It's cupcake time...

I have a really bad sweet tooth. It’s a GOOD thing my husband doesn’t because otherwise I’d be quite fluffy. Last week I was itching to make something sweet.  I love chocolate and I love cupcakes so I decided I’d find a cupcake recipe.  Well I didn’t want just ANY chocolate cupcake I wanted to challenge myself a little bit so I searched the net (Martha and Ina’s didn’t look interesting enough to me) and finally came across a chocolate cupcake with a coconut filling recipe with a chocolate buttercream frosting.

Cupcake Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2-1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• Filling and Frosting:
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon coconut extract
• 1 container (1 pound) prepared dark chocolate frosting

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously coat 18 indents in two cupcake pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

2.  Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speedfor 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. On low speed, add flour mixture, alternating with milk, in two additions. Divide batter among indents, 1/3 cup each.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 17 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.

Filling and Frosting:

1.  Beat butter, shortening, confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Mix in coconut extract. Transfer cream filling to a pastry bag and fit with a small tip. Insert tip deep into cupcake and fill with cream until you can see top bulging. Spread cupcakes with prepared frosting and serve.

Since I had already made the cupcakes and filling from scratch, I figured why not make the frosting from scratch too. Giada’s looked good and had the word easy attached so I tried hers… Here’s that recipe:

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, such as Ghirardelli

Directions

In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until light and smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and place over a small pan of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the melted chocolate to the vanilla frosting and stir until smooth.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
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