New Fav Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes

                                          (The pink ones are yet another batch of billy's vanilla cupcakes and the  turquoise ones are made from this recipe of chocolate cupcakes)

I know I have a lot of chocolate cake recipes on this blog so far but what can I say? I'm a chocoholic! But these are by far the easiest to make and the best! They are really chocolatey and rich and super fluffy and moist! Gotta love um! Makes 24. Recipe courtesy of bakingbites.

Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional but I didn't use them)

Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in 2-12 cup muffin tins.
In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until thoroughly mixed.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, water, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Whisk into flour mixture until all of the ingredients are mixed in and no streaks of flour remain. Add in optional mini chocolate chips, if using.
Fill muffin cups evenly with the prepared batter.
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, or with only a few crumbs.
Remove cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

LOVE CAKE

These cupcakes are extra moist and decadent, easy to make and easy to eat! I had the hardest time deciding what to bake yesterday, there are so many recipes I want to try! I am super glad I made these. They also got me major brownie (or should I say cupcake) points with the hubby! There is a cake at Haleiwa Joe's called the "Love Cake' that we literally order every. time. we. go. and it is really similar to this but has a raspberry sauce instead of frosting. I am glad I can recreate it when we are on a budget! And I might even venture to say that mine is better! I might. Their sauce is pretty damn good though!
Recipe adapted from joy of baking.

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) corn or canola oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream Cheese Filling: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Set aside while you make the Chocolate Cupcake batter.

Chocolate Cupcakes: In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until nice and smooth. Evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Then spoon a few tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each cupcake.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling is a little brown and the cupcakes feel springy to the touch (a toothpick inserted into the chocolate part of the cupcake will come out clean). Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

The cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 - 4 days.

Makes 12 large cupcakes (I doubled the recipe to make 24 because 12 is just not enough. so the frosting recipe will frost 24)

Raspberry buttercream frosting:

1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 stick vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons red raspberry preserves
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 pound confectioners sugar

With your mixer beat butter and shortening until very smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add raspberry preserves until incorporated. Add vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your preferred consistency. Beat until fluffy about 3 more minutes.

ENJOY!

For the Chocolate Lover!

Guittard and Ghirardelli Chocolate cupcakes and ganache with cream cheese frosting
These cupcakes are amazing!! SERIOUSLY! They are super moist! The cake itself is not too rich, surprisingly. The ganache dip makes them super chocolatey though, you can obviously skip that if you wanted but I wouldn't recommend it. And the cream cheese frosting is super vanilla-ey and makes them just right. They are to die for! In fact my husband just popped FIVE in his mouth in one sitting! The cupcake recipe is a Magnolia Bakery recipe and I just changed it a bit.

• CUPCAKES:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 7 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (see Note)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped Guittard milk chocolate

Note: To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for approximately 5–10 minutes. Stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces of chocolate remain. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm 5–10 minutes. And I actually used 4 ounces unsweetened and 3 ounces semi-sweet both ghirardelli.

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.
3.In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
4.In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
5.Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Ganache:
• 1 cup chocolate (I used about 3 ounces Ghirardelli bittersweet and the rest Guittard milk chocolate)
• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
In a double broiler melt the chocolate and butter together then wait about 10 minutes to cool. Dip tops of cupcakes in the ganache and let sit until hardened a bit before topping with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar
Beat butter until smooth, add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Enjoy!