Easy Chocolate Cupcakes: A Recipe

Cupcakes have been a favorite dessert of mine ever since I was a little girl, and they have not lost any of their delight for me. I still love chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and colored sprinkles! Apparently other people do too, since I often make this recipe for church potlucks and always come home with an empty container.

Kids aren't the only ones who like these cupcakes either. I see grown-ups eating them at the church dinners, so I think it's safe to say they are a favorite with everyone. Even my husband, who doesn't care much for chocolate desserts, eats these with pleasure.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat flour + 2 cups white flour)

1 1/2 cups sugar

6 tablespoons cocoa

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups water

2/3 cup vegetable oil or canola oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and mix very well. With your mixing fork or spoon, make a hollow in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir together using a large spoon. (Do not use beaters or an electric mixer.) Batter will be slightly fizzy.

Line muffin tins with cupcake papers and fill cups 3/4 full or a little more (not quite full). Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes or until cupcake centers are firm or a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Allow to cool, then frost.

You can eat the cupcakes plain, without frosting, but I prefer mine frosted. You could purchase storebought icing for your cupcakes, but I prefer to make chocolate frosting from scratch. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

3 tablespoons cocoa

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Put the butter, milk, and cocoa in a small kettle and melt. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. When it has reached a boil, remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. When it has cooled, scrape the mixture into a mixing bowl and beat in powdered sugar on medium to high speed. Frost the cupcakes.

If you are adding sprinkles or nonpareils to your frosted chocolate cupcakes, it is best to put the sprinkles on directly after frosting each cupcake, since the frosting will stiffen if you wait too long. (I hold the cupcake over a small dish or bowl to catch the excess sprinkles so they don't make a big mess.) Store the finished cupcakes in an airtight container.

If you have frosting left over (I usually do) you can use it to make graham cracker sandwiches for a yummy snack! Spread frosting on one half of a graham cracker and top with the other half of the cracker. You can store these in the freezer for weeks in a freezer container or zip-lock freezer bag.

Enjoy!

If you are a chocolate lover, you might want to check out some of my other recipes featuring chocolate: