"3 months is a long time" chocolate cupcakes

Last night, the cowboy & I celebrated 3 months of marriage. We had leftover thai green curry waiting for us, so in lieu of an elaborate, romantic meal, I whipped up some simple chocolate cupcakes.

I think we should eat cupcakes (or something just as sweet) on the 25th of every month.

This was also a long, overdue excuse to test drive the KitchenAid. My oh my, isn't it a wonder! Maybe I'm just so used to beating/whipping everything by hand, but it felt a little indulgent to use not a single arm muscle. I turned it on, stepped back & just watched in awe. Neat. (At one point, I found myself losing my senses & using my HANDS to stir the last ingredient in - this will take some getting used to.)

These are the little nuggets unfrosted. Like little chocolate muffins.

Last night we ate a few with some leftover Mexican chocolate frosting slathered on top, but they disappeared too quickly for me to take a picture. Here's how they looked in December.

Simple Chocolate Cupcakes

*loosely adapted from Joy of Baking*

1/2 Cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 Cup (240 ml) boiling water

1 1/3 Cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup or 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature (if you can wait for it to warm - I can't)
1/2 Cup white sugar
1/2 Cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 generous teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C or Gas Mark 5) & prepare your baking cups, tray or whatever you plan to bake these in (I tried mine in my new silicone muffin tray - no butter required! - plus, leftover mini cupcake cups).


2. Whisk the boiling water into the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.

3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.

4. In yet another bowl, cream the butter & sugars by hand or by magic mixer.

5. Add eggs, one at a time & continue beating until smooth.

6. Beat in vanilla - preferably something you bought on honeymoon (adding an extra teaspoon of lovely memories for flavor)

7. In increments, add dry mixture & mix only until incorporated (don't over mix).

8. Add in cooled cocoa mixture & again only stir until incorporated (here's where I lost me marbles & used my own arm to stir!) 

9. Scoop in messy spoonfuls into your prepared muffin tin or cupcake cups.

10. Bake approximately 15 minutes, though I find every oven is different - & mine downright sucks - so really I judge by eye. You want it to rise up a bit, be a little springy to the touch & when a knife or something pointy is inserted down the middle, it comes out clean.

Then, please tell your husband to be patient & let these cool significantly before attempting to take them out of the pan. Because they will be crumbly, though really nice & warm. Mmm. And if you foolishly frost them while still warm, the homemade Mexican frosting will get all ooey & gooey. Double mmmm.

**The frosting was homemade last December & frozen. My brain is too broken to recall the exact recipe but it involved confectioner's/powdered sugar, cream cheese, dark chocolate, cinnamon & a touch of hot chilli powder. I kept adding confectioner's sugar until it was like frosting, but not enough to make it as stiff as store-bought, which I liked. You could say it was my version of this recipe from FoodNetwork's Ingrid Hoffmann.**