Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

I made cupcakes yesterday after a very long time. They were for a birthday and I decided to jazz them up by using origami paper for the liners which worked perfectly. The little bit of extra flair upped the oomph factor and made for a seriously pretty platter.

The cupcakes were moist and tasty on their own and the buttercream was deliciously creamy. The recipes are easy to follow and make. The cupcake recipe is actually for chocolate cake but I made 21 cupcakes with the batter and baked them for 20-22 minutes.

Good Old Chocolate Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare two greased and parchment-lined 9-inch round cake pans or one 9 x 13-inch rectangular pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Add the milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes until smooth, scraping down the sides several times. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes.

Pour batter into prepared pans, them slam the pans on the counter once or twice to eliminate bubbles. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a rack, peel off the paper, and let cool completely before doing something delicious with it.

Makes two 9-inch round layers or one 9 x 13-inch rectangular cake.

Deluxe Buttercream Icing

1 cup unsalted butter

4 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup whipping cream

In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the icing sugar and beat until well blended. Add the vanilla and whipping cream and continue to beat on high speed until frosting is fluffy and creamy - about 5 minutes. (You can add up to 2 tbsp of additional whipping cream if you feel that the frosting is too stiff.)

Makes more than enough ultra-creamy frosting to generously fill and frost a two-layer, 8 or 9-inch round cake. Or more than enough to thickly frost the top of a 9 x 13-inch cake.

Recipe Source: The Clueless Baker, 2001