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Easy Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from just the cake part of Martha Stewart's "Salted Caramel Six-Layer Chocolate Cake."

Ingredient amounts in parentheses are for high altitude baking, 5,000 feet or higher.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour add 2 tablespoons extra
  • 3 cups sugar minus 3 tablespoons
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder*
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk**
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water add 3 tablespoons extra
  • cup ​1/2 plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil--anything but olive oil
  • teaspoons ​2 vanilla

Instructions

  1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour through saltogether on low speed in either the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer. (Put buttermilk powder in at this point if you're using.) In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, eggs through vanilla. (If you're using the buttermilk powder, then you'll just use the total amount of liquid for the warm water and buttermilk combined, 3 cups or 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons if adjusting for high altitude.) Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to totally incorporate the dry ingredients!
  2. Divide batter among 4 12-cup muffin tins, filling each one only about half full. Yes, this makes a lot of cupcakes. You can cut the recipe in half, but then you'll have to do all the fiddly adjustments for high altitude if you're using those. So this may be a recipe you save for when you're making cupcakes for the entire fifth grade, or something like that. Bake at 365 degrees for 15 minutes, then test with a toothpick, which should come out clean. Cool in pans for at least five minutes before taking them out so that they have a chance to firm up. Frost as desired.

Recipe Notes

*Dutch-process cocoa is darker and less acidic than regular cocoa.  It can be hard to find, but you can't substitute regular cocoa for Dutch-process without also fiddling with the leavening to allow for the different acidity.  Hershey's has a "Special Dark" brand of cocoa that is a blend of regular and dark cocoa and will work fine for this recipe.  I have recently been using a brand that Costco carries, Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa, European Dutch Processed, and have had good luck with it. If Costco stops carrying it I'll go back to the Hershey's Special Dark.

**Buttermilk is a difficult ingredient to keep on hand, as you don't usually need a lot of it for a recipe and it doesn't keep well.  I always have a can of buttermilk powder on hand and use that. The directions are on the container and it's very easy to use.  For each 1/4 cup of buttermilk called for in the recipe you use 1 tablespoon of the powder and 1/4 cup of water.  Mix the buttermilk powder in with the dry ingredients and the water in with the wet ones (obviously!).  You can also do the lemon juice or white vinegar trick, by adding 1 tablespoon of either to 1 cup of milk and letting stand for 5 minutes before using.  I always feel that doing it that way is cheating, but hey! Sally over at Sally's Baking Addiction does it that way, and she's the pickiest person around when it comes to baking.  I'll stick with my buttermilk powder, though.  Your call.