Chocolate Cupcakes

 
I wanted to make some chocolate cupcakes for the company I was expecting.  It turns out I have cousins from Ghana!  How cool is that?  I have a chocolate cake recipe I am thinking of making but it seemed a little rich for kids and I was expecting about 14, plus 6 adults.  A cake would be hard to cut for that many people.  Plus cupcakes are easier for little hands to deal with.

I looked at a lot of recipes, but ended up at the Hershey Chocolate site.  Who would know chocolate better than Hershey? The recipe says it makes 30 cupcakes, but I just overfilled 24 paper cupcake liners and it worked for me.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder, HERSHEY'S, of course
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350.  Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners.  This recipe will also make sheet cake and layer cakes.  Check the Hershey site for baking times for them.

 
 
I use a KitchenAid stand mixer.  Dump...I mean gently place...the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the mixing bowl.  Mix at low speed until well mixed.

 

Add the eggs, milk, oil  and vanilla.  Mix until all the flour is moist.  You may have to stop and scrape down the sides.

While you are mixing put the 1 cup of water in the microwave for two minutes.  When it dings you will have mixed the batter long enough.  With the mixer on slow, add the boiling water to the batter.  It is going to get very thin and you are going to think you did something wrong.  I don't know what the boiling water does, but I saw it on other recipes, so just go with it!

Because I overfilled the cups, the tops tried very hard to stick to the top of the muffin tin.  So I suggest you spray it with Pam before you fill the paper cups.

I use a ice cream scoop to fill the cups.  It hold about 1/2 cup and it a good way to get a mostly even amount in each cup.  Like I said, I came back and over filled them to use up the batter and to have big cupcakes.


 
When I filled the cups, I held the tin up and close to the mixing bowl.  I let the scoop drip in the outside cup and then moved it to the inside cup to fill it.  This made MOST of the drips fall into the paper cupcake liners.  Before I put the pan in the oven I carefully wiped the drips between the cups with a damp cloth.

Both pans did not fit in my oven on the same shelf.  I baked for 15 minutes with one on the top shelf and one on the bottom shelf.  I switched them around and baked for 15 minutes more.  After 30 minutes I tested one cupcake in each pan.  The toothpick came out clean, so I took them out to cool.  If it comes out covered in batter, cook for 5 more minutes.

Let them cool for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.  This is where I noticed that I should have sprayed the top of the muffin pan with Pam.  They stuck a bit and I had to be careful to remove them with out tearing the tops off.

Chocolate Frosting

We never had frosted cakes when I was little.  I don't know if this is because my parents didn't believe in too much sugar or because my mom couldn't be bothered.  I think it was a bit of both.  Mom says nothing lasted long enough to be frosted, but I know we never ate between meals and she is just try to justify her unreasonable behavior!!  So FROST these cupcakes and this is how!

Whew!  It seems that not frosting cupcakes for children can lead to life long emotional issues!

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
(yes, it is still their recipe)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

I washed the mixing bowl and switched from the paddle to the whip attachment.  Remember to wait until the cupcakes are completely cool or the frosting will melt and slide off.

 

Scrape the melted butter into the mixing bowl.  Add the cocoa and stir.  Then add one cup of sugar and part of the milk until all of it is mixed in.  If it is too thick to spread well, add a bit more milk.  Only a a teaspoon at a time.  It is easy to over add.  If it is too thin, add more sugar. 

Stir in the vanilla.

I took a Wilton class a long time ago.  I get obsessive and bought a lot of the tips and made flowers and fondant and lots of cakes.  Our old computer died and ate all the glorious pictures, so you will just have to trust me.  Then I had no more children at home to eat my experiments, so I rarely make cakes.  This means I am not very good, but enthusiastic!


You can just take a knife or a spatula and spread on the frosting.

 

 I filled a frosting bag and tried different tips.  I finally settled on some swirled around and some spritzed through a serrated tip.  Neither of them were particularly beautiful, but on the other hand I was feeding chocolate to children, so how picky can they be?