A Bit of Chocolate

One of my main goals when I set out on this cupcake journey was to become really comfortable with the basics. I let myself get slightly sidetracked by the more glamorous sounding cupcakes (I mean butterbeer cupcakes...come on now people who could pass that up?), but this past weekend I was determined to go back to my original goal. I set out to make the perfect chocolate cupcake. The recipe (another which was suggested to me by my wonderful great grand big, Christina) is Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake which had rave reviews on the Food Network site. I was a little apprehensive at first because the recipe called for coffee to be used in both the cake and icing and while I'm a coffee lover and had heard that it brings out the flavor of chocolate I was nervous as to how potent it would end up being and if it would in reality overwhelm the chocolate flavor.

I was house/pet sitting for a family friend this past weekend and Chris was hanging out with me so we decided what better way to pass time (in addition to watching several DVDs...side note: Chris had me watch The A-Team, and I really enjoyed it) than to bake! Thankfully this batter did not curdle (although have you ever seen buttermilk measured out in the same measuring cup as oil? NOT a pretty sight); however, it was pure liquid.which terrified me as I ladled it into the cupcake liners. I gleefully watched (Chris mocked me for enjoying watching cupcakes bake...but let me tell you it was actually pretty cool) as the cupcakes rose in the oven quashing my fears of a screw up (Chris accidentally turned one of the ovens on to convection bake instead of normal bake so one patch baked on convection the other normally...I have heard that baking cupcakes on convection can be better because it circulates the air in the oven more resulting in more even baking...so I guess he did well by pressing the wrong button). The cupcakes baked up perfectly and looked moist and delicious so it was time to tackle the frosting.

The frosting actually turned out really well although my biggest fear came into reality when the coffee flavor seemed to grow stronger every day that the frosting sat (...not the biggest fan of that). All in all I'd say it was a pretty successful chocolate venture that received especially high praises from my mom who thought that the frosting was the best yet! As you can see below, I'm starting to get artsy with my cupcake shots too...several cupcakes did not make the icing cut to be photographed so I decided to go with the star of the pack. Hope you enjoy! Also there's a Gus update coming your way tomorrow so check back for that (he's becoming huge and is the rising star of his intermediate training class!)