Today, I’m going to demonstrate how to make beautiful, dramatic Hi Hat Cupcakes!
These delicious cupcakes are swirled high with a cloud-like Seven Minute Frosting, and dipped into a Rich Chocolate Coating for a finish that looks as amazing as it tastes! Oh the deliciousness!
*We have refreshed our former hi hat cupcake post with a few tweaks to our recipes as well as a quick video tutorial on the method. Enjoy!
How to Make Hi Hat Cupcakes
First, let’s talk chocolate cupcakes! If you are looking for a fantastic scratch chocolate cupcake recipe, we LOVE this one: Classic Chocolate Cupcakes. If you prefer to work with a doctored cake mix, here’s a great one for cupcakes: Chocolate Cake {Doctored Cake Mix}.
Next, we whipped up a batch of our Seven Minute Frosting. This billowy white frosting tastes like marshmallows and is wonderfully light and airy, making it perfect for the signature swirl of hi hats!
As we demonstrate in our video tutorial, the method for the Fluffy White Frosting is a bit different than the traditional seven minute frosting recipe (no double boiler, yay!) but the final outcome is just like the traditional seven minute frosting that we all know and love!
A Quick Lesson on How to Fill a Cupcake
(Optional) Using a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip (I used a Wilton 12), I injected each cupcake with our Fluffy White Frosting.
Injecting the filling is just a matter of inserting the piping tip about halfway down into the cupcake and giving a quick squeeze of frosting (I usually pipe about 2-3 seconds worth! This is a completely optional step but I love a surprise on the inside)!
Using a round piping tip (I used a large Ateco 806 in these photos), I swirled my frosting nice and high. If you don’t have an 806, a tip 12 works too! (I used a tip 12 in my video). These are hi-hats, not lo-hats, so don’t hold back!
And here they are, sitting pretty! Place your cupcakes on a cookie sheet, cake board, or whatever you have handy…and chill.
We chilled our cupcakes for about an hour in the refrigerator. Twenty minutes in the freezer would be fine also. You just want to have them nice and chilled before dipping!
Look at these pretty cupcake swirls! I just love fluffy frosting!
As our cupcakes chilled, we prepared our chocolate by melting 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave. We then mixed in three teaspoons of vegetable oil. You can find the details of the simple Chocolate Topping/Coating for hi-hats HERE!
After the chocolate had melted, we poured it into a more narrow, deep container for easier dipping. A liquid measuring cup would work well for this too. You’ll want your chocolate nice and fluid…but not overly hot and runny.
We kept our tray of cupcakes in the refrigerator and pulled out just a few at a time to dip. Simply flip, submerge the cupcake to the point where the frosting and cake meet, and pull straight back up.
Some of the excess will drip away as you lift your cupcake so you may want to hold it above the chocolate for a second or two. Through all of this cupcake dipping, not one of my cupcakes lost it’s swirly frosted top. Whew!
Here they are, freshly dipped! That gloss is going to take on more of a matte finish once chilled, but aren’t they beautiful?! Although still very soft, the chocolate stays right where it is supposed to, thanks to the chill of the frosting beneath.
Hi-hats are best served chilled… this is what they look like fresh out of the refrigerator. You can see that the lose some of their sheen and take on more of a matte finish. Still beautiful!
Here’s a shot of the inside, I just love the contrast of of the thin chocolate layer against the fluffy white frosting. So pretty!
I used Wilton heart sprinkles as simple toppers, but the decorating & flavor options are endless! I’m already daydreaming about more hi-hats!
I hope this tutorial has inspired you to give these a try. Next time, I’m going to make minis…I think they would be adorable!
See you next time!
Hi Doreen–these are regular sized cupcakes but I’d like to try minis sometime too! Glad that you are planning to try them!
I was just talking about hi-hat cupcakes yesterday with a co-worker. One of these days I need to make these.
It’s a sign, Spooky! You must make them ;0) They really are a lot of fun!
Melissa, these cupcakes are adorable and they look so delicious!
I’ve always wanted to try these, but haven’t yet, but yours look fabulous. I think I will give it a go one day soon!
Oh My those look wonderful.
These look so good, would love to have one right now! Thank you so much for sharing with us, you are wonderful!!!!
thank you! thank you! my daughter-in-law’s bday is coming up and due to a move my supplies are packed away. i can use this idea to make her favorite cupcakes more special! yay! mint chocolate chip frosting on chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes will be taken to a new level covered in a chocolate coating! oh, yumm!
HEY!!! These look like the MOST yummiest cupcakes ever, just to let you know i’m 13 years old and LOVE baking that is why i want this website!!!
Melissa and Bebe, what I would have given to have had one if not both of you in my kitchen today. I made the hi hat cupcakes and put them in my freezer for hours. Even with my chocolate at room temp and slightly warm, the icing just fell right off into the chocolate. What do you think happened?
Hi Emily, The meringue frosting for these needs to be very firm and hold straight high peaks when you pull the beaters out of the frosting. If it is too soft it won’t hold up to dipping into the chocolate. I am so sorry you had this problem because it is a time consuming recipe.
Thank you! I thought I had it stiff enough but I will try again another time. Thank you!
Thank you! Can’t wait to make these!
HI Melissa, can chocolate chips be used for the Chocolate Topping/Coating?
@Pamela, happy to hear it!
@Tammy- we attempted this with chocolate chips and noticed that the shell formed more of a “skin” so that it wasn’t easy to take a bite without pulling off the entire chocolate coating in one piece.
Could you use candy melts with similar results?
Hi Nancy, I think you could use candy melts with some oil added to thin it a bit, but we have not tried this so I am not positive of the results.
I love it! I will probably try this on my daughter’s birthday. Thanks ?
Like this tutorial ??
Will one recipe of the chocolate coating be enough to cover one recipe of cupcakes or will I need more? Just want to know how much chocolate I need to get…thanks!!
Hi Joan, One recipe of the Chocolate Coating recipe will cover 24 cupcakes, unless you make the swirl very, very high. I don’t know which recipe you plan to use but the Classic Chocolate recipes will make more than 24 cupcakes. The Chocolate Cake recipe using a cake mix will make 24 cupcakes.
These look wonderful. Thank you for another great tutorial. Looking forward to trying the mini ones when you make them. I’m not such a fan of regular sized cupcakes.
I made these this weekend. From one cake recipe I got 20 cupcakes and had plenty of the fluffy white frosting to frost them all and have a little left over. The cupcakes were good. I filled them with Nutella. I never made a frosting like this and it tasted like marshmallows. The only part that didn’t work for me and it was probably my own fault was the chocolate. Mine was too thick, you really need to thin, almost watery. I froze the cupcakes for a bit and then dipped. That part worked out fine. But because my chocolate was too thick it got hard and the chocolate, along with the frosting, just popped off the cupcakes when you went to cut it. Tasted good though. Just remember to thin that chocolate
Hi Joan! Thanks for your feedback on the recipe. I’m sorry that your chocolate cake out too thick. It’s definitely no problem to thin the chocolate with a bit more oil if you’d like to. I wonder though if your chocolate had cooled to the point that it was thicker, or if you by chance were using chocolate chips? When we used melted chocolate chips instead of bars of baking chocolate, the result was not as good (a bit thicker and pulled off in one piece). I’m glad that you were happy with the frosting!
I want to join and learn more
Cake decorating
Can you top this with colored candy melts or would it be best to use white chocolate morsels and food coloring? I’d love to make a variety of colors of these hat cupcakes.
I really enjoyed watching this video. It’s a must try for me and the kids this weekend
hi just wanna ask, instead of cream of tartar can i use lemon? for stabilizer. i think it will add flavor too. thank you
Hi Marie Ann, I think you will get the best result by using cream of tartar for the Fluffy White Frosting.
Would you be able to use a buttercream frosting with the dipping chocolate if it’s chilled? I’m nervous about using a frosting with eggs for kids.
Hi Angela, I am not sure about using buttercream, my worry is that it might be too heavy for dipping into the chocolate.
Oh my God this is delicious!!! I’ll do this over the weekend, then post photos of the result. Thank you!!!
Hi you inspire me so much, I tried out this recipe it was a great hit with my friends.
Thanks for share!!
Hi dear Melissa thanks for sharing the most delicious recipe!I’v a question;how many days the cupcake & also the chocolate cake layer (which it’s the same recipe) remain in the refrigerator?
I make Italian meringue frosting. isn’t this the same recipe without adding the butter.. I heat my s ugar water and as I heat it I whisk my eggwhtes and cream of tarter.. then I add the sugar water.looks like the same recipe.. is it???
I made these the other day and kept chilled however some of the tops slipped off the cupcake – any suggestions on how to keep the top in place. They were so delicious!
@Joanie- Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. Chilling the cupcakes should usually be enough to prevent the frosting from falling off. If you chilled in the refrigerator, next time try in the freezer. Or if you chilled in the freezer, you could try keeping them chilled a bit longer. Or maybe leave the tray of cupcakes in the freezer and just take out one or two cupcakes at a time as you dip them. It could also be that the chocolate was a little too warm? I’m sorry, but glad that you could still enjoy them. ;0)
Thank you for responding so quickly. I am new to the Cake School and am having so much fun so far. My High Hats dipped just fine and the topping stayed during the dipping – it was when I went to serve them some of the tops were slipping off the cupcake. Was not sure if I should frost them with ABC and then pipe on the marshmallow freeze and then dip??
Thank for Sharing!! i will try to make it for my children in this weekend.
it’s looks so delicious! i hope my children love eat.
I would like to know if there is a trick to getting that fluffy, sticky deliciousness into the piping bag. I had such a mess – I even ended up with it in my hair!!! (Worth it tho)
Haha Hi Elaine! Glad that you enjoyed the frosting. I like to fold the piping bag down around the top to create a cuff before filling it. Some people even position the “cuff” over the top of a tall glass so that they can fill the bag without holding it. Hope this helps!