Black Magic Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting

My oldest daughter, Julie 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 fudged fudge frosting recipe. Yes, you read that right – fudged fudge frosting. Fudged because I tinkered with a family recipe from my Dave’s side of the family I never recalled trying before.

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.

Black Magic Cupcake Recipe

• 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 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

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and begin boiling just over a cup of water. While the oven is pre-heating and before making the batter, grab some muffin liners and line the muffin tins.

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

To the dry ingredients add the wet ingredients, stirring each to combine:

• 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, Julie (almost 3) 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.

Fudged Fudge Frosting

I had some leftover fudge frosting from a previous project I decided to use for the cupcakes. Here is where the ‘fudged’ part comes in. When I followed the family recipe I thought I would use semi-sweet Baker’s chocolate, instead of the unsweetened, because I wanted it extra chocolatey. Well it was not what I was looking for, and I could still taste the powdered sugar so I added somewhere around 1/2c to 3/4 of cocoa powder to the recipe. In the boiling water, I also added, you guessed it – espresso! Poor parents…teachers….more espresso!

Fudge Frosting Recipe (original)

• 6 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 c Crisco
• 4 – 1oz squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1/2 boiling water (added some powdered espresso)
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl
2. Beat on low until well blended
3. Beat at least 1 minute more
4. Enjoy!

If the frosting is still a bit stiff warm for a few seconds in the microwave. This will also deepen the chocolate color.

Decorating

Spread about a tablespoon of frosting on top of the cupcake and decorate to your hearts desire! The spiderwebs are made from candy melts.