Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Chocolate Chips...a baking essential that you must always have on hand, am I right? Let me just warn you now that chocolate chips in cupcakes are just as addicting as chocolate chips in cookies! You can never eat just one, or two. I recently whipped up a batch of these Chocolate Chip Cupcakes for my June feature on The Cake Blog and I must say, they were a huge hit with my family (check out photos below), friends and neighbors. All you really need to do is take a basic white cake recipe and jazz it up with some chips in the batter and a few more sprinkled on top of vanilla buttercream and you've got one amazing cupcake! It was hard to stop after eating 3 in a row, but I had to save some for others!

This cupcake recipe should definitely be on the top of your summer baking, or cupcake list! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Here are a few behind the scenes photos with Sam and his little curious eyes and hands entering the cupcake scene! I LOVE all of these expressions I captured in just a few seconds.

I think he was saying "mmmm" in this photos....look at those cheeks!

I can't get enough of those big blue eyes!

I love that little wisp of hair peeking out behind his ears. His hair is definitely starting to curl a little in the back. Daddy thinks it's time for the first haircut, but I'm trying to hold out a little bit longer!

I hope you enjoyed a few snapshots of my little guy! I can't believe he is 14.5 months old already!

Spring Flower & Bumble Bee Cupcakes

Happy 1st day of Spring! Oh how I love this time of year! I am so ready for the warm weather to be here to stay. I just wanted to buzz in real quick to share an old favorite recipe of mine and get you in the mood for spring. You may remember my Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes originally posted on The Cake Blog back in July 2011. Well to this day they are still one of my all time favorites. I absolutely love everything about them from their bright colors of yellow and pink and the tartness of the lemonade to the sweetness of the strawberry buttercream. If you check out the original recipe you will remember I made them in mason jars, which is still such a fun trend and such a great way to display, serve and transport your sweets!

This past weekend I made them again for a baby shower to celebrate my friend Katie and her little girl Macie that is on the way in early April! The invitation sent out said "Have you heard the buzz?" so of course there is nothing more appropriate than a little bumble bee topper to fit the theme. All the decorations were pink and yellow so these cupcakes were an absolutely perfect fit for such a sweet occasion!

To create the flowered look of the buttercream I used Wilton piping tip #104 and just went around in a circle 3 times layering the icing on top of each other. You can get all the instructions from this post about my Ombre Ruffle Cupcakes. The only difference is for the Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes we aren't using 3 shades of icing, it's all the same color.

To create the bumble bee all you need are 3 things: sliced almonds, yellow jelly beans and black royal icing. Pipe three stripes of icing across the jelly bean and gently place the almonds on each side. Add two dots of icing for the eyes and that is it! Allow the bees to set up overnight and then place on top of the cupcakes!

These cupcakes are absolutely perfect for spring, summer or even Easter which is just right around the corner!

Hope you all have a happy spring!

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream

It's the most wonderful time of the year! This is my absolute favorite month to bake! Cookies, candies, pies and cakes are all on my baking to do list this holiday season! To start things off I've creates a new recipe for Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Buttercream! This quite possibly is one of my all time favorite cupcakes!

Chocolate and Peppermint are an amazing flavor combination. Topped off with some homemade peppermint bark, these cupcakes are sure to be one festive treat at your holiday party this year! I will certainly be making them again to share with family and friends in the coming weeks.

Head on over to Half Baked for the cupcake and peppermint bark recipes! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday filled will all sorts of yummy sweets!

5 Layers for 5 Years

5 years...wow how the time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday Randolph and I were getting married at the Middleton Place Plantation in Charleston, SC. Our wedding was outside, it was approx 97 degrees and to say it was hot is an understatement. It was HOT, humid & sticky, sweat was pouring and bugs were everywhere...and when I say everywhere I mean in every single layer of my wedding dress. But I wouldn't change a thing about that day. It was at a beautiful venue in our favorite city and we were surrounded by our friends and family and wonderful memories!

Over the past five years so much has changed, but I won't bore you with all the details of my life the last 1825 days! Today we are just going to focus on cake! Ah yes, good old wedding cake, the other love of my life! Who would have thought five years after enjoying my 4 tiered round yellow butter cake with butter cream icing wedding cake (was that enough cake terminology for you in one sentence!) that I would now not only be addicted to indulging in a slice of cake almost daily but also in baking and decorating them too!

I was excited to try a new decorating technique with this cake and just love the end result. Using a Wilton tip #18 I piped on rosettes in rows all the way around. Tip #18 is a star tip so you just start by squeezing out a star and then gently rotate your piping bag while squeezing icing clockwise to 9:00, on to 12:00, then 3:00 then 6:00 and finishing off the circle. Super simple!

And since we are celebrating the big 5 year marker a 3-layer cake just wasn't going to do. 5 years = 5 layers of cake right? I wanted to make us a cake that reminded me of our wedding cake, only not nearly as large. Immediately I thought of Sweetapolita as the perfect place to find an amazingly delicious cake recipe. Afterall, she is the queen of beautifully decorated layer cakes. I made her Yellow Buttermilk Cake and oh my it is delicious, moist and buttery! Since her recipe called for a chocolate fudge icing and I wanted a more traditional buttercream I decided to go with this Marshmallow Buttercream frosting I found on Jessicakes. This icing is light and fluffy and I love the sweetness from the marshmallow cream! These two recipes paired so nicely together and I would highly recommend both of them!

Since our wedding was outside I decided it was only appropriate to take these cake photos outside today, temps in the high 90s, I'm dripping sweat while trying to get the perfect shot, flies are swarming the cake, buttercream is melting...it all makes perfect sense right??? Then my little fly friend landed on the cake for his afternoon sugar fix and I just couldn't resist snapping a photo! Let's just say after this mini and very rushed photo shoot today I have a new found respect for wedding photographers, especially my poor photographers that had to be tormented in the Carolina heat 5 years ago snapping hundreds of pictures for my special day!

And just in case you were trying to envision what my wedding cake looked like from my ramblings above...well wonder no longer I have searched my photos and found a picture of us cutting the cake!

Happy Anniversary R! Looking forward to our road trip this weekend filled with camping and our final destination at the Middleton Place for a few days! Love ya!

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies

It's a cake, it's a cookie...it's an amazingly yummy Chocolate Chip Whoopie! Let me just start this post by saying, you might as well run to your pantry right now and grab that bag of chocolate chips you have on hand. You know, the bag you keep just in case you get that craving for some chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the week! Doesn't everyone at least keep 1 bag of chocolate chips on hand in case of dire emergencies of cookie cravings, or is that just me? At any given time I have at least 2-3 bags of chips on standby just in case I get that cookie dough craving! I will admit, I am a lover of raw cookie dough by the spoonfuls! So now that you know I have a stockpile of chocolate chips and eat dough with raw eggs...well just go grab your chocolate chips because you are going to want to make this recipe immediately...I'll wait for you to return.

Got your chips? Ok well let's get started. If you have never tried a whoopie pie, well you have been missing out. These are simply some of the most delicious little sandwich sweets I have ever tasted. A whoopie pie resembles both a cake and a cookie and is assembled with some type of filling in between. Whoopie pies are all the rage right now and you can be sure to find some amazing flavor combinations in this popular book Whoopie Pies. There are your standard flavors like the Chocolate, Vanilla or Pumpkin whoopies for those who like traditional flavors. And for those of you who have a little more adventurous palete there are Pistachio-Cardamon or Jalapeno Cornbread whoopies to name a few.

But today we are going to focus on the ever popular Chocolate Chip Whoopie pie! For all you chocolate chip cookie lovers out there, I guarantee that once you sink your teeth into one of these babies you won't want to eat just 1 cookie ever again, but will forever want your cookies sandwiched with a sweet filling in between! These cookies baked up absolutely perfect, so soft and delicate and paired nicely with my favorite vanilla buttercream. I whipped up a batch of these when we had some friends over for dinner and everyone ate at least two whoopies and took some home to! I know it's hard to compete with a layer cake, but these are definitely at the top of my list of all time favorite sweet indulgences!

Chocolate Chip Whoopie (from Whoopie Pies)

Ingredients:
-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
-4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-1/2 cup buttermilk
-2 tablespoons milk
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon white vinegar
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup mini chocolate chips

• Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
• In the work bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening, and both sugars and beat until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and the buttermilk and beat until combined.
• In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda, and vinegar. Add the milk mixture to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Add the vanilla and beat on medium for about 2 minutes, until completely combined.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips until just incorporated.
• Using a spoon, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the cakes begin to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
• Makes about 48 two-inch cakes. (Total 24 whoopie pies)
  
• The book pairs this whoopie recipe with a Marshmallow Filling but I opted to use my vanilla buttercream recipe instead!
  
• Fill each whoopie with a spoonful of vanilla buttercream.
  

Vanilla Buttercream (this is my go to recipe!)
-2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
-6 cups confectioner's sugar
-1/4 cup milk
-1 tsp vanilla extract

• Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Gradually add confectioner's sugar and milk, mixing well after each addition
• Mix in vanilla extract.
  
• Add in more milk as necessary to reach desired consistency.
  

I hope you all enjoy these whoopies as much as I did! What are some of your favorite whoopie pie flavors?

Purple Polka Dots

This weekend my neighbor Olivia turned the big "3". For her birthday she wanted a chocolate cake with purple icing and polka dots! I must say this is one easy to please 3 year old! At first I was playing around with the idea of adding various shades of purple polka dots using fondant. In the end I decided to stick with good ole' buttercream frosting for decorating the cake. I am loving how the cake turned out and so glad I decided to stick with the same shade of purple, its clean and simple!

To add a touch of contrast I decided to personalize the cake using a deeper shade of purple and cut out some fondant letters using this alphabet cutter set.

I delivered the cake to Olivia and what do you know she was wearing an outfit in the exact same shade of purple, it was too cute! Wish I would have gotten her picture!

Here's a picture of sweet Olivia taken about a month ago enjoying one of my cake pops! She sure was holding on to this pop super tight, as only minutes sooner our black lab Tillman had snatched another pop right out of her hand! Olivia is a huge fan of my baked goods! Almost every time I see her she asks "do you have any cupcakes?"...too cute! Or if she isn't asking for sweets she is asking "is my boyfriend home?"...let's just say she is trying to steal my husband. She thinks Randolph is her boyfriend and it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Anytime she sees him she gets this huge smile on her face and gets all shy! She has a crush!

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

I am loving this gorgeous spring weather we are having here in Mobile...it's almost on the verge of summer and it's only March! There is nothing that goes better with these warm temperatures and bright sunshine than some fresh berries! I found some gigantic strawberries this weekend at the store, I mean huge....like 4 berries combined to make 1 monster berry! Although these berries are perfectly delicious and sweet all on their own I knew they would be even better made into some Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream swirled on top.

These cupcakes pack a triple punch of strawberry. There is fresh strawberry puree in the batter and in the buttercream. And for a special touch and a slight hint of pick in the frosting I added some strawberry extract which really enhances the flavor! These cupcakes are light and moist and truly the perfect treat for an afternoon spent with friends.

I just got some fun decorating tools from Layer Cake Shop a few days ago so I was excited to try them out on the cupcakes. Since a girl can't have enough piping tips, I bought the French decorating tip for piping on the frosting and the Daisy Flower Plunger to make these adorable little fondant toppers. If you have never been to the Layer Cake Shop site, go check them out now for all kinds of amazing baking products! Their cupcake liners and sprinkle selection comes in every color imaginable...I'll take 1 of each please!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
-3/4 cup cake flour
-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 stick unsalted butter, softened
-1 cup granulated sugar
-3 eggs (1 whole, 2 whites stiffly beaten)
-1/4 cup milk
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 cup fresh strawberries, pureed (1/3 cup puree for cupcakes, 3 Tbsp for buttercream)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with 12 paper liners.
• In medium bowl combine flours, baking powder and salt.
• In bowl of electric mixer beat butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy.
• Add 1 egg and beat until combined.
  
• Combine milk, vanilla and strawberry puree in small bowl.
  
• Gradually add in flour mixture and strawberry mixture alternately, scraping down bowl after each addition.
• In a small bowl beat 2 egg whites on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into cupcake batter.
• Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans about 2/3 full.
• Bake for 16-18 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Allow to cool on wire racks.
  
• Frost with Strawberry Buttercream.
  

Strawberry Buttercream
-2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
-4 cups confectioners' sugar
-3 Tbsp strawberry puree
-1/2 tsp strawberry extract

• In bowl of electric mixer beat butter until creamy.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar and continue to mix.
• Add strawberry puree and strawberry extract and mix well.
• Transfer icing to piping bag fitted with French decorating tip and swirl onto cupcakes.

Wishing you all a sweet spring!

Cupcake a Week: Caramel Apple

Every fall at least once I find myself making caramel apples! I just love the ooey gooey goodness of melted caramel and the stickiness that it leaves behind once you sink your teeth into one of those babies! You know what I'm talking about the thin strands of caramel that hang down from the sides of your mouth as you pull the apple away after your first bite!

My favorite kind of apples are granny smiths for sure! I love their tartness and light green color!

When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago I discovered one of my new favorite cupcake flavors Caramel Apple when I visited Sprinkles. I tasted nine of their cupcake flavors that day and at the top of my list by far was their seasonal caramel apple flavor.

I loved the finely chopped bits of apples and cinnamon flavors in their cupcake and not to mention the caramel buttercream. Oh my goodness this was amazing! So from just one simple cupcake that I tasted I was determined to create a recipe to replicate those amazing flavors and textures I tasted that day at Sprinkles!

I took an entirely different angle with the decorating though and thought it would be fun to decorate them to look somewhat like a real caramel dipped apple! I added the wooden stick and all...what do you think? I love the green cupcake liners too, it just screams granny smith to me! And I'm a nuts girl on my caramel apples so I garnished some with chopped pecans!

It doesn't get much more fall than caramel apple cupcakes! These are sure to be an awesome addition to any Thanksgiving dessert display! And if you don't like granny smith apples substitute a golden delicious, red delicious or gala. You can even switch up the cupcake liners to match the color apple you choose! Grab your kids too and get them in the kitchen with you to help insert the wooden sticks and sprinkle the nuts on top!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes (makes 20)

Ingredients:
-3 cups flour
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-3/4 cup light brown sugar
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-t tsp cinnamon
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1/2 cup applesauce
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla
-3 cups finely chopped apples, peeled and coated with 3 Tbsp sugar & 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used 2 granny smith)
-20 wooden popsicle sticks
-1 cup chopped pecans for garnish (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
• In large bowl combine: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and mix.
• In medium bowl combine: granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, apple sauce and vanilla and mix well.
• Add eggs to wet mixture one at a time and beat well after each addition.
• Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently mix until combined.
• Fold in chopped apples.
• Pour batter into prepared pans about 2/3 full.
• Bake for 18 minutes.
• Allow cupcakes to cool in pans 10 minutes then move to wire racks to continue cooling.
• Once cupcakes are cool frost with caramel buttercream.

Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients:
-1 stick unsalted butter
-1 cup light brown sugar
-1/3 cup heavy cream
-3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

• In saucepan over medium heat melt butter.
• Stir in brown sugar and heavy cream and keep over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes.
• Transfer mixture to mixing bowl.
• Gradually add confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time and mix with electric mixer until incorporated.
• Frost cupcakes using an offset spatula.
• Insert wooden popsicle sticks and sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired.

Take a bite, I promise it will be caramel apple yumminess!

Cupcake a Week: Banana & Chocolate

This recipe is for all you banana and chocolate lovers! I had 3 very ripe bananas that were staring me in the face this week just begging to be eaten. It seems every time I have ripe bananas I make the same old loaf of banana bread or a batch of muffins that I have made a thousand times. This week I wanted to switch things up a bit and try a banana cupcake! I even decided to get a little crazy and make them into a sandwich style cupcake filled with a layer of icing and another swirl of icing on top! Let me just warn you these can get a little messy when eating, but they are oh so worth it!

I have this fabulous cake book, Confetti Cakes that I used for the recipe. The book is crammed full of some of the most elaborately decorated cakes, cupcakes, cookies and yummy recipes I have ever seen. If you don't already own this book, I highly recommend picking up a copy! I find myself just thumbing through the pages regularly looking at all the details, techniques and vibrantly colored pages...talk about some inspiration on every page!

Banana Cupcakes (recipe from Confetti Cakes)

This recipe can be used for three 9-inch round cake layers, 1 half sheet (13 x 18 inches) or 24 cupcakes! (I cut this recipe in half because I only had 3 bananas and it still turned out moist and delicious)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/4 cups plus 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
6 very ripe bananas

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray (I used cooking spray b/c I wanted to be able to slice the tops off my cupcakes and make them into sandwiches).
• In a large bowl, sift together the baking soda and flour. Set aside.
• Peel the bananas and mash them in a bowl. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until smooth.
• Set the mixer to low speed and add the eggs, one at a time scraping thoroughly between each addition.
• Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined.
• Add the flour mixture in two batches, scraping down the bowl after each addition.
• Add the bananas and beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
• Allow cupcakes to cool. Using a serrated knife cut the tops off the cupcakes and swirl a layer of chocolate buttercream icing on the cake. Put the top of the cupcake back on and then swirl some more buttercream on top.

Have a great weekend!

Cupcake a Week: Vanilla & Chocolate Swirl

Vanilla or Chocolate...Chocolate or Vanilla???? I often find myself contemplating which flavor to choose when it comes time to eating cake or ice cream. When I'm at a wedding and there are both chocolate and vanilla slices of cake, I'm that over indulgent guest that eats one piece of cake like all the other guests, but then when no one is watching sneaks back up to the cake table and helps myself to a second piece of cake to try another flavor. I know I am not the only one who has done this right??? Please tell me some of you also raid the cake table for extra servings. This is a rare chance when you get to eat a super moist, delicious, high quality ingredient cake made from scratch from a well known bakery...I mean this is one sugary slice of heaven, or two you just can't resist.

But if you aren't going to be heading to a wedding anytime soon and are craving something both chocolate and vanilla, then this marbled cupcake recipe is just what you need!

And to take it even one step further, not only is the cake a combo of vanilla and chocolate but so is the icing! You get the best of both worlds all in one little cake! I made one batch of vanilla buttercream icing and one batch of chocolate buttercream icing then combined them side by side in a piping bag with the star tip and swirled it on top. Then added some chocolate jimmies.

Just looking at the swirls of vanilla and chocolate icing reminds me of my childhood and going up to the local convenient store on a hot summer night and ordering swirled soft serve ice cream. YUM!

Marble Cupcakes (recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book)

Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/3 cup milk, room temperature
-1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 cup granulated sugar
-3 large eggs, room temperature
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
-1/4 cup boiling water

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and cream.
• With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk mixture, and beating until combined.
• To make chocolate batter, measure out 1 cup batter, and transfer to another bowl. Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a bowl. Stir into reserved 1 cup batter.
• Fill prepared cups with alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter, filling each three-quarters full. Run the tip of a paring knife or wooden skewer through the batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are golden and cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

*Martha recommended dusting marble cupcakes with confectioners' sugar, but I decided to top them off with buttercream icing instead....either way they will taste delicious!

• Frost with a combination of vanilla and chocolate buttercream. Place a large star decorating tip into a piping bag and fill one side with vanilla and the other side with chocolate buttercream. Hold bag and swirl icing in clockwise motion on top of cupcakes to create a swirl.

Billy's Vanilla Buttercream (recipe from Martha Stewart's website)

Makes enough for 30 cupcakes
Note: I cut the recipe below in half and still had left over icing.

-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
-6 to 8 cups confectioners's sugar
-1/2 cup milk
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.

Billy's Chocolate Buttercream (recipe from Martha Stewart's website)

Makes enough for 30 cupcakes
Note: I cut the recipe below in half and still had left over icing.

-2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
-12 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
-3 tablespoons milk
-1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-5 cups confectioners' sugar

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add chocolate until just combined. Add milk, vanilla, and sugar; mix on medium until well combined, being careful not to overmix.

ENJOY!