This is probably my favorite chocolate cake recipe so far. I love chocolate but I'm not a fan of chocolate cake, it is never chocolaty enough or moist enough. If the chocolate cake has an out-of-the-world icing, then I would not complain about the cake.

Anyway, I got this recipe from Erica's Sweet Tooth. The same blog I got the Chocolate-Hazelnut mousse recipe. I have made this chocolate cake three times already. First time I was short on time so I didn't quite get to take pictures of the Chocolate-Hazelnut mousse cake. But it was basically layers of chocolate cake and chocolate-hazelnut mousse. Second time I made a cupcake version with vanilla frosting. In this version, I substituted refined white sugar for raw cane sugar. Third time I used this recipe for cupcakes was a disaster. You'd think that third time's the charm and I would have perfected this cake by now. No, I did not. I was rushing to get things done and I forgot to put salt in the cake batter and I didn't realize until after the cupcakes were baked. I was so upset with myself. I made the cupcakes for our friend Barry's birthday/game night. We had almost 20 people coming over. I did not have the heart to throw away the cupcakes. After brainstorming multiple ideas, finally, I had a solution. Cake Pops! I crumbled up 12 chocolate cupcakes in a large bowl. In a stand mixer, I whipped up 8 oz of cream cheese + 4 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp milk + 1 cup confectioner's sugar. Mixed it all together with crumbled cupcakes. Made 2 inch balls. I melted chocolate and coated each cake ball with it and then let it cool in the refrigerator. Success!

I don't have a fancy double boiler to melt chocolate. I used what I had and made it work. I boiled water in a medium size pot, placed a slightly smaller bowl that fit around the rim of the medium size pot...ta-da! It worked well.

Back to the recipe...

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups raw cane sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Steps

Pre-heat the oven to 350º F.
Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in the stand mixer bowl. If you don't have a stand mixer, just use a large bowl and hand mixer.
In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla.
Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry with the mixer in low speed.
With the mixer on low speed, add coffee until combined.
Pour the batter into prepared muffin tins.
Bake for 15 minutes for regular size cupcakes and 10 minutes for mini cupcakes. Insert a toothpick into the cupcakes to check for doneness, the toothpick should come out dry with only a few crumbs stuck on it. If it comes out wet, then it needs more baking time.
Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack.

Vanilla Icing

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, at room temperature*
1 3/4 or 2 cup confectioners sugar (depending on how sweet you want the icing to be)
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream, at room temperature*
2 tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps

In a stand mixer, on high speed, whip room temp butter and whipping cream together until it reaches a creamy consistency.
Add cream cheese and whip until combined.
Add confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time and then add vanilla extract, whip until mixed well.
You can buy a cupcake decorating kit for icing the cupcakes or simply use an offset spatula, a small regular spatula or a the back of a spoon to spread the icing on the cupcakes.
I garnished the cupcakes with some chopped Dark Chocolate-Hazelnut chocolate bar from Trader Joe's.

*It is important for the butter and heavy whipping cream to be at room temperature for this recipe. If either of the ingredients, especially the whipping cream, are still cold, it won't reach the creamy consistency, it will rather form small pellets of butter.

Tip: If you don't have or can't find buttermilk at your local grocery store, you can make a similar product at home. Joy the Baker has some great home remedies!

If you do have buttermilk but the recipe only calls for 1 cup? What to do with the remaining buttermilk? Make buttermilk pancakes!!