Chocolate Cupcakes
I first made these cupcakes for the Hydrochloric Candy's 2008 48 hour Film Festival shoot; where they were apparently much enjoyed by the film cast and crew. For the first batch, I substituted one cup of hot water for the coffee called for by the recipe. I later made another batch of cupcakes with the coffee; which were noticeably larger and fluffier. Here is the recipe that I used, taken from Caprial's Desserts, by Caprial Pence and Melissa Carey. With these cupcakes, I generally use this chocolate frosting recipe.
Ingredients
- 15 ounces flour (3 cups)
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
- 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup freshly brewed hot coffee. (I just use Trader Joe's instant coffee.)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Heat oven to 350° F and prepare a medium-size muffin pan with cupcake liners (the more whimsical the better).
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Mix the vegetable oil and buttermilk into the dry goods until well blended. Stir in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the hot coffee and vanilla extract.
Pour batter into muffin pans; each cup should be about two thirds full. Bake for about 20 minutes; test for doneness using a toothpick. I get just about 2 dozen cupcakes with this recipe.
