Black Magic Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting
My oldest daughter, was having a Harvest Party at school and one of the last items needed was mini-cupcakes. I quickly signed up, because to me making cupcakes is a lot easier than making up treat bags for about 12 kids!
This chocolate cake recipe happens to be my absolute favorite when it comes to chocolate cakes and it satisfies even the meanest chocolate craving. I paired the cupcakes with a delicious fudge frosting. This cupcake recipe comes courtesy of Hershey’s, with a few tweaks of course. The recipe is really unique in that it goes from almost pure liquid to a deliciously moist cake.
How cute are the fall and Halloween sprinkles on these? A chocolate almost begs to be paired with the beautiful colors of fall and Halloween!
Black Magic Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting
Ingredients
Black Magic Cupcake
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
- -----*To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup.
- 1 cup strong black coffee OR one of the following options:
- -----*2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee plus 1 cup boiling water
- -----*1 tablespoon instant espresso plus 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 c vegetable oil + 1/4 unsweetened applesauce OR 1/2 c vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Fudge Icing
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup butter 1 stick
- 3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Bowl of ice and water
Instructions
Black Magic Cupcake Directions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and begin boiling just over a cup of water (to make coffee, or use already made coffee).
- While the oven is pre-heating and before making the batter, grab some cupcake liners and line the muffin tins.
- Sift or mix together DRY ingredients, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. (Important to break up the lumps of baking soda and powder.)
- To the dry ingredients add the WET ingredients: eggs, buttermilk (or soured milk), coffee, oil (or oil/applesauce mixture), and vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined. Batter will be VERY thin.
- Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Check for doneness with toothpick, a few crumbs will be be attached.
- Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Fudge Frosting Directions
- In a medium sized pot, mix all ingredients together except vanilla.
- Heat frosting ingredients to a rolling boil, and stir occasionally.
- Boil for one minute without stirring.
- Place pot in bowl of ice and water.
- Beat frosting until smooth and spreadable. Add vanilla.
- Frost as desired.
- *IF icing becomes stiff or gritty, put back on heat for a 30 seconds to a minute and whisk until the gloss just starts to come back.
Step by Step Directions
One of the secrets to this cake, I think, is the coffee used in the cake. The coffee seriously intensifies the taste of the chocolate, and otherwise disappears into the cake. Ah yes, the kids had espresso flavored cupcakes! I used instant espresso to punch up the flavor.
- Add 1 tablespoon of instant espresso to 1 cup of boiling water
- Set aside
While waiting for the water to boil, in a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
- *To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup.
- 1 cup coffee
- 1/4 c vegetable oil + 1/4 unsweetened applesauce (OR 1/2 c vegetable oil)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Note: Be careful adding the coffee to the mixture after the eggs. If the coffee is still very hot, there is a chance the eggs could scramble. Add the buttermilk/soured milk before the coffee so there is less of a chance of this happening.
The recipe states to beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. I have always used a whisk to combine the ingredients, because the batter is so thin. Note: I have not tried making this in my stand mixer, mostly because I am afraid more batter would end up on walls than in the bowl. However, in the future I may just need to try!
I had my sous chef, flick the whisk to get this shot. Did I mention how thin the batter is?
Use a ladle or small measuring cup to fill the muffin cups. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.
Before:
After:
For as much as I use this particular recipe every once in awhile I forget to sift together the dry ingredients. So that is what the little white lumps are. The cupcakes were a bit flat as well, but as the batter sat the last few cupcakes puffed up a bit more.
Cool the muffins on a wire rack before icing.
Decorating
plz tell me any substitute for crisco
Try butter?