Basic Chocolate Cupcake

Last night, I made Chocolate-Raspberry, Chocolate-Coconut, and Almond cupcakes for a co-worker's birthday. I think I would be getting ahead of myself if I posted these recipes before I posted my favorite Chocolate Cupcake recipe!

When I went looking for this recipe, I knew I wanted one with some sort of oil instead of butter (oil seems to make the moistest cupcakes...) At first, I wanted a recipe that called for melted chocolate instead of cocoa, because I thought it would make a richer, moister cake. However, after reading several articles and trying several of these recipes, I decided that the melted chocolate gave the cake a more dense, dry texture. Maybe adding some oil to one of those recipes would have remedied this, but I never actually tried it. I tested several other recipes before deciding to try the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box. I reasoned that if anyone would know how to make a good chocolate cake, it would be Hershey's, right? Right!! I did swap the white sugar for brown sugar, upped the cocoa from 3/4 cup to 1 full cup, upped the vanilla, and substituted the milk for buttermilk. The remainder of the recipe is just as the Hershey Company had written it.

(Absolutely the Best ) Chocolate Cupcakes (in the World)

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2 cup oil (canola, vegetable, or any nut oil will work)
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup boiling water (microwaved works just fine)

Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, powder, and soda. Mix in the sugar. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk. Mix on medium speed of an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add the hot water and mix well.

Scoop the batter into a lined muffin pan, filling each well about 2/3 - 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently touched and a toothpick comes out clean.

And you can't have a perfect chocolate cupcake without perfect chocolate fosting:

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

3 sticks butter, room temperature
1 32 oz. bag powdered sugar (about 7 cups)
6 oz. melted, cooled semisweet or unsweetened chocolate (about 1 cup chocolate chips)
1 tbs. vanilla extract

Cream the butter on medium-high speed of an electric mixer for about 3 minutes. Add 4 cups powdered sugar. Mix slowly until combined, then raise speed to medium-high for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and chocolate. Mix until combined. Slowly add remaining sugar until desired taste and consistency is reached.

Note: For a light, airy frosting, use the whisk attachment on your mixer. For a denser, richer frosting, use the paddle attachment and mix on a lower speed once the powdered sugar is added to the butter. Frosts about 24 cupcakes.

Now I can share my new cupcake creations! I will be posting them in another blog, as I think chocolate cupcakes deserve their very own post :)