Yummy chocolate cupcakes

CUPCAKES!! Who doesn't love them? Today I got a little crazy and decided to bake some delicious chocolate cupcakes and share my recipe with you and I thought why not tell you some basic facts about cupcakes. Enjoy!

The cupcake evolved in the United States in the 19th century, and it was revolutionary because of the amount of time it saved in the kitchen. There was a shift from weighing out ingredients when baking to measuring out ingredients. There are two theories where the name of the cupcake originated. One, the cakes were originall cooked in cups and two, the ingredients used to make the cupcakes were measured out by the cup.

In the beginning, cupcakes were sometimes called "number" cakes, because they were easy to remember by the measurements of ingredients it took to make them: One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, one cup of milk, and one spoonful of soda. Clearly, cupcakes today have expaned to a wide variety of ingredients, measurements, shapes, and decorations - but this was one of the first recipes for making what we know today as cupcakes.

Cupcakes were convenient because they cooked much quicker than larger cakes. When baking was down in hearth ovens, it would take a long time to bake a cake, and the final product would often be burned. Muffin tins, also called gem pans, were popular around the turn of the 20th century, so people started created cupcakes in tins.

Since their creation, cupcakes have become a trend in the culinary world. They have spawned dozens of bakeries devoted entirely to them. Chocolate and vanilla remain classic favorites for sure, but there are many other fancy flavors as well.Today we can find cookbooks, blogs, and magazines specifically dedicated to cupcakes. (Source)

RECIPE

Ingridients:

(original recipe makes 16 cupcakes)

- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 3/4 cup unsweeted cocoa powder

- 1/8 teaspoon salt

- 3 tablespoons butter, softened

- 1/2 cups white sugar

- 1 1/2 cups white sugar

- 2 eggs

- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

Frosting:

Ingridients:

- 1 cup of granulated sugar

- 6 tablespoons of butter or margarine (softened)

- 1/2 cup of cocoa powder

- 1 cup of powdered sugar 

- 1/3 cup of milk

- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.

Directions:

Cream butter. In a large bowl, whip butter at medium speed with an electric mixer, or with a whisk, until it is fluffy.  Blend dry ingredients. In a small bowl, sift or whisk to combine cocoa and granulated sugar. Combine ingredients. Add the cocoa/sugar mix alternately with milk. Do not add too much milk, or the mixture will become too thin. Beat until the mixture is spreading consistency. If too thick, add more milk, one teaspoon at a time. If too thin, add more cocoa/sugar mixture.Add 1 tablespoon vanilla. Blend well. Add powdered sugar. Whisk in the powdered sugar, blending well so there aren't any clumps. Spread it on your cake or cupcakes.

And they're done! I hope you like the recipe and try it out sometime yourself.

Love,

Jelena