Double Chocolate Cupcakes

These were the cupcakes Anna made for her teacher's last day of school today. They had a long-term substitute while their regular teacher was away on maternity leave. Since the substitute teacher spent most of the school year with them, they got very attached to her, so today was a bittersweet day for the class. Anna had asked her teacher what her favorite flavor of cake was and when she heard "chocolate", she knew what she was baking:

Double Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup hot water or coffee

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare muffin pans with cupcake liners. This recipe makes about 28-30 cupcakes.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.

In another bowl or large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Gently whisk.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer on the lowest setting, add the coffee and stir just to combine – scrape up from the bottom to make sure all the flour is incorporated. Batter will be very thin and runny- don't worry!

 Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cupcake only about 2/3, and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to complete cooling.

Frost with your favorite frosting. These, we frosted with:
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.



Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, at room temperature
1-2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark 100% Cocoa)
2-3 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Directions:
In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. Add powdered sugar cup by cup, making sure to cover the mixer with the shield attachment and/or kitchen towel to avoid a cloud of powdered sugar all over your kitchen once you turn the mixer back on. :) Beat until well incorporated. Add cocoa powder and mix well. Finally, mix in heavy cream (or half-n-half) until desired consistency is reached. Frost away and enjoy!

These were the cupcakes Anna gave to her teacher, so she could share with her family... We packaged them in a special "Sweet" container. :)

 

I also made the teacher a flower arrangement from the class... A bright spring mix! :)

Recipe for cupcakes adapted from: foodnetwork.com