Chocolate cupcakes with mocha frosting
A perfect chocolate cupcake topped with a mocha buttercream. Coffee and chocolate- a perfect pairing!
Ingredients
For the cupcake
- *2 cups sugar
- *1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- *3/4 cup cocoa
- *1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- *1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- *1 teaspoon salt
- * 2 eggs
- * 1 cup milk
- * 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- * 1 cup boiling water
For the frosting
- 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter softened
- 2 1/2 cups confectioner sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Tbs. espresso cooled
- 1 Tbs. Heavy cream
Instructions
- 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- 2. Prepare cupcake pans with liners.
- 3. In large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- 4. Stir in boiling water. Batter will be very thin at this point.
- 5. Pour into cupcake liners. Fill about 2/3 full.
- 6. Bake about 22-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before adding the frosting on top.
- 7. For the frosting: Cream the butter first until light and fluffy. Add the confectioner sugar and cocoa powder and beat for another 1 to 2 minutes until combined. You may want to scrap down the bowl at this point. Then add the vanilla extract, espresso, and heavy cream. Then mix on high speed for 8 minutes until light and fluffy.
- 9. When cupcakes are cooled, then using a pastry bag and tip swirl the frosting on top. Decorate with sprinkles!
Notes
* I used an Atecco tip #874, closed star tip, to achieve the swirl on top.
* For the espresso, follow the directions on the container to make a cup of espresso. Allow it to cool so you don't melt your frosting! You can always add more or less (just be careful of the consistency if you decide to add more). You could always just use good strong coffee if you don't have (or can find) espresso.
* If you find your frosting is too soft to pipe. Just throw it in the fridge for a 1/2 hour or so and you should be good to go! Adapted from Hershey's chocolate cake, Cook's Illustrated Vanilla Buttercream
* For the espresso, follow the directions on the container to make a cup of espresso. Allow it to cool so you don't melt your frosting! You can always add more or less (just be careful of the consistency if you decide to add more). You could always just use good strong coffee if you don't have (or can find) espresso.
* If you find your frosting is too soft to pipe. Just throw it in the fridge for a 1/2 hour or so and you should be good to go! Adapted from Hershey's chocolate cake, Cook's Illustrated Vanilla Buttercream