Double chocolate malt cupcakes with creamy vanilla malt filling and tart cherry buttercream

This recipe, specifically, is for my sister.

I have been accused, in the past, of having a mild case of hero-worship as far as my sister goes. Maybe so. She is very small, and very tough, and very beautiful, and very funny, and she will scare the bejeebers out of you if you push her too far and she could probably beat you up and go out for a milkshake afterwards. She'd do it, too, Definitely the milkshake, anyhow. Malted.

She loves malted milkshakes. Well, we all do in my family - our grandmother (on our mother's side) used to make us chocolate malted milkshakes with an old fashioned stick blender during the summer at my grandparents' lake house (this was after a morning of swimming/fishing/skiing but before the grown ups' daily nap time, during which period we kids had to sit in the cabin for a couple of hours because we couldn't/didn't want to go to the dock alone, and so had to amuse ourselves by playing Life/Chinese Checkers/ or by listening to records - yes, I said records -  until finally parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents finally decided to get up and join us). I think the milkshakes were a bribe or perhaps a statement of, "For heaven's sake we have been entertaining you monsters since about 5 am and started the day with fresh-squeezed orange juice and pancakes and do-any-of-you-even-know-how-many-pounds of bacon? Have a milkshake and take your own nap!"

We never did take naps, of course, although these days I understand that habit much more.

My sister also loves cherry pie...tart cherry pie, and if you have only tasted the very sweet cherry pie offered at your standard diner, while it's good, that is not at all what I am talking about. Our mom makes a beautiful not-st-all-sticky sweet cherry pie with the lattice top that is lightly flavored with almond and to me, to us, that is cherry pie. She makes it special just for my sister (although she'll make it at other times if we beg). 

Plus she likes cupcakes! So here is a combination of the three - with the chocolate malt on the bottom, and the creamy malted filling, and the tart cherry buttercream (which may now be one of my favorite frostings of all time)...and this is just for my sister, Deirdre (the first, since I named my baby girl, who was eight months old two days ago, Deirdre too).

One note on the frosting: it is hard to find tart cherry filling, at least for me. I checked run-of-the-mill grocery stores, Trader Joe's, and even World Market. No luck! What I ended up doing was taking regular cherry preserves and cooking them down with the juice of three lemons, and a little almond extract, over low heat for about half an hour. I let it cook and viola! Tart cherry preserves. If you don't want to bother with that, be very careful with the sugar, because the frosting could really be too sweet with regular preserves.

This made about 20 cupcakes.

•  1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 cup malted milk powder
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 regular 12-cup cupcake tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and malted milk powder. Add the oil and eggs; whisk to blend. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until well combined. Stir in the miniature chocolate chips.
Divide the batter among the prepared cupcake tins, filling about 2/3. Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 17 minutes, or until an inserted tester comes out clean.
When the cupcakes have finished baking, let sit in the pans for 2 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to wire racks to cool for 10 minutes more.

Malt marshmallow filling

• 1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
•  1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 cup malted milk powder
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 - 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy. Add in the malted milk powder and mix until fully incorporated. Add in sugar and beat on low speed to combine. Add in salt and marshmallow cream, and vanilla; beat to combine and add heavy cream if needed (you want a thick, fluffy filling that is going to spoon easily but not be too firm at room temperature).
Set aside.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut out a cone-shaped portion out of the top of each cake. Slice off the excess cake from the cone (leaving the flat cap) and reserve the top. Fill the resulting hole with about a tablespoon of the marshmallow filling (or however much you need). Replace the cap. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes, and then put in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill and set the filling (once cool, it will become very thick and hold the caps in place).

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup tart cherry preserves (see note above)

While the cupcakes bake, prepare the buttercream

Pipe on the frosting using a pastry bag and a large decorating tip or just swirl it on with a spatula. Garnish with a malted milk ball so people know what they are getting into.

Edited to add: My sister didn't know I was writing this about her, but she loved the cupcake and helped with the photos (I didn't add that she's a great photographer, too). Yay, sisters! Go and hug your sister today, and give her a cupcake, too.