted into center, 35–40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Marshmallow Frosting

Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan.  Combine the egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, water, and cream of tartar in a large bowl.  Set the bowl over the simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

With an electric mixer on high-speed, beat the mixture, still over the simmering water, until thick and fluffy, about 7 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Serve this the day it is made as it becomes granular if it sits.

Makes about 3 cups.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here: Dairy-Free Mini Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting