Chocolate Cupcakes

Making cupcakes is a terrifically entertaining process. Before I start making them, I gather all the ingredients, measure them and place in separate bowls. I put cupcake liners into cases and preheat the oven. But when I finish making them, there's an absolute mess in the kitchen. Always. I can't keep it tidy till the end!

However, the best part of making cupcakes is frosting. I mean piping the frosting. (I think this time it came out better than before!) 

Even though I usually like to try to make things lighter and healthier, for example, reducing butter/sugar or substituting it with something else, sometimes you just cannot resist making something as sinful as these chocolate cupcakes. I followed a simple recipe from Joy of bBaking. I've made these many times before and they always come out the same - moist, rich and super yummy. (Except when my neighbour asked me to bake her these cupcakes and I forgot the baking powder....) For the frosting I used a simple cocoa buttercream. It doesn't contain chocolate but it's still very delicious. The only thing you have to do is to beat it as long as you can! 


Chocolate Cupcakes:

50 g/1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

240 ml/1 cup boiling hot water

175 g/1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

113 grams/1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

200 grams/1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 190C. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

2) In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature. 

3) In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4) Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

5) Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.
 


Frosting:

250g powdered sugar

113g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-4 tbsp milk

2 1/2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder

1) Combine powdered sugar with butter and beat with your electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Add milk and cocoa powder. Depending on the consistency you wish to achieve, feel free to increase/decrease the amount of milk.

2) Frost the cupcakes and serve!

Cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking