Strawberry Frosting Chocolate Cupcakes

On Saturday we attended a surprise birthday party for our friend Andrea. It was a fun party that ended up looking a lot like a wedding reception with lots of dancing and karaoke. I made some chocolate cupcakes for the party  to go with the blueberry and lemon frosting cupcakes I had made the day before.

As I said before, I've been working on finding a chocolate cupcake recipe that satisfies my deepest chocolatey cravings and I feel a step closer after tweeking my last recipe. I didn't want to get too crazy with the recipe since I was going to be feeding them to a room full of people I didn't know, but I felt fairly certain that my changes would make an awesome cupcake. And I was right. It was very moist and had a more sweet chocolate flavor, where as the previous cupcakes I had made were more of a strong, dark chocolate flavor. It went perfectly with the strawberry frosting, which nicely fulfilled my berry cravings.

I decided that I want to start baking for every event possible and taking my camera everywhere. I want to do everything I can to sharpen my baking and photography skills. So now my friends can expect me to shove a cupcake in their face at every opportunity and then take a picture of them eating it. Sounds fun, right? Everyone wins. 


Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

(makes about 16 cupcakes)


Ingredients:

• 1 cup steaming hot cappuccino (regular ol' coffee would work too)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line your cupcake tray
2. In a small bowl, pour the hot cappuccino over the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
4. In the bowl of your mixer (or in a large bowl if you don't have a mixer), beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.
5. Add eggs, on at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Mix in the vanilla extract
7. Add in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
8. Add in the cocoa mixture and mix well until smooth.
9. Fill cupcake tray evenly (each cup about 3/4 full).
10. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Strawberry Frosting Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons  fresh, pureed strawberries (about 3-4 strawberries with tops cut off)

Directions:

1. Cream butter in the bowl of your mixer or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer
2. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar
3. Add in the pureed strawberries, one tablespoon at a time and mix well