[Chocolate Cupcake] A versatile Cake Recipe

I was so busy last week and had to work some overtime.

It was only after 10 p.m. on February 13th that I realized that I had to bake some sort of cake for the Valentine breakfast.

The three males who live with me expect me to bake a cake even for a small occasion. I can only blame it on me since I developed their habit of having cake for breakfast on any "named day."

Well, when there is an expectation, there is somebody, i.e. me, who is bound to meet the expectation.

So, here I was!

At 10:30 p.m. (sharp), I checked ingredients. I had to come up with something with butter, egg, and flour. And oh, I almost forgot Cocoa which I had a lot.

So the answer was easy.

A chocolate cake~ But, as my kids love, like most kids, cupcakes, I decided to make twelve cupcakes instead of one big cake.

I already posted the big birthday cake with the same recipe.

You can see Pablo's 2012 birthday cake here.

I halved the original recipe this time.

Here goes the recipe:

(This recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

1 cup boiling water

 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

 1 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

 1 teaspoons baking soda

 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1/2 cup butter, softened

 1 cup white sugar

 2 eggs

 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  

2. Line the muffin tin with liners. Yes, as you see, I collect cupcake/muffin liners. I tend to buy some whenever I see a new design. Don't tell me it's a bad habit. These liners don't get rotten easily :)

 3. In a medium mixing bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool.

4. Mix & sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

5. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

6. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla.

7. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture,

i.e. 1/3 flour mixture → 1/2cocoa mixture → 1/3 flour

 mixture → 1/3 cocoa mixture → 1/3 flour mixture.

8. Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full. 

9. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of each layer comes out clean.

Cool the cake completely on a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, make an easy vanilla frosting.

Here goes the recipe for the easy vanilla frosting:

<Vanilla frosting>
1+ 1/4 cups butter, room temperature
2-3 cups icing sugar (= sugar powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla
colors (option)

Fruit (such as strawberries, also optional)

sprinkles (option)

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and vanilla with a stand mixer or hand mixer.

2. Blend in the icing sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.(Add 4-5 drops of food color, if you are to use it.

A few drops of food color are more than enough to dye the entire frosting prepared.)

3. Using a spatula, spread the icing over the cake.

You can decorate with sprinkles or fruit as you wish.

Kids loved this simple, but delicious cake. Considering the time spent on baking these cupcakes, I dare to say it was a hit :)

Hope you had a beautiful Valentine's day.


This was what we got from Remi for Valentine's day. I should have taken the photo of the card. He made an amazing card. He made our Valentine's day.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting