Recipe: Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

I love to bake. Love it. I can spend HOURS in the kitchen. Every Christmas, I bake cookies and cakes and all of the sweets for my family. One time, an ex boyfriend made me so mad…I actually baked for about 8 hours. The funny thing is that I rarely eat what I bake.

This past Christmas, I wanted to do something different for dessert. Of course, there were the standard Jelly Cookies (Grandma’s recipe), Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Italian Wedding Cookies. My sister recommended that I make a cake! Now, if you look through the internet for “holiday cake ideas”, everything has peppermint. My mother strongly dislikes minty things where there shouldn’t be mint. That seriously complicated things. Then, we thought about trying some chocolate lasagna, like Olive Garden used to have. RIP Chocolate Lasagna. After discussions, we came to the conclusion that it would just be too disappointing if it didn’t taste correct. Plus, you needed meringue powder?

Finally, we settled on a really delicious chocolate cake. I could do layers and make the right icing…add fruit. It was delicious in my head. I found a recipe that swore to be the best chocolate cake recipe ever. Man, that was a let down. It was not overly tasty. It wasn’t moist or light or anything like that. My heart just fell, and I know my family was being kind when they ate it (though who is going to turn down cake?).

Now, that’ the general backstory to how I was on the hunt for a better cake recipe. Recently, a coworker/friend had a 30th birthday, and requested 30 cupcakes. I scoured Pinterest for a delicious chocolate cupcake recipe. That led me to Glorious Treats and her recipe for “Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes”. I actually ate these cupcakes, and they are perfect and delicious. The batch for my coworker made about 33 cupcakes. After raving over them to my family, my mom asked me to make some for my dad for their visit for my dad’s birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!). I did a half batch for my dad, and somehow only got 12 cupcakes…not really sure how that happened. Also, as a side note, this is the easiest homemade recipe I’ve ever made.

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk – I actually used skim milk, and it was still tasty!
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water

Instructions:

  • Line muffin tin with paper liners.  Heat oven to 350*F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat on medium speed for one minute.
  • Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
  • Fill liners 2/3 full with batter.  (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
  • Bake cupcakes for aproximately 18-22 minutes.
  • Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Now, I have a lot of bad luck (or I’m just really bad at it) with making my own icing. I’ve tried your basic buttercream and just about everything else, and they never turn out like they should. For these cupcakes, I just get a jar of icing from the baking aisle (baker’s choice, but I’ve been getting chocolate). Top with some sprinkles or other decor, and you’re good to go!

Let me know where you bring these! Share pictures of how you decorate. I’ve got to run and ice my dad’s before they get here!

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