Easy Peasy Chocolate Cupcakes

I heart cupcakes.

I heart chocolate cupcakes.

I heart chocolate cupcakes that are terribly easy to make.

Chocolate cupcakes that are terribly easy to make help me attain inner peace.

(Sorry, just watched Kungfu Panda 2…)

And this is how I made and devour them:

Grab some plain flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Sift them altogether into a huge bowl.

I really love how soft and fine the mixture looks – no lumps to make me crazy!

Add in some wonderful regular white sugar.

Whisk them together until you attain inner peace…

(Again, it’s the Kungfu Panda 2…)

Crack 2 fresh eggs into a measuring cup, or into another bowl.

Add in some milk…

…some vegetable oil (I used light olive oil because I can’t find the darn vegetable oil)…

…and good old vanilla extract.

Whisk them altogether.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour-cocoa mixture and whisk it up.

Until you get something like this.

And here’s the magic: add in some hot, boiling water into the batter and stir gently.

This makes the batter very liquid and gives you light and fluffy cupcakes. Yum!

Pour the cake batter into the baking tins…

…And bake until well-risen, puffy and fluffy.

I used a cream cheese-butter frosting because I liked the tang in the cream cheese

But of course you can just use an all-butter frosting.

Or let them go naked.

Whichever gives you inner peace.

I piped some melted chocolate over the frosting. Looks more decadent and classy?

And they are so, so utterly yummy!

Easy Peasy Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 24)
adapted from Bakerella’s Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

You’ll need:

Cupcakes
150 grams all-purpose flour
50 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
120 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil *(I used light olive oil)*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (185 ml) milk
3/4 cup (185 ml) boiling hot water

Frosting
125 grams room temperature cream cheese
125 grams room temperature unsalted butter
200 – 250 grams icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melted chocolate (optional)

Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line the cupcake trays with cupcake liners and set aside.

In a huge bowl, sift the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Add in the caster sugar and use a whisk and whisk everything together. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and milk.

Add the eggs mixture into the flour mixture and whisk together till they are all combined together. Add in the boiling hot water and mix together gently.

Pour the cake batter into a measuring cup (because it’s easier to transfer the cake batter later on, but if you hate washing an extra item… you can just scoop using a spoon or ladle, though it’ll be harder to do so). Pour the cake batter  into the cupcake liners till 80% full.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from their trays and let them cool completely on a wire rack before frosting them.

Frosting
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and unsalted butter together. Gradually add in the icing sugar till the icing sugar is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes or spread the frosting on with a spatula. Decorate with some melted chocolate if you’d like and serve! (:

Store frosted cupcakes in an air-tight container in the fridge and consume within 5 days. Thaw slightly at room temperature before eating!

Notes and Variations:

• Use an all-buttercream frosting – simply substitute the cream cheese with equal amounts of unsalted butter.
• There’s not much icing sugar used in the frosting (I’m not a very huge sweet tooth), so the frosting may be a bit soft to handle, given the warm and humid climate of Singapore. To make it easier to pipe the frosting, transfer the frosting into a piping bag and place the piping bag in the fridge for 15 minutes before using. If not, double the amount of icing sugar to be used for the frosting.

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I’m going to submit this recipe to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min’s Blog.

Tags: baking, Cakes, CHOCOLATE, cupcakes, food, photos, recipes

• November 8, 2011
• Muffins & Cupcakes
• 9 comments