Mmm... Chocolate Cupcakes!

It's National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

With these made-up "everyday is a holiday" days, I feel kind of torn - on the one hand it's getting crazy, and EVERYTHING has a day; on the other hand I love celebrating things that bring me joy, and chocolate cupcakes bring me joy.

While searching the internet, I came across this detailed recipe from Cupcake Project. It was great, I had all the ingredients on hand, and the cupcakes were delicious!

You should definitely go check out their recipe as she's got some good tips, but I'm gonna write it out for you too. 

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup unsalted butter (room temp.)

1 cup sugar

2 oz of your favorite chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)

2 eggs (room temp.)

2 egg yolks (room temp.)

9 tbs sunflower oil

2 tsp vanilla 

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup water (room temp.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/175 C.

2. Prep your cupcake liners in your muffin pan. (I made home-made ones out of baking paper, and they worked amazingly! I'll share a DIY soon.)

3. Sift together your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder) into a medium-sized bowl.

4. Using the paddle attachment on your mixer, cream together butter and sugar.

5. (Carefully) Melt your chocolate. (Dutch oven method, or very short time increments in microwave.)

6. Once the melted chocolate is cool to the touch, add it to the sugar and butter mixture.

7. Keep mixer going. Add eggs and egg yolks one at a time, making sure each one is incorporated before you add the next. Mix until just combined.

8. Mix in vanilla, sour cream and oil until just combined.

9. With the mixer going, add the dry ingredient mixture in 3 portions, mixing just until incorporated each time.

10. Mix in water until just combined.

11. Fill cupcake liners until 2/3 full. (Since I had higher "tulip" liners, I filled them a little more.)

12. Check for doneness at 18 minutes. I ended up needing an extra 10 minutes, because I made mine bigger. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

13. Take cupcakes out of the tin, place them on a cooling rack, and wait until they completely cool before trying to frost them.

(Makes 12-15, depending on size.)

As a bonus, here is my current favorite chocolate buttercream frosting:

Frosting:

- 3/4 cup room temperature butter

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- pinch of salt

- 2 1/4 cup powdered sugar

- 3 tbs sweet and condensed milk

- about 4 tbs hot chocolate mix (like Nesquick)

The frosting was just the right amount for the cupcakes. Perfection.

I baked these to celebrate our son's first goal in soccer, and let me tell ya - I won all the mom points that day! Delicious!

Eggless Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Last night, my husband was musing that he was craving some chocolate cake. I love him dearly, and our anniversary was this week, so I happily made my man a cake. :)

The only problem was, that our son had eaten the last two eggs for breakfast that morning, and grocery stores are actually closed here on Sunday afternoon. So, I looked up some "eggless" chocolate cake recipes, and came across one I liked, didn't QUITE wait until it fully cooled, put on some delicious chocolate buttercream frosting - and it was divine! It was very spur of the moment, so my pictures aren't great - but trust me! This is going to become a go-to in our house!

You'll need:

- standing mixer

- 8x8 inch pan

- baking paper

- non-stick spray

Ingredients:

Cake:

- 1 1/2 cups flour

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I actually used some semi-sweet hot chocolate mix, and it was awesome)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tsp white vinegar

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1 cup water

Frosting:

- 3/4 cup room temperature butter

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- pinch of salt

- 2 1/4 cup powdered sugar

- 3 tbs sweet and condensed milk

- about 4 tbs semi-sweet hot chocolate mix

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Line 8x8 cake pan with baking paper, and spray with non-stick spray.

2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda) in the bowl of your standing mixer.

3. In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, vinegar, oil and water.

4. Turn mixer on medium speed, and pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until all the lumps are completely done.

5. Pour batter into pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes (24 minutes for convection oven.)

6. Bake until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Allow to fully cool.

7. For frosting, cream together butter, salt and vanilla extract, then gradually add powdered sugar. Add sweet and condensed milk and chocolate powder. Whip until fluffy.

8. Allow cake to fully cool (or don't, haha!) and frost the cake.

This cake stayed super moist, and delicious! It's definitely going to be a go-to! 

Yummm!