Super Easy, Super Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

I saw this post over at Simply Recipes, and thought it looked like a really great, easy dessert to make. Plus, I had all of the ingredients on hand! I mean…how could I not make these? They turned out really well! They definitely need the frosting, in my opinion (what? a few pieces “fell off” while they were cooling, so we had to QC them…). These get bonus points for how easy they are, and the fact that they use ingredients that we typically have on hand. No eggs? No problem! Just be prepared to get the side-eye from anyone who you tell that these involve vinegar and olive oil. Oh, and P.S. – how adorable are these cupcake liners that I found on sale at the grocery store? Gotta love the fact that not everyone is OK with using Halloween-like decorations all year round 🙂

Super Easy, Super Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
Simply Recipes

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

The coffee (and the salt) help intensify the flavor of the chocolate. If you don’t have or don’t want to use coffee, just skip it and use water instead. If you do use coffee, just use what would be considered regular strength coffee (or slightly weak coffee) in America, not something super concentrated like espresso. If caffeine is an issue, use decaf. If you want to make a cake instead of cupcakes, double the recipe and use two 8-inch round cake pans and cook for 35-40 minutes.

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brewed coffee (or 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons
of espresso powder or instant coffee granules)
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tbsp (1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) olive oil

Frosting:
4 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cupcakes:
1 Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps (cocoa tends to clump up).

3 In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee (or water plus coffee granules), vinegar, vanilla extract, and olive oil.

4 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until they just come together. The mixture should be thin and rather lumpy.

5 Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds of the way full. Place in oven and bake for 18 to 20
minutes, until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

6 Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack. Once cool, you can eat plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, or drizzle or coat with frosting.

Frosting:
While the cupcakes are cooking, make the frosting. Melt butter in a small saucepan and remove from heat. Stir in the cocoa until smooth. Sprinkle in about a third of the powdered sugar, stir, then sprinkle in about a half of the milk. Keep alternating with the powdered sugar and either milk or vanilla, stirring after each addition, until the frosting is the consistency you want, and smooth. If it’s too runny, add more powdered sugar. If too stiff, add a little more milk or vanilla extract.

To pipe in a decorative pattern, scoop the frosting into the corner of a ziplock freezer bag. Use scissors to cut away 1/4-inch or so from the tip of the corner. Then just squeeze the frosting out of the bag onto the cupcakes in any design you like.

Yield: Makes 12 cupcakes.

Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars